You Are Here

Tag: viva expectations

Nathan

No Early Updates

Daily Post

Between submission and the viva you might spot some changes you want to make in your thesis.

Perhaps you see a typo that has to be amended, a sentence that could be simpler or a diagram that’s just not right. It could be you’ve thought more and now have a slightly different opinion. Maybe a paper has been published recently and that gives a different perspective to part of your work.

We can’t say that none of this matters – but it doesn’t change anything in your thesis at this stage. You can’t make corrections yet. You can’t change your opinion as it stands. You can’t write more into the pages you’ve submitted.

You can make a note for later. You can stick a Post-it Note in with a suggestion. You can read a paper and write a summary if you think it’s really relevant.

But no updates. No changes. No alterations. Whatever you call them, all the changes wait until after the viva.

Nathan

The Magic Numbers

Daily Post

Some numbers are magical for the viva, and some can only cause you to worry.

Don’t think about how long your viva might be. It’s not worth obsessing over how many pages of references you have in your bibliography. And don’t check your word count to try to boost your confidence.

Instead of counting little details or wondering about things you have no control over, focus on how long you’ve been doing the work.

Several years – which can be properly understood as thousands of hours. Consider the time and effort you will have spent in getting ready for the viva itself. Remember the time invested in becoming a better researcher – and your many achievements along the way.

What other magic numbers could help you feel good for your viva?

Nathan

Structured

Daily Post

A viva is not a random collection of questions and comments from your examiners, strung together by whatever you say in response.

Your university has regulations that govern the viva. Your department has expectations for what a good viva “should” be like. By reading regulations and talking to graduates you can build a sense of the pattern – the structure – that underpins your viva.

Your research and thesis are the basis for many areas of discussion in the viva. Your thesis is set out chapter by chapter and it’s natural that your examiners would follow that flow in your viva.

Your examiners will have prepared for your viva too: reading, thinking, writing and discussing what needs to happen. They have their own research and while you cannot predict every question they might ask, you can appreciate from where their questions might come.

The structure of a viva is not a big topic to dig into and digest. Perhaps the most important point to remember is simply this: there is a structure.

The viva doesn’t just happen.

Nathan

The Red Button

Daily Post

There’s a knock at your door.

A courier leaves a package in your arms. It’s not heavy, but it has a strange heft to it. You don’t remember ordering anything. You’re not expecting something. But here it is, addressed to you.

Unwrapping the package reveals a small brown paper parcel and an envelope. The stationery and packaging are both of a good stock, clearly not from a supermarket shelf or high street stationer’s. The handwriting on the envelope is familiar, but you can’t place it.

For your viva, it reads.

You open the parcel first, cutting the string when the knot proves too tricky. Beneath several layers of paper you uncover a polished wooden box. It’s old, you can tell, but you’re not sure where in the world it might come from. You hold it in your cupped palms, the sides are smooth to the touch. There seems to be no lid or opening. It is a box though, not solid wood: the contents don’t shift much as you carefully move it in your hands, but you can tell that the weight is not uniform.

Resting in the curved top surface is a small recess and a red button.

Perplexed by the box you open the envelope. The note inside has a scrawl for a signature, but the contents are clear enough.

Friend. In case this helps with your preparations. What do you not want to be asked in your viva? Think carefully and press the red button, and you won’t be asked. But think carefully. Yours [illegible]

A hoax. A weird joke from a friend who knows your viva is weeks away. And yet…

What if?

No. It couldn’t be. This is a strange sort of gift. You wrap the parcel up and put it in a cupboard.

Two weeks later you take it out and stare at the box and the red button for an hour.

You make a decision.

 

If the box was real, and you could press the red button, what would you not want to be asked in your viva?

The box is not real! But if there’s a question you don’t want to be asked in your viva then you probably need to do something to rehearse for that situation.

Not wanting to be asked a question won’t remove the possibility. Practice and preparation will help just in case you should encounter that one question you really don’t want to be asked.

Nathan

A Long Viva

Daily Post

Candidates are always concerned about viva length, worried that theirs will be long – or too long, however that might be defined.

Remember: the longest viva will be shorter than the longest work day of your PhD. It has to be.

