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Tag: viva experience

Nathan

A Final Conversation

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That’s what my viva was.

Of course, I have told people about my research in the years since, but I moved away from my research discipline into different work. Since June 2008 I’ve never had the opportunity to talk about my PhD research with knowledgeable people who really wanted to know more.

(I’ve had plenty of small chats with polite people who probably regretted asking, “So what did you do for your PhD?”)

I don’t have any regrets but I didn’t know that was going to be the final real conversation I’d have about my PhD work. Your future plans might give you some confidence that there will be plenty more times to come when you can discuss all of what you’ve done…

…but if you’re not sure then please consider: if your viva was the final substantive conversation you would have about your PhD research what would you want to make sure you talk about?

Nathan

Hope & Belief

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It’s wrong to hope for confidence at your viva but right to believe you’ll succeed.

Confidence is cultivated: you don’t just cross your fingers and hope for it. You have to do something to change how you feel.

Believing you’ll pass is sensible: the statistics show that the overwhelming majority of PhD candidates who submit a thesis succeed at the viva. It’s reasonable to believe you’ll pass too.

Don’t hope for confidence – build it up. Don’t worry about passing – work towards it.

Nathan

Remaking My Viva

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Oh no he’s done it again! It’s another video game related post about the viva!

Which is apt because I’ve been thinking about remakes and remasters of video games. This is the practice of taking an older game that people liked and saying, “We can make this look more fancy and play more modern. We can smooth out the rough edges we couldn’t do anything about in the past.”

It’s also typically a way to make money by tapping into nostalgia and fan curiosity!

 

I had my viva in 2008. I’ve been thinking about what I would change or do differently if I could go back. How would I remake my viva and tweak my experience?

  • I could have asked about what I didn’t know instead of just seeing unknowns. I could have worked to find out more about what to expect.
  • I could have realised that the one person I knew of who had failed didn’t have to define my concerns. I knew over a dozen people who had passed.
  • I was a nervous presenter and felt similar nerves for my viva. I could have worked on building up my confidence or found ways to cope better.

Video game remakes often involve upgrading graphics and appearances. I would definitely change the venue for my viva! There were three of us in a long seminar room with rows of tables and filing cabinets at the back of the room. The room was the dumping ground for the spares and castoffs of my department. It wasn’t the nicest venue for a meeting at any time.

A change of venue would be an upgrade. Spending more time rehearsing would be an upgrade. Knowing more about what to expect would be an upgrade.

But maybe all of the stuff I do wouldn’t exist if I hadn’t had that experience and been thinking about it so much afterwards? Who knows?

 

But never mind my viva, here’s the real point: you can upgrade your viva today.

You don’t need to wait for hindsight. You won’t have a second opportunity to make this the best experience for yourself.

Take a little thought to think about what you need to know and what you need to do. How can you make your viva a great experience? What steps can you take? What actions will steer things closer to how you need them to be?

Nathan

Satisfaction

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What do you need or want from your viva for it to be a satisfying experience?

  • You might want to talk about certain topics. You might want to hear your examiners’ opinions. You might want those opinions to be good!
  • You might want your viva to be a certain length or to proceed in a certain way. You might want certain questions or the absence of specific questions.
  • What do you need to know? What might you need to do? Who might you talk to in order to feel happy about your viva before you have it?

And what, of all of these wants and needs that you perceive, is within your control?

If you pin the satisfaction of your viva on things that are out of your control then you can only hope that it will be a good experience.

Think carefully about what you need and want from your viva and don’t rely on hoping that it will all go well.

 

PS: for more than hope of viva success take a look at next week’s 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva webinar on Wednesday 24th September. An hour of viva confidence plus a catch-up recording and pdf guide to getting ready. Full details at the link!

Nathan

Worries Are Human

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Viva worries are a very typical, human response to an important situation.

It doesn’t mean that something is necessarily wrong. Given the journey that leads to the viva, the known and imagined aspects of the exam and the hoped-for outcome, feeling worried is a very natural response.

It’s also a first response: a first feeling upon thinking about the situation.

You can do more than just worry: you can ask for help, learn more about the viva and generally take steps to get ready. You can take action get past worry.

 

Worry doesn’t come from nowhere. Something prompts it.

Worry isn’t the end either. You can do something about it when it finds you generally – and you can do something specifically to help with your viva.

So, if you feel worried, what will you do?

Nathan

Taking Your Turn

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I like board games which have a bit of structure to them: on your turn play one card; follow the card’s rule; move your piece; draw or discard cards until you have a hand of three. There’s a large possibility space for what a player might do, but the structure helps things move along.

