Daily viva help for PhDs
You can have reasonable expectations of what your viva might be like, but you won’t know until you’re inside it. You can rehearse responding to questions but you won’t know how you’ll really feel until they’re being asked by your examiners.
You can wait and anticipate and wonder what will happen – and then before you know it the whole thing will be done. All the time you spent getting ready, wondering how long you might be, and you might blink and miss what happens at your viva.
Impostor syndrome is a commonly discussed topic in academia. It’s not unusual for a postgraduate researcher to feel they’re somehow not good enough as they get closer to their viva.
I don’t know that anyone has a 100% solution to getting rid of these sorts of feelings, but I have some ideas of what you could do if they feel particularly difficult around your viva.
I think most thoughtful PhD candidates and academics would admit that they are not perfect. They’re always learning and always will be. Sometimes knowing you don’t know everything or can’t do everything can make you compare yourself falsely to others. Sometimes being around other talented people means that you feel smaller by comparison.
Start by being honest with yourself. Not only about how you feel – because then you can act to change that feeling – but also with the reality of the situation. You don’t feel good, but you couldn’t have got as far as you have if you hadn’t done the work and found success.
Feeling nervous means you recognise that something is important. Humans feel nervous about all sorts of things, from weddings to wars, because they recognise that what is happening matters. They might be deeply involved or a bystander: if the outcome is important and they’re paying any attention then they might feel nervous.
Your viva is important. You, of course, are deeply involved. The outcome matters. Of course you might feel nervous, and if you do there is nothing wrong.
If you feel uncomfortable as a result then that’s not great, but that’s not the end of the story. You can talk to others to get help and put your feelings in perspective. You can reflect and help yourself to get things sorted out. You can work to build your confidence.
It’s not wrong to be nervous, but it might not be comfortable. If feeling nervous isn’t helping you then consider what else you can do to change how you feel.
You can feel happy about your viva or sad.
You might feel ready to get started or nervous about what your examiners might ask.
You might feel certain of what you’ve done or unsure about work from several years ago.
There’s many things you might feel about your viva. How you feel could change with each day. The viva isn’t the most important thing you will ever do but it does matter.
As you get closer to your viva, if you find yourself feeling a strong emotion – good or bad – take a moment to ask yourself why. Take a moment to reflect on what it means. Take a moment to think about what you could do as a result.
Your feelings about the viva aren’t static, but you can’t simply change them. You can steer how you feel though.
How do you feel? What do you need to do?
You’re not the first person to have a viva.
You’re not the first person to feel nervous, anxious, worried or afraid. You’re not the first person to worry that you could or should have done more. You’re not the first PhD candidate to feel you needed more things to go right. You’re not the first candidate to have vague worries or specific concerns about the viva.
You’re also not the first candidate to pass with all of these being true.
You’re not the first person to feel this way but that doesn’t make it any less real or hard. Thankfully it means there are others who will know what it is like to be in your position and be able to help you.
You won’t be the last person to have a viva either – which means that you’ll be able to help others as they get ready to meet their examiners.
Get help now as you need it. Give help later when you can.
You might feel a bit nervous for your viva. You might even feel that for submission. It’s understandable. Your thesis, your viva and your PhD are all important, so of course you could be a bit nervous.
At the same time you could be a bit confident.
A bit certain of what to expect.
A bit sure of who your examiners are and what they might want.
And more than a bit talented, definitely good enough, to pass your viva.
Nervousness can make you a bit uncomfortable. Try to put that into perspective with everything else you can be, feel and know for your viva.
On my desk I have a drawing that my daughter gave me on the day of my first Zoom session. It helped me to smile as I tried something new for the first time – against a backdrop of change and uncertainty – and it’s kept me smiling, kept me feeling secure when I work ever since.
It keeps me thinking, “It’s going to be alright.” It helps me remember that whatever else is going on, I can be confident.
Children use all sorts of items as security blankets to help themselves cope or feel fine. Adults tend to put those sorts of things to one side when they “grow up”. But do we need to? Is it better to focus on our nerves and anxieties rather than try simple things to lessen them?
I think you can use whatever security blankets you need for your viva. Use a drawing that your child drew, wear good day socks, a lucky trinket or a process that helps you feel good. All of these things, when you really reflect, are reminders. They’re reminding you that you are capable. They’re prompting your behaviour or perception.
Some are more helpful than others, and of course, you perhaps don’t want to show up to your viva wrapped up in a literal blanket! Short of that, what could you to remind yourself that things are going to be OK? What can you do to remind yourself that you can be confident?
What will you do to help you feel secure for your viva?
I’ve asked over six thousand candidates in workshops, seminars and webinars, “How do you feel about your viva?”
Less than 1% have said they felt excited.
There’s probably some selection bias there; if you’re attending a session about getting ready for the viva then perhaps you’re less likely to feel excited.
Candidates often feel nervous, which is a similar flavour of emotion; nervous and excited are both a reaction to how you anticipate something, but nervous has a much more negative sense to it. Candidates often express concern or worry: rather than being simply nervous about the viva, they have a particular aspect that they’re focussed on, a problem that needs a solution.
Many candidates feel unprepared. Thankfully that’s a temporary state; work moves you from unprepared to prepared. Work also helps with worry, you have to do something to change how you feel. Preparation won’t help nerves directly but it can help to build confidence. Confidence helps a candidate feel capable – they know what they know, they’re sure of what they’ve done, they can do what they need to – even if they then feel nervous they can put that into perspective.
And, on occasion, preparation and learning more about the viva could help someone to feel excited. As they know more of what to expect they could come to see that perhaps this is an event that’s not a final hurdle to jump or an encounter they need to win. It’s an opportunity to enjoy.
It’s not likely though. On most occasions when a candidate tells me they are excited they hastily clarify, “Er, excited to be done!”
You feel how you feel. It’s not good or bad to feel one thing or another, but understand that some states are more or less helpful for you. How you feel cannot simply be changed, but you can work towards a different state. So: how do you feel? How do you want to feel? What could you do to try to change how you feel?
Be aware that there’s a chance your viva won’t be amazing.
It’s likely it won’t be terrible or exhausting. It’s highly improbable for your examiners to be unprofessional or unfair. And it’s certainly true that the viva can be an enjoyable experience.
But it could be just OK.
Fine.
So-so.
Meh.
I’m glad that lots of candidates enjoy their viva. I’m sad that some people, like me, feel their viva is an anticlimax. I don’t know what can be done to set expectations for the emotional experience that candidates might have.
At the very least consider it as a possibility.
There’s a good chance you will enjoy your viva! It’s unlikely you will hate it. But it could end up just OK.
Still, you’ll have passed. Then you can move on to the next step of your journey.
Time or work pressure.
Not knowing what to expect.
Being unsure of how to prepare.
Hearing stories that create doubt.
There can be lots of obstacles in your way of getting ready for the way. They’re real, they are barriers. You can still be ready, but only you can take the steps to get these things out of your way.
You have to make a small piece of time for yourself. You have to find out what to expect. You can learn what to do to prepare. You can ask for more viva stories that help.
You can and you must deal with anything in your way of getting ready for the viva.