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Nathan

101 Steps To A Great Viva

Update

I am very happy to share that, after my recent Kickstarter project, 101 Steps To A Great Viva is now available to buy! 😀

Cover of 101 Steps To A Great Viva

Thanks to the generous support of backers I was able to finish this project and create a small print run of this new guide. Copies are now available for purchase from that print run – and 101 Steps To A Great Viva is also available to buy and download as a pdf.

 

Wait, what is this? What are you talking about?

…are two questions you might be asking!

101 Steps To A Great Viva is a 24-page guide to what a PhD candidate could do to help themselves before the viva. From learning about expectations to researching examiners, and from planning viva prep to building viva confidence – this helpful little guide is my attempt to gather together useful, practical advice that any PhD candidate can put into action.

I’ve helped over 8000 PhD candidates with their viva prep in the last decade or so: all of that experience, the questions I’m regularly asked, the worries I hear, the advice I offer – it’s all in 101 Steps To A Great Viva, framed as clear steps for PGRs to take as they prepare to get ready.

How can someone get this?

There are two ways!

First, you could get one of the limited number of print copies still available after the Kickstarter. You can get these from the Books page on this site. For £7 you’ll get a print copy sent through the magic of the Royal Mail (but note that I can only ship to UK addresses).

Second, you can buy and download a pdf copy from my Payhip store for £5: there’s an infinite number of copies so you’ll always be able to get one this way, wherever you are in the world! 101 Steps To A Great Viva has an A5 page size so it will read very well on most screens and devices.

I am excited and happy to finally release 101 Steps To A Great Viva. It’s taken a lot of work but been a lot of fun and I’m delighted at the thought of it helping a lot of people. Take a look, ask me about it if you want to know more and please pick a copy if it sounds like it might help.

Thank you for reading!
Nathan

 

PS: if you’re looking for a lot of help, check out the Viva Help Bundle on my Payhip store, which brings together digital versions of 101 Steps To A Great Viva, Keep Going – A Viva Survivors Anthology and my new, short writing game for viva confidence, How You Got Here.

Nathan

Not That Different

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A lot of viva prep – and the viva itself – is not that dissimilar to many things that you will have done during your PhD.

Many prep tasks draw on the same skills and knowledge you have used throughout your research. They are focussed on something different perhaps, but you already have everything you need to read your thesis, annotate it and get ready for your viva.

Success in the viva depends on you continuing to do what you have done all through your PhD journey. Talking to examiners is not that different from talking to your supervisor. Or from responding to questions in a conference or seminar. You have knowledge, talent and experience. You can bring everything to the challenge you’ll find in your viva and succeed.

The viva is different, of course, but not that different from everything else you’ve already done.

Nathan

Swallow The Frog

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What part of viva prep are you not looking forward to? What task do you wish you didn’t have to do?

An old piece of productivity advice centres on a sort-of analogy: “If your to-do list for a day included swallowing a live frog, wouldn’t you do that first to just get it out of the way?”

I.e., if swallowing a frog was the worst task you had in a day – and you had to do it – then doing it first would mean that everything else would seem easy by comparison.

When it’s time to prepare for your viva, what’s the frog in your situation? What do you have to do but not look forward to doing?

Do that part first. Get it out of the way or, if you really can’t, do something towards moving that task closer to completion. Don’t be simply frustrated. Don’t look away.

Get the frog task done and the rest of your viva prep is just work.

Nathan

Halfway

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Think back, if you need to: how far had you come when you were halfway through your PhD?

How much work had you done when you were halfway through the journey?

What did you still have to do? And what had you already learned that helped?

What have you done since then? And what are the highlights of all of these stages of your PhD?

It’s important to look back over your PhD as you prepare for your viva. Practically, it can help you to unpick the story of your research. You can check the details, when you did things, how they happened and what it means.

You can unpick the story of your confidence too.

