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Tag: viva expectations

Nathan

Number Posts

Daily Post

I try not to be clickbait-y in the titles that I choose for posts. Numbers are sometimes really useful to help me round up ideas, and they also help to draw attention too. It dawned on me that in and amongst the many posts I’d published that I had probably done posts “counting down” from ten to one.

I checked – I have!

Another thing about “number” posts: they’re usually pretty clear. While it won’t be enough for you to try to memorise “eight cool things” about your thesis or “ten top references” in your bibliography, giving yourself a nudge with a number could help you to look at your research differently. It might help you to summarise or capture things neatly too.

Used appropriately, numbers can stick in the mind quite well!

Nathan

Together In The Viva

Daily Post

The viva is you and your examiners; the viva isn’t you versus them.

You don’t have to challenge all their questions. They don’t have to bring you and your work down.

It’s not combat. It’s not a trial. It’s not an ordeal. You don’t have to prove that you’re better than them somehow.

It’s you AND them creating your viva.

Instead of worrying about what you have to do “to win” – make sure you’re ready to share your best self and best stuff. Make sure you know what you need to about the process and your examiners to help the viva be as good as it can be.

Nathan

Minor

Daily Post

Most candidates get minor corrections as a result of the viva. I’ve talked with plenty of candidates who worry about what this might mean for them.

Words that correspond with minor in the thesaurus:

…inconsequential, unimportant, lesser, slight, trivial, small-fry, small-time, dinky…

Perhaps you wouldn’t categorise typos as small-fry, but it’s worth reflecting on what “minor” means to keep the scope and scale of minor corrections in perspective. Individually, each correction is a relatively small change. Combined, they could take time to work through, so be sure that you know how much time your institution gives for completing them.

Compared with the work for your PhD, the effort for your preparation and your viva, minor corrections are a dinky piece of work. For the most part, they’re trivial compared to the energy required for everything else you’ve done.

Nathan

On The Clock

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Checking the time while you’re in the viva won’t help.

Most vivas, based on all the conversations I’ve had over the last decade, seem to be in the two- to three-hour range. That knowledge can help you to prepare a little, think about how rested you need to be and what you might need to be ready to talk for that long. But it won’t help you in the viva to look at a clock and know that an hour has passed.

There’s no correlation between viva length and outcome. Looking at the time will only make you wonder. “How am I doing?” or “Two hours already?!” or “This is going fast… Is that good?!”

Have an idea about how long the viva could be to help you prepare. Turn your mind away from time when you’re in there. Pause, take time to think and respond. Don’t rush, don’t worry.

It will probably be over sooner than you think, and only take as long as it needs to. You are going to be fine however long it is.

Nathan

Unhelpful Things…

Daily Post

…to say to friends who have their viva coming up:

  • “Good luck!”
  • “Don’t worry!”
  • “You’ll be fine, nearly no-one fails!”

Better things to say include:

  • “You’re talented, don’t forget!”
  • “What can I do to help?”
  • “How are you doing?”

And if you’ve had a viva and it was fine, don’t just tell your friend that they’ll be fine. Tell them why you were fine. Tell them your story, short and simple, but with enough to help them see what the viva can be like – and what helped you be ready for yours.

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.

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