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Tag: viva expectations

Nathan

Starting With A Presentation

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Examiners sometimes ask a candidate to prepare a short presentation to open the viva. They’re always clear about whether or not this is something they want: regulations might mention them, your department might have them often, but your examiners will be specific about whether or not they want one, and if they do, help set some expectations for what you could do.

“Ten to fifteen minutes summarising your thesis.”

“A short overview of each of your chapters and their key points.”

If your examiners ask for a presentation then prepare one in a style that works for you. Break your work down as best you can. Practise doing it so that you know you’ve got your points covered in the time you have, then go and start your viva in a good way.

If your examiners don’t ask for a presentation, there could still be a lot of value in preparing for one.

Summarise your work, connect ideas clearly and concisely, then practise delivering it with an audience of friends who can ask you questions and offer thoughts. There may be a little more work involved with this than with a lot of general viva prep ideas, but it can be a really useful way to help convince yourself you’re ready for your viva.

Nathan

Vivas and Prime Numbers

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“Anything could happen!”

I’ve heard academics and PhD candidates say that about the viva, and while there’s a sort of truth to it, the statement also misses a lot. Anything could happen, but it rarely does. The vast majority of vivas are completed within three hours, most vivas have two examiners and there are common opening questions. While there’s no way you could expect a particular script of questions they might ask you, you can reasonably expect certain areas to come up.

Going back to my pure maths days, the topic of viva expectations reminds of prime numbers. There are infinite prime numbers – 2, 3, 5, 7, 11 and so on – numbers which can only be divided by themselves and 1 without leaving a remainder. There is no end to them. And yet there are many, many ways we can categorise them.

There’s one even prime, and infinitely many odd ones. There are primes that form little pairs, twin primes, which are separated by adding 2, for example, 3 and 5, 5 and 7, 11 and 13. There are primes like 23 and 37 that aren’t twin and don’t form little couples. After the number 2 we could group together all primes according to whether or not they are 1 modulo 4 or 3 modulo 4 – but really we’re getting away from the topic here!

There are infinitely many primes, they go on for ever – and yet there are many useful ways we can group them, categorise them and learn from them.

There are countless different vivas, anything could happen, but also patterns and structures that we can see and even expect.

Again: anything could happen in the viva, but “anything” very rarely does. It’s far more useful for you to find out about common expectations and learn from them than to try and prepare for infinite possibilities.

Nathan

Closing Moments

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How will your viva end?

Will your examiners simply say something like, “I think we’ve talked enough,” and then request a short break?

Will they ask you if you have any questions or anything else you want to say?

It’s hard to say how your viva will finish. It won’t hurt you to reflect on what you might say in advance.

A question about developing your work further could make for a short, interesting conversation. Asking about publications or funding opportunities might help you gain the benefit of your examiners’ experience. Or coming back to a point from your research could help you to say one more good thing about what you’ve done.

Reflect a little in advance, then see what happens on the day. The closing moments won’t make or break anything, but they could help you to feel a little bit better or gain a little more knowledge.

Nathan

In The Chair

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An independent chairperson for the viva can be really valuable. They act as an impartial observer, recording what happens. They can be a navigator carefully steering examiner or candidate away from fruitless discussions. They don’t decide the outcome but they can help set the tone for a good viva.

And not every viva has one. If you don’t, then your internal examiner takes on some of these responsibilities. They’ll make sure your viva is fair.

Is there a chair or not for your viva? Find out. One situation isn’t better than the other – they’re just different. Knowing as much as you can about what to expect can help settle your mind that your viva really is going to be fine.

Nathan

A Little Pause, Here And There

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A few seconds to make sure you’ve heard and understood something.

A few seconds to make a note.

A few seconds to check a detail.

A few seconds to be sure your examiner has stopped talking.

A few seconds that are a little awkward over Zoom.

A few seconds that feel like a lot more than a few seconds.

Or a few seconds that might need to be a moment or two, to really check something over.

A few seconds pause here and there are needed in the viva. Pauses are essential for getting your thoughts in order, for determining what’s next, for checking that everything is OK, or for just thinking and appreciating what’s going on.

And you’re not the only person who might need to pause in the viva.

When you take all those little pauses together they’re still just a small part of the viva.

Maybe one way to help you be fine with pauses in your viva is to think of them as a lot of little things that help the big things go well.

Nathan

Unanticipated, Not Unmanageable

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Every viva is “unique, not unknown” – always different, but following patterns from regulations, expectations and even traditions within departments or universities.