As challenging as your viva could be, it can’t be a greater challenge or require more of you than you have already given on your PhD journey.

Nathan

The Demonstration

Daily Post

The verb that could most clearly summarise what you have to do at the viva is demonstrate. Your examiners have read your thesis. Now they need you to give them more in the viva.

  • You have to share what you know and what you can do.
  • You have to clearly describe and explain what you did for the last few years.
  • You have to show just how good you are as a researcher.

In the viva you’re giving a demonstration of how much you’ve done and how good you are. Your thesis counts towards your success, but you have to be ready on viva day to demonstrate just how capable you are.

Nathan

Staring At The Clock

Daily Post

I was in full flow in my viva. The questions were challenging but fair. I was working hard to explain and explore my work, but that was, I suppose, to be expected.

Then I happened to notice the time. The clock on the wall informing me that we had been discussing things now for almost two-and-a-half hours.

I didn’t know if this was good or bad. I had no real expectations or understanding of what happened at a viva. But two-and-a-half hours seemed like a long time. I was surprised that was how long it had been so far.

I started to wonder how much longer it might be.

It seemed like a good idea to look up every now and then to “keep an eye on the time”. This quickly became a distraction, the first two-and-a-half hours of my viva had seemed to pass in no time at all. Now it felt as if time had slowed to a crawl…

 

Staring at the clock didn’t help.

Staring at the clock never helps.

Staring at the clock does nothing but distract.

For the most part the venue for your viva doesn’t make a great difference on your experience. It’s a seminar room or it’s over Zoom, that’s all. However, in either situation, do what you can to avoid staring at the clock.

If you have a video viva, place a little Post-it Note in the corner of your screen to obscure the clock once you get started. If you’re in-person for your viva, arrange to sit with your back to the clock in the meeting room.

Knowing the time does nothing to help you. You will only wonder when you’ll be finished, or whether you’re progressing well. It’s far better to reserve all your focus for simply engaging with the discussion in your viva.

Nathan

Knowing Enough

Daily Post

You can’t know what the first question in your viva be will be until it’s asked.

You can’t know how long your viva will be until your examiners say, “OK, we’re done!”

You can’t know how you will respond to a tricky question until you experience it.

You can’t know in advance just what you’ll need to correct after the viva.

There’s a lot you can’t know before you get to the viva and experience it. That’s just the way it is.

But you can know that you’ve done enough to get you there. You know you’ve done enough to succeed. You know who your examiners are in advance, and can know all about their research, if that helps. You can know what to expect from the viva by reading regulations and listening to stories of viva experiences.

When you stop and think, there’s a lot you can know before you get to your viva.

Nathan

Even If

Daily Post

Even if you think you know it all, read your thesis before your viva.

Even if you’re sure there’s no way you’ll forget any of your corrections, take a notebook to the viva.

Even if you’re sure your examiners won’t ask about this or that, be sure you take a look at this and that before your viva.

Even if you don’t want to rehearse with your supervisor, find some useful way to practise responding to questions before the viva.

Even if you’re nervous, go to your viva and succeed.

Nathan

The Same, But Different

Daily Post

In July, our daughter was in school and so my wife and I snuck to the cinema for a day-time date. Watching the movie on the big screen was amazing: the story, colour, the scale, the sound, all fantastic.

A few weeks ago we watched it all together at home. We drew our curtains, snuggled up on the couch with chocolate and watched the movie on a smaller screen. It was amazing: the story, watching it with my daughter, pausing for hugs in sad moments, stopping to get ice cream, all fantastic.

In both times the movie was the same: we just engaged with it in a different way. In the cinema it was great to be able to get lost in the movie. At home it was great to be super comfortable and together. It was the same, but different.

 

And this is how we can think about the reality of in-person and video vivas: they are the same, but different.

Same purpose, same parameters, same drivers, same roles, same needs but different locations, different ways of engaging and different opportunities. Depending on who you are, who your examiners are and the regulations of your university you may have a choice or not about where your viva is. But fundamentally, despite the differences, you can expect the same process from the viva.

1 … 35 36 37 38 39 … 104