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Tag: viva expectations

Nathan

Forty

Daily Post

Today’s not just any day. It’s my birthday!

It’s not just any birthday. It’s a big birthday!

People feel all sorts of things about big birthdays.

Some are happy, some are sad. Some want to party, or be left alone. Some want to make big changes, or feel happy just going on as they were.

And perhaps some people, today, don’t quite know what to think or do about their big birthday. There’s so much going on in the world. Parties are more or less impossible, for very good reasons, and celebrating doesn’t feel as important as it might otherwise. For some people, a big birthday might leave them really wondering what to do.

 

Vivas are a lot like big birthdays. People respond to them in many different ways too.

There are lots of things that impact how a candidate feels about their viva. There isn’t a default feeling or set response. Happy or sad. Excited or worried. One candidate needs help from others while another desperately wants to be left alone. There are just so many emotions and needs that can be floating around a PhD candidate as they get close to their viva.

Whatever those emotions and needs are though, they will need to do something. To build on their confidence, or do more to get ready. To unpick an uncertainty, or ask a friend for support. To take it easy or work that little bit harder. Every candidate, once they’ve figured out where they are, can map out where they need to be – then do something to get that little bit closer to being ready and being in their viva.

 

It’s my birthday, and I don’t quite know what to do with myself, but I can at least do something nice: if you’ve been thinking about whether or not to buy any of my viva-related ebooks – all available here at Payhip – then the next few days might be a good time to pick them up. Use the code NATHANISFORTY at the checkout before next Sunday (24th January 2021) and you’ll get 40% off. Simple as that.

Now I’m going to take the rest of the day off! That’s a start 🙂

Thanks for reading.

Nathan

Internal & External

Daily Post

There are differences between your examiners, but it might be more useful to focus on what they have in common than what separates them. They’re both academics, both experienced, both prepared.

They’ve both read your thesis, both thought about your viva in advance. Now they’re ready to ask questions, steer discussions and listen to what you have to say.

You can’t know everything they will ask, say or do in advance. Instead, use a little time to look at who they are and what they’ve done. Get a sense of what might motivate their questions and their approach to your viva.

Nathan

Types of Response

Daily Post

You might not have an answer for every question in your viva.

But in response you could offer an opinion or share a thought. You could ask a question for clarity or reveal how you feel about a topic. You could have a hunch or hypothesis, or you could have nothing, and say simply, “I don’t know.”

Responding to questions or comments is a fundamental part of the viva – but remember that you don’t need an answer for everything.

Nathan

You Have Passed

Daily Post

It’s a minute before your viva starts. You’re probably a little nervous. Ready but recognising the importance.

As you begin remember you have passed…

  • …whatever requirements you had to in order to get on to your research programme…
  • …the difficult first months of a doctorate when you have to figure so much out…
  • …all reports, upgrade and transfer vivas along the way…
  • …probable scrutiny in the eyes of your peers by giving conference talks or paper…
  • …your supervisors’ standards by meeting them many times…
  • …your own doubts and concerns, or enough of them, to get the work done…

…and now you have one more thing to pass.

Given that you’ve passed so much already, it’s fair to assume that you’re going to pass this one too.

So go pass.

Nathan

How To Answer Difficult Questions

Daily Post

In some cases, you won’t be able to.

The viva is not a question and answer session or a quiz. Some questions won’t have memorisable facts that you can serve up to your examiners; instead, you will have to offer another contribution, a response – a detail, an opinion, an argument, a feeling, a hunch, a question – in order to keep the discussion moving forward.

Your response may not be the entirety of everything you want to say. It may be that you have to pause and reflect first, make notes, stand up and draw something, or ask for clarification.

You may not be able to answer a question, but after a little thought you will always be able to respond.

If the question is difficult, then you owe it to yourself to think a little more, pause a little longer, take a little more care, even ask for a little more, so that you can respond as best as you possibly can. That response could be an answer (truth, or an argument with a lot of evidence), but it could be something else that is just as much what your examiners could be looking for.

Every question, not just the difficult ones, deserves a little time, a little space, a little thought in order for you to give your best response.

Nathan

Celebrate!

Daily Post

What will you do when you pass your viva?

Who will you tell first?

On that day, maybe that evening, after the first thrill has passed, what will you do to mark the occasion?

(it may be that you have to get a little creative of course, depending on when you have your viva…)

Once you have these images of celebration and success in mind, use them to motivate you. Use them to persuade yourself that you’re on track. Use them to boost your confidence or commitment to getting ready.

And use them to make your imagined celebrations real, when the time comes.

Nathan

Three Nervous People

Daily Post

In your viva, you don’t necessarily have a monopoly on recognising that it isn’t a typical day.

You: I did this work, but it’s important and I want this to go well, and I wonder what they’ll ask me first…

Your Internal Examiner: have I forgot anything? I hope I’ve made a note of everything, I do so want this to go well…

Your External Examiner: I hope the candidate isn’t too nervous, they’ve nothing to worry about, I really want this to go well for them…

Some vivas have independent chairs too. Some candidates invite a supervisor to observe. But all vivas have at least three talented, hard-working, prepared people in them. People who could all be a little nervous at the start about this exam that they want to go well.

Nathan

“What Can I Get You?”

Daily Post

There’s no viva menu. You can’t sit down at your table and order it exactly as you like…

I’ll have a two-hour viva, plenty of praise, skip the bad stuff and go easy on the methodology questions. I don’t need a side-order of corrections, thanks!

Your examiners are not there to serve you what you want, but what the situation needs. Some of that might be unclear until the viva starts. Remember that you know what the raw ingredients are for the viva: you, your thesis, your talent, who your examiners are. You know what the process is trying to achieve, even if it’s not an à la carte experience.

Nathan

No Rules

Daily Post

There aren’t any rules for the viva, not exactly. That’s not how they work.

There are regulations, specific to each institution, but broadly compatible across the UK.

And there are reasonable expectations from the general stories that are told and shared about viva experiences.

And there are local “house rules” that each department might have (around lengths, formats and so on).

There aren’t rules for the viva, not really, but there is lots of information available that can help people figure out how to play the game. Look for what you need, and pass on what you figure out after you complete your viva.

Nathan

Testing Your Talent

Daily Post

That’s what the viva is all about. How good is your research? How well did you do it? How well do you know it and your field? And just how good are you?

It’s a test that doesn’t require perfection to pass. Preparation will help you get ready, but remember: you can’t have got to submission by being merely lucky, and you can’t have done the work unless you were good.

The viva might test you, but your talent will help you succeed.

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