We can also say with confidence that a viva could be “unanticipated, not unmanageable” in how it occurs. A viva could deviate from expectations in a way that no-one could expect from the outset: a question could be unpredicted, a comment could seem random, a line of discussion could even be uncomfortable.

All of which would be unanticipated – but not unmanageable. Given the time a candidate would spend working on their PhD, investing in their development and getting ready, the viva could be surprising, more than the expected challenge, but still within the capabilities of the candidate.

Unique, not unknown. Unanticipated, not unmanageable.

Which is the short way of saying that you can have reasonable expectations, and rise to the challenge of anything you can’t foresee.

Even shorter: you can do it.

Nathan

Space To Feel

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In my writing and webinar work I try to help and to give perspective on the viva. I try not to share things like a great to do list, but also know that some people I engage will treat things that way:

If I do X then Y will happen and everything will be fine.

Everything probably will be fine. Things will probably work out the way you want and you’ll have the outcome you’re looking for – but the journey there might not be smooth, navigating the bumpy road of emotions, changes and endings along the way.

This has been hammered home to me in the last year as I’ve delivered webinars.

In a seminar room, people tend to have their public faces on. They could be unsure, they could be curious but they smile – there’s a mask in place. In a webinar, with cameras off and chat windows open, people talk more freely. Questions become longer than could be squeezed on a Post-it Note, and real emotions flow into the statements that people make:

I’ve not thought about how things are going to change… The pandemic hasn’t given me the chance or the pause until today…

I’m angry because of how my submission and viva will be so different than I had imagined!

I’m crying a little as no-one, not my supervisor or department, have told me that I’m good or talented before…

These aren’t direct quotes, but they are representative of what people have told me in just the last few months. Perhaps it’s been there in the background all along, and it took the shift to webinars for me to recognise it in candidates. Maybe it’s a more recent emergence brought on by the pressures of the last year.

In either case, if you want a to do list for getting ready, here’s my update: read your thesis, make notes, rehearse for the viva, boost your confidence…

…and make space to feel.

Reflect, not just on your talent to help build your confidence, but on where you are, how you got there and how you feel about all this. Happy, sad, angry, excited, scared – however you feel, make space for it. Unpick it a little maybe. See what you need to do.

Nathan

Tested By The Viva?

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“Test” doesn’t seem big enough to think about the way you have to engage in the viva.

A test feels like a little thing, a one-time intervention where you are measured, checked and analysed. That’s not the viva. Maybe we could consider the viva being like a car’s MOT: a check that you are researcher-ready. You have everything in place and are ready to run as a researcher, if you wanted to, but still that wouldn’t feel quite right.

Better to say you’re examined in the viva. You’re challenged by the viva. You defend your work in the viva.

But it’s not enough to say that you’re simply tested by it. The viva is not so great and big as to be the most important thing you will ever do, but it’s not so small as to be simply a test.

Nathan

Vivas and Sandwiches

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If you order a sandwich in a cafe, you know there’s a certain set of expectations. Bread of some sort, in some shape; often two pieces or parts with a filling between them, generally simple and quick to produce. Lots of variety, but through experience you know the kind of thing you’ll receive.

The same is true of vivas, even if you’ve never had one before. You can ask others about theirs to get a sense of what to expect. Read the regulations for your institution, especially if your viva will be over video. Listen to stories to find out the common experiences for your department.

Questions vary, but vivas follow patterns that aren’t too hard to learn about. Every viva has qualities you would nearly always expect, like an internal examiner and an external examiner. Together they facilitate a discussion – with you and your work sandwiched right in the middle.

 

Nathan

The Pros & Cons of Examiners

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Or, to be more specific, the pros and cons of different kinds of academics who could be your examiner. Almost every good quality that you could value in an examiner, might be a negative for someone else.

An expert in my field!

“They’ll really understand what I’ve done!” versus “…they’ll… really understand what I’ve done… Oh… Hmm…”

Someone I cited a lot in my thesis!

“They can see what I did with their work!” versus “…what if they don’t like what I did with their work?!”

And so on. There’s no right or wrong really. Qualities you find helpful are your preference. Think about them and get a list of criteria for what a good examiner would be for you. Then think about who might match the list you have. You don’t get to choose, but can suggest names to your supervisors. They’ll probably have their own criteria and ideas too, so it’s worth preparing for a conversation.

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