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Tag: viva feelings

Nathan

Address Your Concerns

Daily Post

If you have any worries or concerns about your viva then take steps to address them.

It sounds like really obvious advice, right?

But I talk to hundreds and hundreds of PhD candidates every year who are worried about their viva. They aren’t sure what to expect. They worry about technical aspects of their research. Some are afraid of meeting their examiners.

And for some reason they keep hold of those worries rather than take actions to work past them.

I love helping people, but for their own sake, I do wish for candidates to realise that they can find help or release worry sooner. Ask your supervisor. Check the regulations. Do something rather than hold on to worry.

If you have a worry about your viva, don’t let it fester. Don’t let it become something bigger than it needs to be. If you need to know something or you aren’t sure then take steps.

By all means ask for advice – ask me! – but take steps rather than just worry.

Nathan

Pick A Number

Daily Post

Pick a number between 1 and 10 to describe how happy you feel about your upcoming viva, 10 being very happy and 1 being not happy at all.

Whatever the number, whatever the reason, what can you do to make that number higher?

  • What can you do today?
  • What information do you need?
  • Who could you ask to help you?
  • What tasks can you schedule or do?

Even if you feel very happy, a 10 today, just reflect on whether or not there are gaps in your viva knowledge. Information, expectations, regulations, prep ideas and more are not hard to find if you really want to know.

However you feel about your viva, you can take steps to feel better.

Nathan

Verbs In The Viva

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At your viva will you face your examiners?

Will they confront you with questions?

And will you challenge their comments or criticisms?

In that small group will you talk or debate or discuss?

Do you have to answer every question? Or will you feel more comfortable as you respond to the questions and the conversation?

 

Words matter. Verbs mean different things. The words you use to describe your viva, your examiners and what you’ll do when you meet them can make a great difference to how you prepare, how you feel and how you behave on the day.

Find the right verbs for the situation.

Nathan

Ten Words

Daily Post

A quick bit of viva prep.

Write a few sentences on each of the following ten words. Don’t take too long, don’t overthink things, just reflect a little and then write a little:

  1. Thesis
  2. Examiners
  3. Methods
  4. Contribution
  5. Confidence
  6. Expectations
  7. Feelings
  8. Problems
  9. Success
  10. Questions

Put all of your sentences to one side for a few days, then come back and read them. Whatever you’ve written tells you something about how you’re approaching your viva.

What does it all mean and what do you now need to do?

 

PS: If you’re looking for more ideas of what you can do to get ready for your viva, take a look at the  Viva Help Bundle of ebooks. A collection of my best blog posts, a practical guide to getting ready and a reflective writing game to build confidence – available for £6 until Thursday 30th November 2023.

Nathan

Viva Day Confidence

Daily Post

Feeling confident on the day of your viva isn’t a magic shield against difficult questions. It doesn’t mean that you won’t or can’t feel nervous about the prospect of meeting your examiners.

Feeling confident for your viva means you’re as certain as you can be you’ve done as much as you can to get ready. You’re certain your work has value. You’re certain that you are capable. And you feel certain that whatever questions your examiners ask you will be able to engage with them and respond to them.

Viva day confidence is built up through work and reflection – and thankfully you have plenty of opportunities over the course of your PhD and in your viva preparation to build up your confidence.

Remember the work you’ve done. Remember what it means. Remember what a difference your learning and research and effort have made to you. Reflect on the work and all the impacts and you have the firm foundations for feeling confident on your viva day.

Nathan

Unfinished Projects

Daily Post

Your PhD thesis and your success at the viva don’t rest on you doing “all the things”. You need enough of the right outputs and outcomes for your research to demonstrate that you’ve achieved PhD status.

If you have unfinished projects and they worry you or occupy your thoughts, consider:

  • Unfinished now doesn’t mean unfinished forever. As you complete your PhD it could help to make sure your work is left in a state where you can pick it up again some day.
  • Unfinished doesn’t mean that you didn’t learn something. What ideas grew out of that effort? Did any of it make a difference to your thesis?
  • Unfinished could invite questions. If the pandemic or something else stopped your progress that could be a topic for discussion in the viva. Or if you made a choice to focus in another way that’s also interesting and worth talking about.

Remember that a project that’s unfinished now could remain unfinished forever. As you finish your PhD you could be leaving something behind. That could also lead to mixed feelings for you.

Take time to resolve your emotions either way, so you don’t carry them with you longer than you need to.

Nathan

What Will It Take?

Daily Post

When you start to prepare for your viva, make a list of what you will need to feel prepared. Ask yourself:

  • What practical materials do you need to help you get ready?
  • How much time do you have to invest?
  • Who do you need to consult with?
  • What key tasks do you have to have finished?
  • What activities will you engage with?
  • What outputs or outcomes will help you to know that you are prepared?

With all of these questions responded to and items listed, you have a checklist. The more you mark off, the closer you are to being sure you’re ready. Even if you can’t get everything – say, if you can’t have a mock viva – if you manage most things then you can feel pretty confident for the big day.

What will it take for you to feel ready? Make a list and do as much as you can.

Nathan

Feelings Matter

Daily Post

Whatever you feel about your viva, reflect and think about what that means you have to do.

  • Feel nervous? Why? What’s at the root of that? What could help?
  • Feel anxious? What’s the problem? Who could you turn to for help?
  • Feel uncertain? What do you need to know? Where could you get more information?
  • Feel unprepared? How much time do you have? What are you next steps?

And what if you feel confident? Well, what can you do to build on that and continue to feel confident for your viva?

How you feel about your viva matters – but then you have to do something.

How do you feel? What do you need to do?

Nathan

Believe It Or Not

Daily Post

If you believe your examiners will be fair with their questions then you’ll be more likely to try to engage with them, rather than suspect a trap or harsh comment.

If you believe you can get prepared during the submission period then you’ll be more likely to feel ready when the time comes.

If you believe the mostly positive stories about viva experiences that you hear and read then you’re going to act as though your viva will be a mostly positive occasion too.

 

What have you heard about the viva? What do you believe about it? And how does that help you (or not)?

Nathan

What’s Your Real Worry?

Daily Post

If you feel worried about any aspect of your viva, ask yourself why first. For example:

“I feel worried about the discussion…”

Why?

“I’m worried I might forget something important…”

When you know what’s behind a worry you can start to do something about. You could reflect and think of possible steps to take. Continuing the example, possible next steps could be:

  • Highlighting information;
  • Adding notes in the margin;
  • Attaching sticky notes to key pages;
  • Writing summaries of important ideas;
  • Rehearsing for the viva.

These are all possible steps to help. Individually they might not be solutions to the problem, but they could move someone closer to feeling better about the worry. When you have possible steps, you then have to do something.

 

When faced with a worry about the viva, follow three steps:

  • Ask yourself “Why is this a worry for me?” – and dig a little deeper into what’s really wrong.
  • Reflect and think “How could I do something about this?” – find options that could help.
  • Decide, “What will I do now?” – and take action to help yourself.

Why is this a worry? How could I do something? What will I do?

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