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Tag: viva prep

Nathan

Asking Your Community

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Who do you know who could help you get ready for your viva?

Your supervisors can help with a lot: setting expectations, hosting mock vivas, sharing ideas of what examiners do – there’s a wealth of support from them potentially.

Departmental friends and colleagues around you understand: they may have first-hand experience of the viva, they could listen to what’s bothering you or even be a part of discussions to help you practise.

Family and friends might not understand: they can still help you by providing a space that you can prepare in, or by giving you time to do the relatively small work involved in preparation.

No person is an island. You don’t have to do everything alone. You might be doing the most work, but others can help lighten the load, in lots of different ways. Ask your community. Perhaps ask early to help set their expectations and schedule support, but know that there are lots of people in your life who can make a difference as you prepare for your viva.

Nathan

Three Mugs Of Tea

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On any week day, before work really begins, I need to have had three mugs of tea. There’s nothing super fancy about the tea I drink. It’s not a special blend, made in an ornate pot or served with a wedge of lemon. I just need three mugs to give me enough caffeine and comfort to get to work.

Three will mean I can get to work writing or presenting, thinking or editing. Three mugs will probably get me through the morning. I drink water too, but the tea is the fuel that nudges me to get going.

Could I do the work I need without it? Probably, at least to some extent. It might take longer or I might feel more tired by the end, but I could probably get things done. But it’s a relatively simple need to meet, in order to work well.

With that in mind, what do you need on the day of your viva? What will help you to work at your best?

By the day of your viva you will have finished your research, submitted your thesis and prepared for the day itself. So what simple things could help you feel either more confident or more comfortable for your viva?

Figure out what you need. Make sure you meet those needs. Feel better for your viva.

Nathan

The 2000th Viva Survivors Post

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(I couldn’t think of a snappy name!)

Except for the odd Christmas Day off here and there, I’ve now written and published 2000 days of posts on:

And a lot more! There are pages for resources, the old Viva Survivors Podcast and links to books and ebooks if that’s something that you need.

There’s even a link (click here!) if you just want to read a random post from the last five and a half years of writing.

 

Thank you for reading. Thank you for subscribing. Thank you for supporting the blog when you share it, donate via the Ko-Fi link on the site or buy a book.

Thank you to all of my workshop and webinar participants. Thanks to many colleagues and friends who have supported me along the way.

And thanks to all of you and all of that I’ll keep going! 🙂

Nathan

No Need For Luck

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You have to have a lot for your viva.

You need some research, developed over several years or more.

You need a thesis, written to an appropriate standard.

You need one or more supervisors to help along the way.

You need a little time to get ready before the viva, doing the right things to help you be prepared.

You need to be a good candidate – someone who has done the work, improved through the effort and success – someone ready to engage with their examiners’ questions.

If these are the things you need to satisfy for the viva then you don’t need luck.

Nathan

The Prep Sequence

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To prepare for the viva well it helps to do the right things.

  • You don’t need to cover your thesis in notes and extra scribbles in every margin. Be targeted to make a better version of your thesis.
  • You don’t need to read and re-read anything and everything you’ve ever done. Reading your thesis and checking important papers is enough.
  • You don’t need to practise every question you can think of for your viva. A mock viva with your supervisor or a good chat with some friends could help you feel prepared for the day.

Good, focussed prep tasks add up to being ready – but it helps to do the right things in the right sequence. Don’t have a mock viva until your thesis is annotated, and don’t annotate your thesis before you’ve read it!

Work effectively to get ready instead of simply doing the right things.

Nathan

INTRO To Prep

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I’ve written before about INTRO, a neat acronym for structuring the start of a presentation:

  • Interest: start by sharing something that will grab the audience’s attention.
  • Need: say why what you’re going to talk about is important.
  • Title: share the title of the talk.
  • Range: talk about how long you’ll speak for, what you might cover and how you will take questions.
  • Objective: close your introduction by sharing the goal of your presentation.

There’s a nice flow to this process, both for planning and delivering a talk. As with so many tools like this, I think there are wider applications that spring forth with a little reflection.

What about planning for viva prep? Take a blank sheet of paper and consider the following points:

  • Interest: start by writing a few lines about the value of your research.
  • Need: write five key points that you need to address in your viva prep.
  • Title: clearly print “All of this will help me become Dr Somebody!” on the sheet of paper!
  • Range: think carefully, then write one or two possibilities for how you could structure your time to get the work done.
  • Objective: for each key point expressed so far, write a clear goal that leads to progress.

From one sheet of paper we have the beginnings of good viva prep. And with INTRO we have a useful way of starting a presentation.

Nathan

Clearing

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Clear your mind as you consider viva prep. Get a pen and paper and unload all the bits and pieces that you’re carrying around in your brain.

  • What do you need to do?
  • Who do you need to ask for help?
  • When will you do things?
  • When do you need to get started?
  • And as well as prep, what else do you have to do during that period?

Don’t try to hold everything in your head. Large scale plans might not be your preference, but at least help yourself by gently drawing your attention to what you need to do.

Nathan

Discuss Your Research

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Viva prep necessarily involves reading your thesis, making notes and checking things out. For all the help this work brings, it doesn’t match the mode of work you’ll be engaged in at the viva.

In the viva you have to talk. More than that, you have to listen, think and respond to questions. You have to discuss what you’ve done for the last few years, what that means, what you know and what you can do.

So practise. Before the viva, discuss your research in any forum or format that you can find to help you. A mock viva can help. Coffee with friends can help. Giving a seminar and taking questions can help. Use all the opportunities you have or make some more to help you rehearse and help you be ready.

Then go to your viva and have one more discussion about the good work you’ve done.

Nathan

The End, And Onwards

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If you’re post-submission and trying to prepare for your viva but finding it hard then remember: you could not have got this far unless you were good.

Could you keep going for this long and this far if you were not talented?

Make a plan, ask for help, do a little each day, but remember: you did this. You got this far.

And if you got this far then you can get to the end of your PhD journey, and onto the next adventure.

Nathan

Focus On The Good Stuff

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There are tricky things to explain in your viva. There will be times when you struggled. There are probably questions still to answer and problems to solve. But you don’t have to exclusively reflect on all of that during your preparation.

  • What is your strongest contribution in your thesis?
  • What were your most rewarding times working on your research?
  • What do you think is the most valuable aspect of your work?
  • Where have you seen yourself grow the most in your own personal development?

Make time before your viva to focus on the good stuff.

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