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Tag: viva expectations

Nathan

Behind The Scenes

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I love movies. I sometimes go through periods where I watch a movie every day. A couple of hours of story, tension, excitement, wonder, hopefully interesting dialogue, emotions, and occasionally incredible special effects.

I love learning about the making of movies too: how were the actors cast? How did the script develop? Where did that cool idea come from? And how did they get that amazing shot to look so good? It’s rare that finding out these things breaks the magic for me. It’s possible, for me at least, to appreciate a movie and marvel at all of the hard work that went into it.

There’s a lot going on behind the scenes in the viva too, but it’s easy to forget that, easy to focus on just that one person on the day, hoping to pass. We have to remember…

  • …all of the hours spent by the candidates doing the work.
  • …all of the time spent organising thoughts and ideas into words on the page.
  • …all of the work invested by many others (supervisors, academics, universities) to get things to this point.
  • …the work of the examiners to get ready to give a good viva.
  • …the preparation work that a candidate can do to get ready and feel ready.

The viva is a couple of hours of dialogue, tension, excitement, maybe wonder, emotions – maybe few special effects, but it is certainly a special event! And it doesn’t just happen. There’s a lot that has to happen behind the scenes first.

Nathan

Making A Fuss

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It’s not making a fuss if you ask your supervisor for help before the viva.

It’s not making a fuss if you think something is wrong with your viva or the outcome and believe you need to appeal something.

It’s not making a fuss to make a complaint about your viva.

It’s not making a fuss if you feel nervous or worried and need to share that with someone to try and get some help.

I often say the viva is not the most important thing ever in a person’s life, but that doesn’t mean you need to just trivialise it. It’s right to not just dismiss any concerns or worries. Make the most of your viva. Make it the best it can be. And if you need to ask questions, ask for help, make a complaint, appeal or whatever to do that then that’s what you need to do.

It’s not making a fuss to do what you need to do for your viva.

Nathan

Burning Questions

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Most PhD candidates have real burning questions about the viva.

There’s something they want to know about the process.

They don’t know something about their examiners.

They’re unsure whether something in their thesis is relevant or a problem.

And they hold on to these questions for too long and get burn. They begin to fret. They begin to worry. They get hurt by them!

Have a question? Find someone to ask. Ask your supervisor. Ask your friends. Ask your graduate school! Ask me!

Don’t let your questions burn you. Ask for answers.

Nathan

Predictions For The Future Of The Viva

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Virtual Vivas: Have your viva from the comfort of your home, while you can have the best external from ANYWHERE in the world!

AI Examiners: Profess0R V.Iva will read your thesis and optimise a set of question trees for discussion routines. Genetic algorithms will simulate instances of responses to produce a fair set of questions. And your viva will take place within three hours of submission of your thesis to the V.Iva Cloud!

The Honour System: “You did it? And it’s good? Fair enough then, here’s your certificate…”

Bonus Round: For every question you give a good answer to from the Super-Hard Questions List you get ten points! Get fifty or more and you could qualify to spin the Wheel Of Doctorateness and maybe win bonus doctoral endorsements!

Refreshments Will Be Provided: A water cooler and a hot water urn with several tea and coffee options. This would be nice if it was relatively common!

Predictions for change are tough. Predictions based on regular, common experiences are much more straight-forward. There are regulations for vivas in the UK. There are common patterns of experience. Within all the variety from what is essentially a unique exam every time we can see ideals to work towards, and so you can be prepared.

Who knows what the future will hold, in the short or long term? You can decide what you will do now.

Don’t wait for your viva future: work for it.

Nathan

YMMV

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Your mileage may vary.

That prep tip from a friend might not help you as much as it helped them.

The regulations might say to expect X, but you experience Y.

While others get a lot of help from a mock viva, you find it makes you worry.

But while your friends are nervous, you feel confident.

While someone else got minor corrections, you get none!

And the advice you heard didn’t just make a small difference, it made the difference to your viva.

