Gingerbread Houses

My wife and daughter love decorating gingerbread houses at this time of year.

Sometimes they’ll work on two houses at the same time, one each. Their houses will be the same structurally with walls and roof baked from the same moulds. They’ll each take their own icing, sweets and chocolates to make their house look special.

A long time ago I made a present for someone at Christmas-time, by taking a gingerbread mould and making the walls out of chocolate. It looked good, but the walls were so thick I felt sorry for their teeth afterwards…

 

All of which makes me think of vivas of course! Vivas follow patterns, the same way that gingerbread houses follow the moulds they’re baked in.

The dough in a gingerbread mix might be more or less well-combined than is typical. An ingredient might be over-represented in sometime or lacking entirely. Gingerbread houses follow patterns in the same way that vivas do. They can also vary wildly based on how people engage with them – or decorate them!

And sometimes they can follow the same pattern but be very different because the ingredients are different, like the chocolate house I made.

Patterns and common expectations still create different experiences. Your viva will be unique, but not unknown.

It’s not hard to get a good sense of what to expect – and expect that your viva will be one of a kind.

My chocolate house from long ago, plus my wife's far better house from that year! A light gingerbread house decorated with white icing and smarties roof, next to a dark chocolate house made from the same mould, decorated barely with white icing, smarties and a stacked cookie chimney
My chocolate house from long ago, plus my wife’s far better house from that year!

What’s Bad?

Is it possible to have a “bad” viva?

There are lots of general expectations about the viva process. A reasonable expectation for the duration is two to three hours. There are outliers: it’s possible to be finished in less than an hour, but it’s not a possibility to be hoped for. My viva was four hours and I once met someone whose viva was five hours!

I don’t think my viva was “bad” but can imagine that for another person four hours would have felt like an awfully long time.

Maybe there are certain questions that would feel bad to receive. Perhaps a particular focus by an examiner would be unwelcome. There’s a very remote chance that an examiner could approach the viva with the wrong attitude: looking to find problems or to show off their own knowledge and experience.

That would be objectively bad and it’s very unlikely, thankfully.

 

Most ideas of a “bad” viva are subjective: you have concerns about what could make your viva “bad” for you. If you can name those concerns then maybe you can do something about them.

For example, if a “bad” viva would be one where you forgot things, then you could take steps in your prep to help in case that happened. If a “bad” viva focussed on a particular topic, then you could do extra reading in preparation, or take time to rehearse more for talking about it.

If you have an idea of something that would make your viva “bad”, first check to see if it’s at all likely. Knowing that it probably won’t happen could be enough to help – but if not, consider what steps you could take to help yourself.

Together

That’s how a viva happens: you need to have your examiners there. You can’t do it alone.

Before your viva:

  • Be sure you know who your examiners are and what they have done. Checking their recent papers will be enough.
  • Rehearse for being in the viva with some kind of practice like a mock viva.
  • Check your institution’s regulations and learn about viva expectations to get a sense of the roles of your examiners, their responsibilities and your responsibilities.

You need your examiners in order to have a viva, for the discussion to take place and for your success to be confirmed.

 

PS: One more thing that will help is the Viva Help Bundle – three great resources including a book of the best of Viva Survivors, a guide to 101 actions you can take to have a great viva and a reflective writing game about the PhD journey. The Viva Help Bundle is available at a special price of £6 until November 30th 2023. Please do take a look!

Terrifying Tales Of Vivas Past!

How many scary movies have come to cinemas in the last few weeks? How many horror shows have just been released on various streaming services?

Around viva time you’ll notice something about the stories people tell too.

They remember a friend of a friend had a rough time. Maybe it was the wrong examiner for them.

Or that person – what’s-their-name? – whose viva was all day!

And who can forget the story of So-and-so… The year before you started your PhD they failed theirs!

 

Some vivas are tough or especially difficult: there are real tales of bad viva experiences out there, but the vast majority are positive.

Most vivas result in success and most of those successes are vivas that are two or three hours in length, involving deep discussion and resulting in minor corrections.

Around viva time rumours and half-truths swirl about, like ghosts on a Halloween fog conjured from a spooky cauldron – but inspect them just a little, ask some specific questions from people you can trust and you’ll see that that’s not what all vivas are like.

In fact, terrifying tales are the rare exception rather than the typical situation.

