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Tag: viva expectations

Nathan

Almost Zero

Daily Post

Viva failure is exceptionally rare.

I’ve asked graduate schools, doctoral colleges and doctoral training programmes: they consistently tell me around one in one thousand vivas result in failure. That’s not zero, but I think we can reasonably deduce a few things:

  • The vast majority of PhD candidates meet the requirements, both in their thesis and themselves, in order to succeed.
  • The regulations and patterns of experience at the viva result in success (whatever shortcomings they might have).
  • However people prepare – whether they read a blog, buy a book or attend a webinar/workshop – they do enough to help themselves succeed.

If candidates reflect on their journey they’ll appreciate they’ve done enough. If people read the regulations and ask about expectations they should find information that helps. If they ask for advice or help with preparation then they should be able to figure out what to do (and do it).

Could things be better? Most likely! It would be great if all candidates enjoyed their viva experience. It would be great if the culture around the vivas was less opaque and mysterious so people knew more of what to expect.

All of that said: do the work, ask for help, take time to get ready and there’s almost zero chance that you’ll fail.

Nathan

Other Vivas

Daily Post

Every viva is unique. Every viva is similar and different to every other viva. Vivas follow patterns. Vivas are not mysterious but you don’t know what will happen until you get there. Expectations are not guarantees.

Hearing about someone else’s experience at the viva can help you to understand what yours might be like. Learning about what happens generally can help put some parameters on what you can reasonably expect for your own.

But finding out that a friend didn’t enjoy their viva doesn’t mean that you won’t enjoy yours. Discovering that a group of friends all had long vivas might set some expectations with you, but doesn’t provide guarantees.

Finding out about other vivas is useful but only part of the process of getting ready. Read the regulations, ask your friends and colleagues about what happened and then use that information to help you as you prepare.

Your viva will be the same as many others and also different from every other viva. You can still be ready to meet your examiners and succeed on the day.

Nathan

The Flow of Discussion

Daily Post

It’s important to remember that the viva is a discussion.

The viva is not a quiz, not an interview, not a question-and-answer session. Your examiners have notes and questions and plans – but no script. There is no big sheet of things to tick off.

Questions and comments are prompts. They are a means to get you to talk. They help you find your way through and help your examiners see what they need.

Questions are not skewers! Comments are not automatically criticisms!

The discussion in the viva flows from your examiners: most of the questions will come from them. But that still leaves room for you to ask questions. There’s space for you to dig deeper too.

And even if the discussion does start with your examiners, where do their questions come from?

From your research, your thesis and ultimately from you.

Nathan

Mile 26

Daily Post

It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Lots of metaphors about the PhD and the viva recall marathons. They suggest perspective on how much time is involved, the pace, the determination and so on. It’s even common to see writers talk about the viva as the final mile of the PhD journey.

The viva is the last big challenge – but marathons aren’t 26 miles in length.

A marathon is 26 miles and 385 yards.

After 26 miles of progress there’s still a little more.

Not quite a quarter of a mile.

Submission is the 26 mile marker. The viva is that last 385 yards. Still a little to do. A little more work. A little more determination. But you really are almost there.

Nathan

Viva Kit

Daily Post

You need to take your thesis to your viva. Your examiners don’t expect a perfect memory. You can use your thesis throughout to help you respond to questions.

You need to take a pen and paper. The viva is a discussion but it’s an important one. Give yourself the option of taking notes that could help you afterwards.

You need to take something to drink. Don’t forget! Many examiners and universities don’t arrange for refreshments and you’re likely to be in your viva for a few hours at least.

You need to decide on what you’ll wear. You don’t need to be smart for your examiners, but you can dress in a way that helps you feel as good as you possibly can.

 

You need to have the right kit for your viva. It won’t take a lot to bring this together. This post has the basics that everyone needs to think about – but what do you need for your research and your viva?

Nathan

Not To Plan

Daily Post

Vivas have institutional regulations, general expectations and local norms from recurring practice within departments all over the UK. Together these describe a picture of what any candidate can reasonably expect. The picture is a bit blurry in places but there’s a reasonable sense of what a viva is supposed to be like.

Individual candidates can have logistical expectations too. Examiner A and Examiner B are nominated and approved. Date and location are set. Preparations are completed, confidence builds and all is right with the world.

 

Then something happens.

In spring 2020 that something might have been a sudden shift to a video viva.

Or an examiner having to postpone or cancel the week before viva day.

Or through miscommunication it could be that the start time is not what was expected.

When things don’t go to plan, as viva expectations of all kinds collide with viva reality, what do you do? What can you do?

 

You ask for help. Whatever is driving the change of plans you ask for help, because it won’t solely be your problem to resolve. Talk to your supervisor, your director of postgraduate studies or someone in your graduate school. There will be a friendly face. They will listen. They will help.

The change will then become part of your expectations. A new examiner. A new date. A short delay or a moment or two while you adjust to a different video software.

Remember: things don’t have to go completely according to plan for you to succeed at your viva.

Nathan

All Vivas Are Short…

Daily Post

…compared with the amount of time you’ve invested in your PhD.

That doesn’t make them easy. That doesn’t mean they’ll fly by if they are many hours long. That doesn’t mean there’s no need to prepare.

Those thousands of hours in your PhD journey help make sure that the short time in your viva will result in success.

Nathan

Umbrellas

Daily Post

Viva prep is a bit like carrying an umbrella on an uncertain day.

You look out the window. There are clouds. They’re grey but not dark grey. It might rain but it might not. You could leave the umbrella and take a chance or pick it up, carry it with you, make the effort and be sure that you’re covered.

After years of work, learning, results, development and growth, it’s reasonable to assume that a PhD candidate is good. Viva prep then helps ensure that a candidate is good for the particular challenge they’ll find at the viva. They might be fine, but prep will make sure that they are.

Carrying an umbrella is not a great effort to be sure of keeping dry. Neither is viva prep so great an undertaking to be sure of doing well.

You might be fine without it, but why take the risk?

Nathan

Again, For The Final Time

Daily Post

That’s the viva. You’re doing something you have done many, many times throughout the last few years – thinking about and talking about your research and your ability as a researcher – and this is the last time you’ll need to do that.

(you might want to do it again, you might want to be a researcher or have a career that involves this – but you won’t need to do it after your viva)

At your viva you need to discuss your research contribution, your PhD journey and what you can do as a researcher. These are all things you must necessarily have done a lot during your PhD. The viva is a particular challenge which requires particular prep, but it’s not so different from the rest of your PhD experience.

The viva means doing it one more time. Maybe the last time.

Nathan

Final Polish

Daily Post

Corrections. Amendments. Changes.

They’re called lots of things, but the requests for alterations to your thesis after the viva really are just the very last, final tweaks to make your thesis the best it can reasonably be.

The vast majority of candidates are asked to complete minor corrections. Perhaps your university calls them something different, but you’ll know what they mean: correcting typos, light copyediting, updates to diagrams or correcting errors.

Examiners don’t look for perfection. They don’t punish small mistakes. They want to give you the benefit of one more relatively quick chance to make some final changes. Then that’s it: you’re done, your thesis is done and now it’s headed for the library. Finished.

A little final polish is a good thing.

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