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Tag: viva expectations

Nathan

Blank, During and Before

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Going blank in the viva isn’t a big problem. The potential for it might feel worrying, but typically it doesn’t happen that much. If it does happen there are things you could do. You can take your time, you can think and something will come. Going blank doesn’t mean you’re not talented, it means you’re human.

Your viva isn’t a test of perfection.

If you go blank in the viva, sit with it, pause, relax and try again.

Going blank before the viva is also a small problem. If you realise you don’t know much about your examiners, or you’re unsure about the procedure for the viva, those are small problems. If you try to think about a certain chapter or theory and your brain doesn’t supply ideas, you have a small problem.

Small problems often have many solutions – generally either thinking, reading or asking.

If you go blank before the viva, ask yourself what could make it better, and the answer to that question will probably resolve things.

Nathan

The End of the Viva

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As with every aspect of the PhD and the viva, there is a variety of experiences for the end, but several common stories.

Candidates might be asked if they have any questions or comments. Then when all the talking is done, examiners most commonly ask the candidate to leave the room so that they can have a quick chat. While the candidate waits nearby, perhaps nervously, perhaps not, the examiners confer and make a firm decision. They check they’ve got satisfactory answers to all of the things they needed to raise, and talk about the viva and what they think of it all.

The length of the wait varies. One person told me they waited two minutes and were called back; another told me they waited half an hour, and while there were no problems they had really started to worry! Ten to twenty minutes is seen as a reasonable length of time for examiners to chat.

Typically, examiners give the result then. They tell the candidate what the outcome is and what that means. If corrections are involved they might say a little about them. Examiners might need time to put a full list together. While minor corrections is the most likely outcome, it’s important to know in advance what all the outcomes mean. How much time is given? What is the process for getting examiners to certify that corrections have been completed?

The viva is not the end of the PhD. The end of the viva is not the end of the PhD. It can seem like there’s always something to do. But you’re getting close. Compared to everything that’s come before, you’ve not got far to go.

Nathan

Playing The Odds

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Please don’t.

There are statistics about the viva, both in terms of experiences – around 50% of vivas are two hours or less – and outcomes – around 85% of candidates get minor corrections – but these are only useful in terms of sharing broad expectations. Don’t just use the numbers to imagine a most likely scenario.

Instead, put them all together to create a smudgy, blurry image. Don’t just hope that your viva is less than two hours but work so that you feel confident whatever the length. Don’t just believe your thesis will pass with minor corrections whatever happens, work to make it the best possible thesis it can be.

Stats help tell the story, but it’s not enough to just hope for a particular outcome or experience.

Nathan

Fortunate

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If things work out during your PhD, that’s not simply luck. You have to work for it. If you get the most fantastic results or the brightest ideas they come to you only through effort.

Which means that when you get to submission and then the viva, it’s not simply luck. You HAVE worked for it. The end result of a good thesis and a good candidate for the viva is due to your effort.

You’re fortunate, not lucky. If your hard work has produced results this far then what would stop your fortune continuing to the viva?

Nathan

Refreshments Might Not Be Provided

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Take a drink with you to the viva. After years and years of working with researchers, chatting to examiners and asking at institutions, I’ve found very few places where providing tea, coffee or water is part of the practice for the viva. Take something to stay hydrated.

Maybe take something to eat too. I don’t hear many stories of sharing cake or biscuits in the viva, but plenty of tales of candidates feeling drained as soon as the viva is finished. Take something you can eat to help energy levels in a break or when you’ve passed.

Little things can make a big difference.

Nathan

Survival Time

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Have you heard of the “rules of three” for surviving in extreme conditions?

  • You can survive three minutes without oxygen.
  • You can survive three hours without shelter/warmth.
  • You can survive three days without water.
  • You can survive three weeks without food.

People survive in extreme conditions, but only just.