Expectations & Responsibilities

Viva expectations invite responsibilities.

  • If vivas are generally expected to take hours then you and your examiners have a responsibility to be ready for that situation.
  • If vivas typically begin with certain types of starter question then you have a responsibility to prepare for that line of discussion.
  • If vivas are discussion-based then you have a responsibility to be ready to respond to questions – and willing to share your research, your thesis and yourself.
  • If you’re expected to succeed then you have a responsibility to prepare as well as you can – while examiners work towards making the viva the right environment for that outcome.

And most generally, if vivas have expectations then you have a responsibility first to learn about them. Knowing what to expect, even if that covers a range of possible experiences, gives you an opportunity to be as well-prepared as you can.

Expectations Matter

Every viva is unique, but expectations show that yours will not be a total unknown.

Expectations provide an outline.

“Vivas are generally like this and not like that.”

Viva expectations shape preparation and build confidence.

The set of expectations you build up are a structure based on regulations and stories.

They build certainty but provide no guarantees.

Expectations matter because they are far better than wondering “What if…?”

And expectations typically show that vivas are nowhere near as terrible or challenging as the vague worries and unverified rumours about what happens.

Read the regulations. Listen to the stories. Ask around.

Find a set of expectations that will help you work towards being ready for your viva.

Bracing

Every now and then we’ve had trouble with the boiler in our house.

One of the more extreme problems was a time when the temperature of the shower would cycle between pleasant and absolutely-freezing while in use. Over the course of twenty seconds or so a rhythm would play out in the temperature:

  • Nice.
  • Nice-
  • -cool-
  • -cold!
  • Freezing!
  • Oh gosh how does it go that cold?!
  • It goes colder???
  • Freezing!
  • Warming, phew!
  • Nice.

And repeat.

It took a few weeks to arrange the repair. During that time it was never certain when or if the problem would recur. Some days the shower was fine. Some days you would get a sudden surprise as the water temperature plummeted. We never knew when it would happen!

 

For the most part, everything works with vivas. Examiners and candidates have a sense of what is supposed to happen, and then everyone does their part to make that a reality.

But sometimes a question doesn’t produce the response that was expected.

Occasionally an assumption about an idea is wrong.

Or emotions in the event are too much.

All of these could be uncomfortable, even shocking in the moment. Like a suddenly cold shower.

But like a cold shower, if you’re already in that moment, what else can you do but continue? What else can you do but keep going?

If there’s a mismatch of expectations, or a question prompts an odd response, or if you’re feeling overwhelmed then pause. Ask a question. Ask for a break. Ask for help! Read your thesis. Sip some water. Do something.

As best as you can in the situation, keep going.

 

Cold showers and challenging viva moments. Both can be unexpected. Both can be uncomfortable.

When you’re in that kind of situation, you have no choice but to find a way forward. For the viva, remember that you have knowledge, talent and experience.

“Not Like I Thought”

It’s one of the most common things people say about the viva.

I believed my examiners would grill me but instead we just talked about what I had done…

I thought I would go blank but it was just good to be discussing my research…

I expected that I would be there for hours and hours, but it was all done by 1pm…

In my experience there is a massive mis-match between what PhD candidates generally expect from their viva and what happens when they meet their examiners. Typically, this is because the candidate expects it is going to be far more dire an experience than it actually is!

It’s good that vivas tend to work out well, but it would be better if people went to them knowing more of what to expect and thus get ready in a more positive frame of mind.

So what can you do? Don’t just listen to the person on the internet. Talk to your friends. Talk to your colleagues. Talk to your supervisors. Read the regulations. Read blog posts and articles describing real experiences. Through all of this try to arrive at a good, positive idea of the viva that is ahead of you.

Timing

If you check the viva regulations and talk with friends who have been through the process then you can start to appreciate the possible timing of your viva. Ask how long people had to wait for a viva date and how much time they were given to complete corrections.

Details help because at some point it will be your turn, your time – and like everyone your time is filled up already.

You have work and family and friends. You have responsibilities, obligations and the things you actually want to do. You have enough stuff already in your life and with your viva there will be new things to do.

  • You need to arrange a date that works for you.
  • You need to do the work to get ready.
  • You’ll probably have to do work afterwards to make a final version of your thesis.

Check the regulations and ask your friends to get a sense of when and how you’ll need to do things for your viva. Use the information to plan for how this will impact your life.

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