Daily viva help for PhDs
…your examiners are experienced, they have to ask questions, they have to challenge you and they will be prepared for your viva when they arrive.
But on the other hand, you are experienced, you have experience at responding to questions, you can rise to challenges and you can be prepared for your viva when they arrive.
Everyone at your viva is capable, ready and engaged. The viva can be a difficult challenge and you can be ready for that challenge.
The viva is a discussion about you, your thesis and your PhD journey, along with other relevant related topics. Most questions in the viva will naturally flow from your examiners towards you because they’re examining you and your work.
The viva is a conversation though: you might have some questions of your own.
You have space in the viva to ask your examiners questions. In most cases these opportunities will arise naturally, for example, asking for clarification. It could still help to think through what you would want to know more about if the moment came where you could ask them something.
The viva can be a great opportunity to ask some experts what they think.
Some PhD candidates think of the viva as a TV quiz show. How do I know this? Because many, many candidates over the last decade have asked me questions like:
…OK, maybe they haven’t asked that last question! 🙂
But the questions people do ask give a window into how they think of something.
Thinking of the viva as being like a game show, even in some small ways, is not helpful. The viva is not a quiz show. Questions are not only true or false, they’re not multiple choice or needing to remember a fact.
The viva, first and foremost, is a discussion. That’s how you respond. That’s how you engage with your examiners.
Knowing things and being able to share information helps, but be ready for a conversation and not a quiz at your viva.
A simple and effective way to tackle a tricky question in the viva is to look for the meaning behind it.
Searching for the meaning behind a difficult question or comment is far better than trying to stumble your way to a few words. It’s far better than sitting in silence and hoping that something clicks.
Ask yourself why or ask your examiners why, and watch as information and ideas start to move.
Your examiners want to read a good thesis with interesting research.
They want to follow the viva regulations for your institution and meet the expectations of your field or disciplines.
They want to engage with a capable, knowledgeable candidate.
They want the hours of the viva to be an appropriate challenge for you.
They want to see you rise to that challenge.
So what will you do to give them what they want?
Most vivas result in success, the majority result in minor corrections and a fair percentage are only one to two hours long. Questions are challenging but fair for the person who has to respond to them. However:
What percentages of candidates have these experiences? Which candidates are more likely to have them? I don’t know. It would be almost impossible to say. But I do think if we try to summarise vivas with single attributes we can run into trouble. For example:
I don’t think you can expect your viva to be the most amazing event of your life. I don’t think you can expect that it will be awful either. There’s a range of overlapping patterns of expectations that can guide you to getting ready.
Your viva will probably be neither “good” nor “bad”. Expect that it will be alright and expect that you will be fine.
I think a huge part of viva confidence for a candidate is based on feeling comfortable when talking about their research.
Examiners need to ask the candidate questions, they need to share opinions and they need the candidate to respond so that they can have a discussion and examine. Candidates have to do their part and want to do their part, but too often worry that they won’t be able to in the moment.
The short answer for all of these questions and worries is that the viva will still happen. It’ll continue however you feel, but will feel better for you if you’re able to talk with some confidence about your research and all the related things your examiners want to discuss.
How do you get to talk comfortably? You prepare. You read your thesis and think and make notes. More important than anything you take time to rehearse for being in the viva through opportunities like a mock viva.
You can’t be ready with pre-loaded responses to every conceivable question or comment.
You can be ready to engage with whatever question your examiners ask by taking time before the viva to rehearse.
Have a mock viva. Talk with friends. Talk with your supervisor. Make opportunities to be in situations where you’ll talk about your work and respond to questions. Make sure you have real experience before the viva so that you feel more comfortable talking about your PhD research.
Most vivas are not too long. They regularly result in minor corrections. They most often have two examiners, with a possibility for an independent chair as well. The great majority of vivas result in success.
Remember all this, but also remember that your viva will be unique. Your research, your contribution and you are all unique elements to your viva experience.
As you prepare, take time to reflect on what your viva will likely have in common with every other viva. Be sure to focus on what makes your contribution and journey unique too.
It feels like something big and earth-shattering has happened at least every few weeks for the last couple of years. The news starts to settle and something else comes up to disturb the peace.
This doesn’t have to be on a global or national scale either. In your daily life you can be upset and off-balance simply because the train is late, you catch a cold or you get sad news. Your short- and medium-term plans can be knocked to one side by somebody else’s change of plans or a sudden change of circumstances.
As you prepare for your viva, take a few small steps to help yourself just in case something was to go a little bit wrong:
Build as much certainty as you can and take out small steps to guard against crisis and disruption.
Everything will be alright with your viva, but it might not all be exactly as you imagine or plan!
Vivas often conclude with a short break. Your examiners will need to have a final discussion between themselves to confirm the outcome, maybe to confer on corrections or even check what regulations says about how they pass the decision to you.
These intermissions typically range between five and twenty minutes. This is long enough for a PhD candidate to get really, really nervous: after all, there’s nothing else you can do at this point! No more writing, no more talking, now you’re just waiting for the result!
With nothing else to do in those moments, I’d suggest deciding in advance what you will do to pass the time. You don’t know in advance how long you might have, but you can decide, I’ll go refill my water bottle or I’ll just step outside and feel the breeze.
At the end of your viva, having something to do when there’s nothing else you can do is a really good idea. It’s a lot better than simply waiting.