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Tag: viva expectations

Nathan

Exceptional

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There are viva regulations for your institution, general experiences from the massive number of vivas that happen every year and the particular practices of your department. Together, these combine to give a picture of what to expect at the viva. You can have a good sense of what a viva is supposed to be like by taking all of these into account.

There are always exceptions.

Most vivas have two examiners – apart from the ones that have three. Most examiners are academics at other universities – apart from the ones that aren’t. Most vivas up to 2020 were in-person – apart from the ones that weren’t, and then apart from all the ones that suddenly weren’t!

Your viva might be exceptional too. You might have done something a little different in your research or created outputs that most PhD candidates would not. Your thesis might be different. Your viva day might start differently. You could have requirements that many candidates never think about.

Exceptions change the viva but don’t change the purpose. Exceptions might shape your viva but they don’t alter the overall process.

Vivas are always unique and the exceptional people who have them are uniquely positioned to succeed whatever the circumstances.

Nathan

Sooner Or Later

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“It’s never too late to find out more, but you might have felt better if you’d found out sooner.”

There are many parts to the viva process: expectations, regulations, culture, ideas for prep and confidence and more. Right up until the moment you enter the viva you have opportunities to do something to help you feel more ready and better about the viva.

You don’t need to do everything and you don’t need to rush to do it all now. You can make a difference a day, an hour or a minute before your viva.

But you might feel better if you did something sooner.

 

PS: One thing that might help you feel better about your viva is to make a summary as part of your viva preparations. Summaries help you to focus, to think ahead about what you’ll need to talk about in the viva and can help you reflect on the best parts of your PhD and research. Summaries are also the topic of this month’s Viva Survivors Select, out now and available via my Payhip store 🙂

Nathan

Describing The Viva

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The viva is an exam.

The viva is a discussion.

The viva is a challenge.

The viva is almost-but-not-quite the end.

The viva is a part of the process.

The viva is regulated.

The viva is a milestone.

The viva is an event that you can prepare for.

The viva is a few hours on one day.

What words are you using to describe your viva? How do you think they’re influencing you?

Nathan

Nasty

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Do you think your examiners would ask a harsh question at the viva? If you think yes, why?

If you think yes, what do you think it would be about?

And if you think yes, how likely do you really think it is?

 

I don’t think it’s common for candidates to worry about particularly nasty questions, but for candidates who do the worry is particularly nasty. If it’s on your mind, don’t wait to find out if your fears will come true at the viva.

Talk to someone. Talk to your supervisor. Review anything and everything related to the topic of the question.

Questions at the viva shouldn’t be nasty but if you’re worried, don’t wait: do something to help yourself.

Nathan

The Time

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If your viva begins at 2pm there might be a limit on how long your viva could be.

If your viva starts at 10am that doesn’t make you more likely to be discussing your work still when the sun sets.

Wondering about viva length is a distraction. It doesn’t correlate to anything useful about the outcome. It is helpful to get a sense of viva length to manage your expectations. If you have concerns about being present for a long time because of health reasons then you can figure out what you need to make the viva fair for you.

Long viva, short viva or somewhere-in-between-viva, the time you’re in the viva is very, very short compared to the rest of your PhD: all the time you’ve invested in becoming good and doing something good.

Nathan

Similar, Not The Same

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If you hear five viva stories from different people you will spot common threads and notice differences.

If you hear five viva stories from people in your department you will notice examination practices and understand why they are different.

Every viva is different.

Every viva is influenced by regulations, expectations and departmental practices.

You viva will be similar to others, but can’t be the same.

Nathan

Point By Point

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Your examiners will have a lot of questions for you at your viva, along with various comments they will make.

You won’t know them in advance. You can get a sense of what to expect by consulting resources, talking with your supervisors and reflecting on your research. Anything you are asked is purely to help drive the discussion forward and create a space where your examiners can explore you and your work.

 

All of this could make someone feel intimidated but here’s the important thing to remember: you only have to respond to one question or comment at a time. Your examiners don’t serve you twenty questions to start the viva and expect you to keep track of them all. You aren’t given a sheet of comments to work through.

One at a time, point by point, you respond to what your examiners need so that they can confidently say you are good enough.

Nathan

Your Thesis

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There are lots of ways you could look at your thesis at your viva.

  • Your thesis is a resource to help you respond to questions. You can annotate it beforehand to be even more useful.
  • Your thesis is a lifeline in case of emergency. If you need it you can take a moment to remind yourself of something that escapes your memory.
  • Your thesis is a contribution. It’s one focus for your examiners’ questions.
  • Your thesis is proof that you did the work. It’s one focus for you and your confidence.

Which of these matters most to you at the viva? And what will your thesis mean to you after the viva?

Nathan

Sudden Problems

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A week before submission you find that a section in your thesis is missing something important. What do you do?

Two weeks before your viva you learn that one of your examiners is cancelling. What do you do?

The day before your viva you find a big mistake in your thesis – you know what the correction is but you can’t change it now. What do you do?

Thirty minutes into your viva you are shaken by a question you’ve never considered before. What do you do?

 

These situations aren’t equivalent to each other. Impact and context matters. In some cases you can ask for help directly: for example, if your examiner cancelled that could be very stressful but it wouldn’t be your situation to resolve alone.

More than anything for any sudden problems the best advice I could offer is to stop: pause and breathe and get past any panic.

What can you do? Before you decide what you will do, think about what your options might be. Can you ask for help from someone? Have you faced a situation like this before? As stressful as it might immediately feel what is the real impact?

What can you do – then what will you do?

You have to do something but you don’t have to do the first thing that comes to mind when you’re experiencing the stress of a sudden problem. Pause and breathe then consider your options.

Nathan

Critical

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Your examiners have to be critical of your thesis and research.

That doesn’t mean that they will be negative.

Your examiners have to critically read what you have written.

That doesn’t mean that they have to go looking for problems.

Your examiners have to ask you critical questions.

That doesn’t mean that they are trying to catch you out.

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