Experiences vary. Preferences matter. Not everyone will have the same needs, the same circumstances, the same viva. We can hope for minimum standards, work hard towards preferred outcomes, and still some things won’t be quite as we might like. Some experiences will be better; some tips or techniques will be very helpful for some.

My advice is to share honestly, share openly, share positively. I hope it all helps, but your mileage may vary.

Nathan

Descriptions Are Relative

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Long viva, short viva. Good viva, bad viva.

Discussion or conversation? Chat or challenge?

Ready or prepared?

Words change how we feel about things.

Some people are tired by their viva, but I was exhausted.

Confident or nervous, nervous or anxious, anxious or worried, worried or terrified?

The descriptions for your viva are relative. A three hour or longer viva might feel intimidating now, a really stressful idea. Compare it to the thousands of hours of work you’ve done before. Compare it to how you might feel afterwards. Maybe, like some researchers, you’ll just think, “Was that it?”

Words really, really matter. Choose them carefully.

Nathan

Happy and Unhappy Vivas

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I’ve never read Anna Karenina. I get stuck about twenty pages in and change to something else on my Kindle. As I’ve read the start many times, the opening line remains with me, often translated as:

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

There’s a nice poetry in that statement, and I think it’s relevant to the viva too. In my decade of becoming fascinated by the viva, I hear more stories that mirror Tolstoy’s sentiment: I’ve heard of plenty of happy viva stories that sound quite similar. The few unhappy viva stories are memorable because they are distinct.

Happy vivas are happy because they go well. They’re the majority of vivas; there are general expectations being met; most candidates get minor corrections; most examiners approach their role in the right way; most candidates, even if they are nervous, realise it’s not an insurmountable task. They can prepare and they can continue to do well.

Unhappy vivas always have particular stories. The candidate who didn’t get on with their supervisor. The supervisor who didn’t do their job. The examiners who weren’t right. The regulations that weren’t followed. The candidate who felt rushed. The candidate who didn’t know what to expect. It only takes a few of these little details to make a viva thoroughly unhappy.

Don’t expect an unhappy viva. If you have concerns, do something as soon as possible. Don’t just let it go and hope for the best. Do something.

Do expect a happy viva. You’ve got this far for a reason. You’ve done the work. You are good at what you do. You are where you’re meant to be.

Nathan

Hands On Hips

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I really like Amy Cuddy’s TED Talk: the highlight is that there is evidence that adopting a pose of confidence can improve your confidence. Something as simple as setting your posture can have an effect on how you feel. Standing like a superhero can give you a real boost…

…maybe!

Only maybe, because science isn’t as simple as that. Anecdotally, I’ve had feedback from PhD candidates who have tried this and found it’s worked for them. Researcher developers tell me it has helped their confidence before big presentations or meetings. I can’t guarantee it will work for you, but you won’t know either way until you try it.

Confidence doesn’t begin and end with putting your hands on your hips. Confidence is action. What will you do to build and maintain your confidence? Big and small things help, long term practice and short term boosts.

Nathan

Surprise Questions

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Surprise questions might not be critical, they could simply be unexpected. By your viva you have plenty of talent for responding to questions, but a surprise question might still stun you.

If you are worried about surprise questions:

  • Decide on how you will respond to questions in the viva: will you make a quick note? Will you pause and take a breath to think?
  • Practise answering unexpected questions: will you have a mock viva? Could you give a presentation and take questions?
  • Write down a list of when you’ve answered questions in difficult circumstances: what conference talks have you given? When have you been in seminars and engaged with tricky discussions?

Preparation and reflection can help you to see that surprise questions can be manageable. They could surprise you, but the surprise doesn’t have to be bad.

Nathan

Ask The Experts

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Look around you. There are lots of experts, able to share ideas, advice, experience. All you have to do is ask.

Ask specific questions about viva experiences to learn what they’re like.

Ask your supervisor and other academics how they approach being examiners.

Ask your graduate school about regulations and expectations.

Ask friends and colleagues for helpful questions to practise.

And ask yourself who the real expert on your thesis must be.

Who knows more about your research than anyone else?

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