Daily viva help for PhDs
The viva is not a test of endurance, a space where you have to simply work through everything until it is done.
You can take a break. You could be offered a break after an hour or two. You could need one and ask. You can ask for a comfort break, a medically-related break, a break to think or check something in your thesis. You can have a break to compose yourself.
There are many reasons to take a break in the viva and no wrong times to ask for one, if you need one.
It’s not in the nature and setup of the viva that things will simply go exactly how you want. There is so much about the viva that is beyond your control:
All of which is to say, you can write well, prepare well and do well, but not know what will happen or what the outcome will be until it arrives.
And yet the majority of candidates pass – and pass with minor corrections. A viva could be long or difficult, but it’s done on the day. Your examiners could be kind or questioning (or both!) and still you can respond to everything.
Expectations help to frame the viva situation. Preparation, hard work and the PhD journey help to succeed in your viva reality.
There’s a general expectation that a candidate will pass their viva if they’ve submitted their thesis. The pass rate is so high that reaching that stage is a really good sign that success will follow in due course.
But the viva is not simply like ticking a box on some paperwork, nor is it a simple process in general. Perhaps compared to the scale of the rest of the PhD journey we could say it was “a formality” but only with reference to that great scale!
Expect to succeed – but also expect your examiners to be prepared, to do their jobs, to ask questions and expect you to respond. Do the work that’s needed, following a pattern of work and dedication that you have demonstrated over the course of your PhD and perhaps the viva will feel – with hindsight – like a formality.
Remember you know your work better than anyone else!
I have read and heard these words so many times from people trying to reassure viva candidates. They’re not wrong but I’ve had a growing feeling for some time that they brush over a lot of points.
The viva isn’t solely about knowing things – it’s a test of what you can do as well, a test of how you think.
You did the work, but your examiners must have done lots of work too to be able to examine you.
I worry too that the phrasing implies that the viva is simple, straightforward, easy. While the majority of candidates pass and many describe it as positive I don’t think – in nearly thirteen years – I’ve ever heard anyone describe their viva as easy!
“You know your work better than anyone else” is too simple. It leaves too much out.
How about: You did the work, so you have the skills and knowledge to do this too. How does that sound?
It might not roll off the tongue as easily, but it gets closer to the truth of the situation.
A poem, seeing as it’s February 14th!
Most candidates won’t love their viva,
‘Though most PhDs won’t hate it either;
If you prepare and give it a chance,
Examiners won’t lead you a merry dance.
Believe it will be tough
You’ll make your day rough,
But trust what you know
And a good day will show.
Three verses suffice,
I’ll stop this device!
Reflect, prepare – give your confidence a shove!
Thus a greater chance your viva to like, if not love.
Take several years of difficult and demanding work.
Sieve together with months of writing.
Stir in vague half-truths and uncertain expectations.
Add two experienced academics to the mix.
Fold together with nervousness, worry, future plans and, depending on circumstances, pandemic-related uncertainty.
Bring to a slow boil over weeks of preparation and serve at the appropriate time.
A candidate might not feel stressed, but it’s not hard to appreciate why someone could be stressed by the thought of their viva. They would most probably still pass but the experience might be uncomfortable.
There’s no silver bullet to defeat viva stress, but there are remedies for each of the ingredients above.
Review your work and highlight what really matters. Re-read your thesis to be sure of how information flows. Find out more about what happens at vivas. Check recent publications by your examiners. And instead of bottling up stress as you prepare, use that time to build your confidence.
There’s a clear recipe for viva stress – but you don’t have to follow it.
Later this year I’ll “celebrate” fifteen years since I had my viva, and remembering that makes me realise one more time just how different my viva was to everything I’ve heard since about vivas.
Before I had my viva I was quite ignorant about the process. It didn’t occur to me until a few years afterwards that my viva was a bit odd:
On that last point I have, so far, found myself to be unique in my viva experience.
And despite all of that:
Every viva is unique. Some are more different than others! But all vivas follow key expectations and regulations. Read the rules, listen to stories and build up a good general picture that you can prepare for.
I forget where I first heard that “slow is fast and fast is slow” – the point being that taking one’s time to do something helps it to get done more quickly than charging ahead and risking problems.
This idea holds a lot of relevance to viva prep and the viva.
In viva prep, taking your time gives space for the work to be done. You can build up your confidence and the feeling of being ready. It’s something to savour, maybe even something to enjoy! Not something to be crammed in at the last minute or got out of the way. Going fast won’t help someone to get ready for their viva.
And nobody wants a six-hour viva, but pausing to think when asked a question helps more than blurting out the first idea. Pausing to think helps a candidate consider what a question means and what they know. Pausing helps them to find the best words for their response. Far better than trying to get the viva over and done with. Far better than rushing and then needing to clarify – far quicker too.
Take your time. Slow is fast.
A question that’s expected can be prepared for.
A question you expect can still be difficult to respond to.
If you expect a question you might not be asked it after all.
And if you prepare you may still find something new to say on the day of your viva.
Remember that rehearsal for the viva doesn’t mean memorising talking points on expected questions. Rehearsal helps you find a process to engage with all questions about your research, your thesis and you – expected and unexpected.
Reading viva regulations and googling about what to expect for your viva can only tell you so much. There are a lot of general viva expectations worth paying attention to – related to the format, the questions and examiners – but you also have to think about your particular discipline, field or area.
Two to three hours could be a useful general expectation for viva length. Your discipline might have a different expectation though, longer or shorter. That’s never a guarantee but it’s information that could help.
In general, PhD candidates don’t tend to give presentations to start their viva, at least not in the UK. But in some fields it is very common, an idea that has become a piece of “good practice”.
Your discipline may have particular questions or a focus on methods that isn’t common in other disciplines. You might not know that until you ask.
Pay attention to general viva advice and regulations, but also take time to ask your supervisors, friends and colleagues about their experiences and what they know about vivas in your discipline. Get as full a picture of what to expect as possible so that you can prepare accordingly.