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Tag: viva prep

Nathan

You Have Time

Daily Post

Or rather, you can have time.

You have time to get ready for your viva – or, rather, you can have time if you sketch out a plan and know in advance what’s expected for viva prep.

You have time to respond to any and every question at your viva – or, rather, you can have time if you rehearse and get used to the idea that you don’t need to rush to answer.

There’s time to do everything you need to get ready and time to do everything you need at your viva.

You might have to slow down to take that time and make the most of it.

Nathan

Final Preparations

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My last viva prep task was to knock on my supervisor’s door with fifteen minutes to go, “Hi Hugh, just to check one more time, a genus 2 mutant can be defined as….?”

What will your final prep be?

Perhaps you’ll just check you have everything in your bag. Maybe you’ll focus on re-reading something one more time. Your last prep step could be to relax with a cup of coffee.

Or like me, your last task will be to stress at the last moment.

 

There’s an element of choice involved. You can plan your viva preparation. Sketch out a plan when you reach submission. You don’t need to account for every minute of every day until your viva, but by looking ahead you can remove stress, rush and a lot of doubts.

The last step in getting ready for your viva could be tiny or could be a big task. It’s better if it’s not panicked or stressed.

Nathan

The Greatest Hits

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What are the best and most valuable references in your bibliography?

What were the biggest achievements of your years working on your research?

What could make the biggest impact now that your thesis is complete?

 

If you reflect on where your work comes from, what you did and where it could go then you have considered the context for your contribution, the contribution and a possible future for it. That’s a good piece of reflection as part of viva prep!

Nathan

Use The Right Tools

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We use tools to help ourselves.

Screwdrivers come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Saws vary depending on their purpose and the materials they’re designed to cut. Hammers can be used to assemble or destroy.

Tools are useful to make or maintain, to remedy small problems or big situations.

 

So what tools are you taking to your viva?

Perhaps you have something physical to show your examiners, but more likely you’ll be demonstrating intellectual tools that you have constructed over the course of your PhD.

You’ll show your knowledge. You’ll share your understanding. You’ll demonstrate your capacity for thinking like a researcher in your field.

These are the tools you need to do well. They’ve helped you make the research in your thesis and can now help you to make good on that promise at your viva.

Don’t forget that tools need maintaining too – viva prep is essential for sharpening yourself!

Nathan

A List Of Lists

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If you’ve five or ten minutes and are looking to do something to help your viva preparation, you can do a lot worse than make a list. Here are ten ideas:

  • A short list of key contributions in your research.
  • The top ten most useful papers in your bibliography.
  • Five questions or topics you anticipate being asked about at your viva.
  • Seven small tasks you can do to help your prep.
  • Seven questions to ask your supervisor at your next meeting.
  • A short list of everything you’ll take with you to your viva.
  • Five little things you could do to steady your nerves.
  • A list of anything you don’t know about the viva that you need to find out.
  • A list of your proudest moments from your PhD journey.
  • Five things that show you are a capable researcher.

Lists can be summaries, boosters, reminders and more. Don’t underestimate the power of a good list to focus your attention on your preparation and how close you are to being done.

 

PS: looking for more viva prep ideas? Take a look at my Viva Survivor session! Registration is open now for my March 27th 2025 webinar and includes a catch-up recording if you can’t attend live.

Nathan

Advice > Anecdote

Daily Post

Your friend’s experience might be useful to know but has to be placed into the wider viva context.

One good story shouldn’t be enough to help you feel better about the viva. Similarly, one person’s negative experience shouldn’t shift you to thinking that your viva will be bad too.

Ask others for help and ask for their stories but consider them alongside the wider advice about the viva, in terms of prep, expectations and approach. One story can be interesting; the patterns and trends in many stories can be valuable.

Anecdotes about the viva are good but good advice is much, much more helpful.

Nathan

Start Well

Daily Post

The simplest way to start your viva well is to follow three steps:

  1. Get ready beforehand. Read, review, rehearse and generally be prepared.
  2. Understand what to expect. Check regulations, learn from viva stories and act accordingly.
  3. Show up ready. Be on time, have what you need and know what you’re there to do.

Start well by showing up ready, prepared and knowing what you need to do.

 

PS: if you want to know more of what to expect from the viva and what you can do to be ready, take a look at my upcoming Viva Survivor webinar on March 27th 2025! A 3-hour session, follow-up resources and a catch-up recording.

Nathan

Set Your Course

Daily Post

Good viva prep is like embarking on any long trip or expedition (or any project): you plan, figure out a direction and get started.

Good viva prep is planned. It’s less effective and more stressful if you improvise completely. It takes time to do and a little time to first consider how you will do it. You can decide when, where, how and so on. As you plan you can figure out sticking points or stumbling blocks.

You can set your course – but you also have to be ready to adapt if circumstances change.

If you have a bad day, if something goes wrong, if you forget something then the plan changes and you go with the changes. This is just what you would do with any long trip or expedition – or any project – or the viva itself!

Set your course, but be ready to adapt.

Nathan

Why You Rehearse

Daily Post

An incomplete list of reasons why a PhD candidate would benefit from rehearsal before the viva.

To know how it might feel to be in the viva, minute to minute.

To get a sense of what you might do when you’re asked a question.

To get a sense of how you might feel and what you might do when you’re asked an unexpected question.

To practise what you might do when asked a question.

To practise talking about your work with a good audience.

To review how you did afterwards.

To explore your work.

To explore how you describe your work.

To ask questions about your work and how others see it.

To revise your plans for your viva prep.

To build your confidence for the viva.

To hopefully feel better about your viva.

To experience what it feels like to say “I don’t know.”

To demonstrate to yourself that you can do it.

 

Rehearsal isn’t limited to a mock viva. There are many other opportunities like having a chat, coffee with friends, giving a seminar or having a mini-viva.

And the list of reasons above is incomplete. Why else might you rehearse for your viva?

Nathan

Look & Find

Daily Post

Look for the good stuff in your thesis. You might find typos or mistakes. These are good to know about, but it’s far more important to look for the contribution.

Look for people to help you get ready for your viva. Look for the right people: ask early for help, be clear and make sure you ask people who can really help you to get ready.

(and when you can be someone who offers help to others getting ready)

Look for expectations about the viva. If you’re not sure what to expect take the time to find out more. Again, ask the right people the right questions and you’ll find what you need to get a good sense of the viva.

For so much of the viva and viva prep, you have to see things clearly. And to do that you have to take the first step and look.

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