The viva isn’t a game thankfully, but there is still an element of turn-taking in a discussion. One person speaks and then another is given the opportunity to respond. You, the candidate, can ask questions in the viva, but more often than not you’ll be responding.

You have to wait for your turn and then you have to take your turn.

On your turn you might be faced with a big question or a small question, easy or hard, simple or difficult and you might or might not know immediately what to say. A bit of structure helps here too, whatever the question: on your turn, breathe; pause to consider the question; ask for clarification if needed; get your thoughts in order; then speak calmly and as clearly as you can.

The viva isn’t a game, you’re not earning victory points or trying to get ahead of everyone else in the room. Decide in advance what strategy you’ll employ to take your turn and use every opportunity your examiners present you.

Nathan

What I Did

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I remember reading my thesis a lot after submission. Without thinking about the purpose too much I remember adding a lot of notes to my thesis margins. I would circle or mark jargon terms that I had trouble with in the hope that I would be able to remember them at the viva. I stuck sticky notes at the start of chapters to help me navigate my thesis.

I had a weekly meeting with my supervisor throughout my PhD that we continued after I submitted my thesis. Each week we talked about one chapter in my thesis. I don’t recall a particular purpose, we weren’t exploring “What might an examiner ask?” – the conversation was more general than that.

I read a survey paper on a topic my external was interested in. My supervisor thought this would be helpful because my external would want me to explain whether my work could connect up with this hot topic area. My supervisor was 100% correct in this belief!

I prepared an overview presentation of my thesis because I was asked for that by my examiners; I knew that that was how my viva would start and so that gave me something to focus on.

I also:

  • Didn’t really ask about what vivas were like.
  • Didn’t have a mock viva.
  • Didn’t check over any recent papers to see if there was anything relevant to my work.
  • Didn’t reflect on my own journey.
  • Didn’t rehearse for responding to questions.

And I knocked on my supervisor’s door with fifteen minutes to go before my viva so that I could check a definition one more time, because I had suddenly gone blank.

 

What does all this mean? I don’t know. I was very busy getting ready, but could have been more effective. I did a lot of work but with no thought about whether it was the right thing to do. I don’t think I did anything unhelpful but I know missed things that could have made a real difference.

I was ready for my viva but with a bit of thought I could have been much more well-prepared.

Nathan

And Then What?

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It’s not unusual to feel that the viva is a bit of an anticlimax.

It takes a lot to submit a thesis. It takes work to prepare for a viva. There’s a lot of anticipation and a lot of feelings-

-and then it’s over.

Two, three or four hours. They could be tough. They could be a nice chat. The viva could feel long or short. The questions could be a natural part of a conversation or feel like a challenging exercise.

But your viva will be over before you know it. You’ll most likely succeed.

Then what?

 

It’s one day. A few hours of one day. One challenge after years of challenges.

Get the viva in the right perspective. Find out what other people experience so you know what you can reasonably expect. Plan to do something to celebrate so that even if the viva makes you say, “…was that it?!” you still have something to look forward to.

Nathan

Not The Reason

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I’ve lost count of the number of PhD candidates who’ve told me that they’re worried about receiving critical questions.

Some are worried about particular criticisms. Some are worried about hypothetical questions. Some are worried about the questions that they haven’t anticipated.

All are being rational.

It’s not that they should worry, more that it’s not irrational to worry about critical viva questions. Given the amount of work involved in getting to the viva – and given the outcome that a candidate would be hoping for – it’s understandable to worry.

As ever, in situations where someone worries it helps to ask why.

  • If you’re worried about a particular criticism, why? What’s the reason?
  • If you’re worried about a particular hypothetical question, why? If you’ve thought about it, can’t you do something to think about how you might respond?
  • If you’re worried about the undefined mass of questions you’ve never considered, why? Is there nothing you can do to change how you feel?

I have a three-word aphorism that I always try to keep in mind (both for myself and others): work past worry. Worry is human, but action will always take you closer to resolving the situation than worrying alone.

If you worry, do something.

If you worry there’s a reason for that worry. If you do something you can work towards the concern being satisfied in some way.

Remember as well that whatever question your examiners ask, there is always a reason motivating them. If you’re not sure how to respond then try to consider the reason for their question in the first place.

Nathan

Keeping Focus In The Viva

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“How do I stay focussed in the viva?” has the same response as “How do I engage well in the viva?”

You listen.

You pause.

You think.

You check details in your thesis.

You ask questions.

You make notes.

You share the best responses that you can to provide context, information and demonstrate who you are and what you did.

Engaging well keeps your focus. Keeping focus helps you to engage well.

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