I’ve heard PhD candidates wonder how they might survive in a potential three hour viva. That’s not extreme conditions, even relative to the viva! Most candidates could expect to be finished within three hours. It’s difficult to imagine what an extreme viva might be. There are challenges inherent in the process, but they’re not all or nothing, do or die.

PhD candidates survive the challenges of the viva – they manage to keep going in difficult circumstances – because of the challenges they’ve already faced in the three or more years of doing research.

The years help with the hours.

Nathan

Your Viva Will Be Different…

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…but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn something by asking questions about your friend’s viva.

Every viva is different, but there are expectations.

Yours will be unique, but you can have a picture of what it will be like.

Find out. Ask. Learn. Get ready.

Nathan

This Is More Of A Comment

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Listen to any comments, especially in the viva.

There might be a question underneath.

The question might be in the comment. It could be a challenge, but that challenge might be a small thing that only needs a small response.

It could be the question comes from you. It could be you listen to your examiner’s comment, and you ask a question to bring that thought into the discussion more. You can find out more, get a sense of why this comment is important to your examiner. Then you’ll see what you need to do to say more.

Or you might listen and realise it’s just a comment.

An idea, nothing big, serious or scary. Just a thought, an “I wonder…”

Something to acknowledge, but nothing to do.

Nathan

8 Things You Need To Know About The Viva

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I ask people at the start of Viva Survivor sessions what they need to know about the viva. I ask if they have gaps of knowledge, worries about what might happen or vague hypotheticals.

I’m happy to answer anything and everything that candidates want to talk about. Recently, a participant in a session turned the question around on me: what did I think people needed to know?

It’s a good question. Here’s my answer:

  1. The vast majority of candidates pass the viva. This doesn’t “just happen”…
  2. …candidates pass the viva because of what they’ve done, what they know and what they can do. Perfection is not the goal or expectation. Candidates must necessarily be really good at what they do to get to submission and the viva.
  3. Examiners will be prepared, and that’s a good thing. They’ve read your thesis, made notes and thought a lot about questions; that’s far better than the alternative!
  4. Examiners may have challenging questions, but they ask them with respect for you and your work. They’re not there to interrogate or tear work apart. Questions can be challenging, but that’s due to the nature and standard of the research involved.
  5. There are broad expectations for what the viva is like. These aren’t secret.
  6. Most candidates get some form of corrections. You probably will too. Examiners recommend them to help make the best possible thesis submission.
  7. The viva can be prepared for. You can’t anticipate and have model answers for every question, but by preparing well you can be ready and confident to answer any question that comes up.
  8. The viva might be the final test, but it’s not the only test. You’ve invested a lot of time and energy into your PhD: the viva is not the only milestone you’ve passed. You’ve consistently applied yourself and achieved. The viva is one more time you have to meet the standard.

And that’s what I think candidates need to know about the viva.

Nathan

Not The Point

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Sir Ken Robinson’s work on education and creativity has changed the world. His TED talks have been seen by hundreds of millions of people, and his words, ideas and humour have impacted so many more. His first TED Talk, “Do schools kill creativity?” was a revelation to me when I saw it for the first time, shortly after I finished my PhD. I’ve listened to it so many times since then that I think there are parts I could perform if I were of a mind to.

I was listening to it again the other day, when a passage jumped out at me. From the transcript:

If you were to visit education as an alien and say “What’s it for, public education?” I think you’d have to conclude, if you look at the output, who really succeeds by this, who does everything they should, who gets all the brownie points, who are the winners — I think you’d have to conclude the whole purpose of public education throughout the world is to produce university professors. Isn’t it? They’re the people who come out the top. And I used to be one, so there.

And I like university professors, but, you know, we shouldn’t hold them up as the high-water mark of all human achievement. They’re just a form of life. Another form of life.

And of course he’s right, the point of education isn’t to make university professors. There are important elements in any system or idea. They might be crucial, but they’re not the point. In many situations we often mistake something important for the point.

Yes, the viva is important, but it’s not the point of the PhD process.

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