A story of certainty in your ability, your knowledge and your results. It helps to have more than a vague awareness that you have done things. Really know your story and you’ll have a confidence that can help with any nervousness you might experience in the viva or the days before.

Nathan

Another Way

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If you can’t have a mock viva or don’t want one, there will be another way for you to rehearse talking about your research. Give a seminar, go for coffee with a friend or just chat with people about what you’ve done. These actions are not the same as a mock, but they help in the way that a mock does.

If you don’t want to read your thesis in preparation for your viva in the way that your colleague did, then think about how you could do it. They did a chapter a day? Maybe break it down into sections instead. Or maybe take an afternoon off to read it all. There will be a way for you to do the work.

A lot of really helpful viva prep advice gets swallowed in the specifics of how someone else did it. Find your way to do things like read your thesis, make notes and summaries, rehearse and so on. If your friend’s way won’t work or you can’t follow the advice of the person on the internet then find another way to do it that will work for you.

Nathan

The Last Review

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What will you look for when it’s the last time to look over your thesis before your viva?

  • The sections and sentences you’ve highlighted?
  • The red pen that shows the typos and changes you want to make?
  • The paragraphs that make you feel proud of what you’ve done?
  • The margins of notes you think you need?
  • Or the final pages that bring your research to a conclusion?

Or something else entirely? You have to decide where you need to give your attention. It’s probably best to steer towards the good stuff rather than remind yourself of typos. They’re there, you’ve acknowledged them, you know what you need to do.

Save your attention for what really matters.

Nathan

A Gamble

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Simply hoping you will succeed at the viva is leaving what happens up to luck. It’s not wrong to want to succeed, but you mustn’t believe that passing is only due to whether or not things just happen to work out.

Luck and hope isn’t enough. You have to act.

Do the best work you can. Write the best thesis you’re capable of. Prepare when you need to and build yourself up ready for the viva.

You’re not gambling when you take these actions. You’re not leaving things up to chance. You’re readying yourself for success.

You’re taking steps to get closer to what you want and the odds are good that you will succeed!

Nathan

Use Everything

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Do everything you can to improve your feeling of confidence for your viva. Look back at the story of your PhD and take apart all the key moments and stages to show how you have become a capable, talented researcher.

Examine your successes. Unpick the work you did, what happened as a result and what that has meant for your research and for you.

Explore your setbacks and failures. Why did things go wrong? What did you do to change your approach as a result? What did you learn from those experiences?

Estimate the amount of work you invested. How many days did you show up? How many hours? Realise that you stayed committed to your work, even when it was a challenge.

What other numbers could help you to see the scale of what you’ve done? The number of words written? Papers read? Meetings attended and talks given?

Find ways to remind yourself. Statistics help, but stories help more. Do things that help you to feel confident. Wear clothes that help you feel good. Your confidence is not only rooted in the pages of your thesis and what you did to write them.

Use every opportunity you can find to build up your confidence for the viva. There are many, many reasons to feel certain of your success. Do what you can to remind yourself of them as you get ready.

Nathan

Sticky Notes

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Cheer up your viva prep with a selection of sticky notes for your thesis.

Mark out the beginning of chapters and important sections. Add sentences of clarification to pages. Stick in summaries and helpful bullet point lists. Find the best pages and make them stand out with a bit of colour.

There’s a lot of serious viva prep that needs to be done; I’ve mentioned several parts in this post already! Just because something is serious doesn’t mean it can’t also be done with a little smile.

Annotate your thesis as part of your viva prep to make a better version of your thesis; use sticky notes to make that better version a little happier too.

Nathan

Why Does It Matter?

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Ahead of your viva, reflect on the significant and original contribution you’ve made through your research. It’s a topic that your examiners will have to discuss with you during the viva, so it will help to be prepared to talk about what you’ve done.

A key question to help reflection could be to consider, “Why does it matter?” What is it about your work that makes a difference? What will others see in it? Think, make some notes and have a conversation with someone about why your work matters.

And remind yourself that your work does matter – it must, after all you have put into your research.

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