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Tag: viva feelings

Nathan

Failing Conditions

Daily Post

Failing the viva isn’t something that happens when…

  • …you get a question “wrong”.
  • …you say “I don’t know” in response to a question.
  • …you go blank for a moment or two.
  • …you have typos or corrections to complete.
  • …you are nervous or stressed.

Failing isn’t a little thing so the reasons for failing aren’t little either.

Failing isn’t the result of missing one thing or of one thing going wrong. It’s not random but specific.

If you’re certain of your efforts you can be certain of the outcome for your viva. If you’ve done the work, developed your research, developed yourself and prepared well then you can be certain that you are on track to succeed.

Nathan

Creative Rehearsal

Daily Post

A mock viva is one approach that you can take to rehearsing for your viva. It’s typically a good approach. Sitting down with your supervisor and responding to questions that are representative of what you’d find at the viva is a great practice.

It’s not the only way though:

  • Have a mini-viva: ask friends to use a resource to have a chat!
  • Go for coffee: if your friends know a little they can ask relevant questions!
  • Give a seminar: invite a group to ask questions after a short presentation!
  • Ask me anything: sit down in your department with a sign saying that you’re accepting all questions about your research for a few hours!

You can get creative with rehearsing for your viva. The closer your practice to the expected viva experience the better – but don’t undervalue the emotional help that doing something fun could have.

How else could you get creative with your viva prep?

Nathan

It’s Not The End

Daily Post

It’s really, really helpful to have the proper perspective for your viva.

The viva is a challenge. It’s not the biggest challenge, the nastiest challenge or the hardest challenge of your PhD.

Your viva is not the end of the world – it’s not even the end of your PhD journey.

You’ve come a long way to get to this point. You’ve overcome many challenges and many of them are bigger challenges! The viva is one more challenge.

It’s not trivial. It’s only one more challenge for someone who is experienced at dealing with challenges.

You’ve come a long way. Remember how you got this far as you approach the end of your PhD journey.

Nathan

A Nice Viva?

Daily Post

Nice doesn’t feel like the right word to describe a viva.

Engaging? Yes.

Fun? Maybe.

Difficult? Certainly!

Nice suggests easy and there are a range of expectations for the viva which seem to exclude an easy time. The viva necessarily involves being asked questions and engaging in a discussion about substantive and original work you have been pursuing for a long period of time. You don’t know the questions until they’re asked. You don’t know what your examiners think until they share it. You probably feel nervous because of how important it is.

Expect a difficult challenge rather than an easy time. Understand that your viva could be enjoyable but don’t expect that it will be nice.

 

PS: if you want to know more of what to expect from your viva then take a look at Viva Survivors Select Volume 1, which I released a week ago. This is my complete collection of helpful viva zines from last year: eight issues, 165 posts from the archives and lots of new resources – and with an introductory offer price until 31st January 2026!

Nathan

Hope and the Viva

Daily Post

You can hope that your viva won’t be too long – but be prepared to engage for as long as is required.

You can hope you don’t get corrections – but know that the most common outcome is minor corrections and know what’s involved.

You can hope your preparations are enough – but perhaps it’s better to do the work and feel certain that you are as ready as you need to be.

There is a place for hope in the viva process. I think that comes after you’ve done the work and have a feeling you’ve done all you can to be ready.

Nathan

If Your Viva Is Tomorrow…

Daily Post

…then you still have time to help yourself feel more ready for your viva.

You could do something small like read a favourite section, check a reference one last time or write a few notes to clear your head.

You could select your clothes or listen to some good music or message a friend to confirm that you’re OK.

You could write down what you’ll do in the morning or plan what you’ll do after the viva is finished.

 

If your viva is tomorrow then there are lots of things you could do and probably no need to do any of them. If your viva is tomorrow it’s because there are over one thousand yesterdays when you showed up and did the work.

If your viva is tomorrow then you’re ready. And if your viva isn’t tomorrow then you have time to get ready!

