You Are Here

Tag: viva prep

Nathan

Rough Edges

Daily Post

Thesis submission typically comes after many hundreds of days of work: learning, development, growth and making something. You can’t get to that point without learning how to do something well.

Perfection isn’t attainable, but viva prep is a short period of time to help you get better for the particular task of the viva. You can clean up the rough edges of your memory, smooth over common stumbles in how you explain things and be more confident for meeting your examiners.

It’s a little work, but it can help a lot.

Nathan

Viva Prep Party!

Daily Post

Imagine that viva prep is an amazing party!

  • Look at your diary and think about when you’ll host it.
  • Who do you invite?
  • Do you need to invite more people so that you can be sure of enough help?
  • What supplies do you need to make sure that it goes well?
  • It’s a really long party probably, so what will happen when?
  • What do you need to do in advance to help it along?
  • And how will you maintain your own energy throughout?

Of course, viva prep is not a party but similar questions can help you organise, get help and do the work well.

That way you’re ready for the celebrations after your viva!

Nathan

3 Simple Questions

Daily Post

In viva prep there’s a lot to unpack when you reflect on your PhD, your research and your thesis.

If it seems overwhelming, start small with three questions:

  • Why did you do it?
  • How did you do it?
  • What can you do now?

Begin your viva reflections simply, dig deeper afterwards.

Nathan

The Rs of Viva Prep

Daily Post

Refresh your memory: read your thesis, check a few papers and make whatever notes you need to feel confident that you know what you need to know.

Review your thesis: add annotations to create the best supporting resource possible for your viva.

Rehearse for the discussion: you have to be ready to talk.

Reflect on the journey: remember why you have got this far – not by being lucky, but by working hard and growing as a capable researcher.

Rest: give yourself space to breathe.

Nathan

On Mini-Vivas

Daily Post

It was five years ago yesterday that I first published 7776 Mini-Vivas. Since starting this blog in 2017 it remains one of my favourite resources I’ve created.

Since then I’ve shared it with over five thousand PhD candidates in workshops and webinars, posted supporting posts on the blog from time to time – most recently in September – and adapted it as a print resource. Before the summer it inspired another new resource I’ve started offering with my sessions.

All of which is by way of preamble to say, “I made a thing to help with viva prep five years ago and I still think it’s really good and other people do too!”

If you’re looking for something to get you thinking or talking about your work then check out 7776 Mini-Vivas, because after five years it’s still a really helpful thing.

Nathan

Academic Siblings

Daily Post

During my PhD I came across the Mathematics Genealogy Project: an attempt to explore the family tree of mathematicians going back hundreds and hundreds of years.

Maybe you have something similar in your discipline or maybe you have a general appreciation that you are part of a tradition: your work continues to build on the past ideas, research and achievements of other dedicated humans. It’s nice to think about and can be very helpful to reflect on where your work comes from as you get ready for the viva.

Don’t forget you have academic siblings today too. There are many people around you who can help you to get ready for your viva, either by helping you practically, sharing information or simply being there. Make sure you ask for support from people who are really well-placed to help.

Nathan

Traffic Lights

Daily Post

Traffic intersections use simple colour-coding to indicate what actions should be taken. They’re used to prompt very specific behaviour and action. Perhaps we can borrow the terminology to consider the kinds of questions that might come up at a viva…

Green light questions are anticipated; you are entirely comfortable with them. Whether it’s about something in your thesis, your research or your general field, if you were to hear a green light question you would be happy to just go (and start talking)!

Yellow light questions force you to slow down. You might have to change pace. There’s no problem but you need to think and focus more. There’s nothing wrong with doing that. You’re not expected to know everything or remember everything in your viva; pausing for a moment to get your thoughts together is good.

Red light questions make you stop. A question could be unexpected. It could be something you struggle with. And it might make you feel uncomfortable.

 

In the real world, red lights make people stop – but then they go again, and that’s also like the viva.

If a question is hard, unfamiliar or unexpected at the viva you still need to respond to it. You still have to engage in order to meet the expectations of the viva.

If you know of a red light topic for you, what could you do to improve how you feel about it? If it’s a yellow can you make it a green?

Nathan

Before You Finish

Daily Post

Before you submit your thesis check and double-check that it says everything you want it to say.

Before your viva day take time to get ready: practical preparations and confidence building!

Before your viva begins spend a couple of moments breathing, reminding yourself that you have done everything you can to get ready and that you have done enough to pass your viva.

Before the end of your viva take a moment to see if there are any questions you want to ask your examiners.

And before you finish your PhD journey take a little time to really reflect on what the journey has meant to you.

It’s more than a book you’ve written or a piece of paper you get from your institution.

Nathan

Writing Size Comparison

Daily Post

There are many scales of writing that help you prepare for your viva.

Book: your thesis. You wrote it and can read it in advance of your viva to refresh your memory. You can also take it with you to the viva to refer to (and annotate it before then to make it even better).

Page: a long summary, a cheat sheet, a list of points or typos, a to-do list and more. Your thesis has lots of pages too; annotating it could be helpful to mark some out with sticky notes or page tabs.

Paragraph: a short summary. A couple of sentences that captures an overview of your contribution. A few lines on the skills you’ve developed. An outline of a specific argument that you want to remember.

Sentence: write out individual helpful points. What do you need to remember? How else can you phrase a key idea? How could you neatly summarise a page?

There’s a lot written to get you to submission and more that you can write afterwards to help as you prepare – and perhaps we can get even smaller…

Words: Success. Prepare. Confidence. Achievement. Passed.

Nathan

Prep To Succeed

Daily Post

Viva prep gives space to review and reflect, highlights important information and allows you to rehearse the kind of work you’ll do in the viva.

Viva preparation is a series of actions leading to success.

Do the work and you’ll be prepared, not perfect. You don’t succeed by getting all the right answers, but by being ready to respond to the questions and comments of your examiners.

1 … 31 32 33 34 35 … 134