 

PS: If your viva is some time after this week then you might have time to get help at my Viva Survivor webinar on Wednesday 3rd December 2025! I’ve shared Viva Survivor more than 420 times and it is my comprehensive live session on getting ready for the viva. Attendees also receive access to a catch-up recording and other follow-up materials. Check the link for full details of what to expect from the webinar.

Nathan

Uniform, Armour, Costume

Daily Post

What are you wearing for your viva?

  • Is your clothing choice a uniform? Are you wearing something that you think will help you look like you belong in the viva or academia?
  • Do you hope your clothes will be armour? Are you choosing something to help you feel like you can defend yourself against your examiners’ questions?
  • Or are your clothes a costume? Are you wearing something to help you feel your best?

What resonates with you?

I think that a costume could be the most helpful choice for a candidate. Try to wear something that will help you feel good and at your best. You don’t need to be someone else and you don’t need to protect yourself from the viva process.

Choose something to wear that will help you feel like the best version of yourself.

 

PS: I’ll explore how candidates can feel viva ready in greater depth at my Viva Survivor webinar on Wednesday 3rd December 2025. I’ve shared this session more than 400 times and it is my comprehensive live session on getting ready for the viva. Check the link for full details!

Nathan

Know Your Goal

Daily Post

As you prepare for your viva have you thought about the goal you’re aiming for?

How do you define what you want from your viva?

  • No corrections?
  • Easy questions – or at least not too hard whatever that might be?
  • A short viva?
  • Not to feel nervous?

If any of these resonate you have to consider what you can do to work towards them.

Is any of your work at this stage going to help you to receive no corrections? How can you work towards having easy questions or a short viva? Perhaps your prep efforts will help you feel less nervous – although it’s better to work towards feeling more confident through your prep than less nervous.

What’s your goal with viva prep and your viva? What are you hoping for or working towards? And are your efforts actually getting you closer to that goal?

 

PS: I’ll be exploring the viva from more perspectives at my Viva Survivor webinar on Wednesday 3rd December 2025. I’ve shared this session more than 400 times and it is my comprehensive live session on getting ready for the viva. Check the link for full details of what to expect from the webinar!

Nathan

You Can Take Action

Daily Post

I feel like I’ve written this a lot in recent posts – and over the years of writing Viva Survivors! – but it’s worth repeating: when you encounter a worry or a problem as you get ready for your viva there is no situation where you can’t take action to improve things.

Your action might be:

  • To stop and think;
  • To come up with a plan;
  • To ask a friend for help;
  • To read the regulations for thesis examination at your institution;
  • To talk to your supervisor;
  • To read something and think.

Or more generally to just do something. You could feel worried, stressed or unsure – but you can still do something.

Remember that you always have the option to try something to make your viva prep situation better. If you’re worried or stressed a good first step might be to ask for help, particularly if you’re feeling unsure what to do.

Work past worry.

 

PS: for more encouragement take a look at the eighth issue of Viva Survivors Select. I released The Survival Issue yesterday which contains twenty posts from the Viva Survivors archive plus new writing to help with making it to the end and through the PhD journey. Take a look!

Nathan

Assumptions

Daily Post

Whatever you assume about your viva will have an impact on how you prepare for it, how you feel as you get ready and what you do as you start talking to your examiners.

Before you get to that point it makes sense to check regulations, viva stories and general expectations: do your assumptions line up with what the rules and other people say about the viva?

 

If you assume that your viva is going to be hard questions and unfair criticism then you’re going to make a tough time for yourself.

If you assume that your examiners are there to talk and listen and prompt a discussion then you might still be nervous but you’ll be able to prepare yourself.

And if, after all the work you’ve invested, you assume that you’re ready then you will approach the viva with a more positive outlook than if you assume you are somehow lucky or just getting by.

 

PS:  very quick announcement that The Survival Issue of Viva Survivors Select is out tomorrow! This is the final issue of this volume and joins seven other collections I’ve curated and released over the last seven months or so. Do look out for an announcement email tomorrow 🙂

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