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Tag: viva prep

Nathan

The Last Minutes

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What do you do if you have an hour left until your viva and you feel a little nervous?

You do something.

  • You write a few sentences to describe your contribution.
  • You check the bookmarks you have placed in your thesis.
  • You talk with a friend and tell them how you feel.
  • You go for a short walk and breathe!

When you’re nervous in the viva you can only be there and engage as best you can. Before then, if you feel nervous, you can do lots of things to help yourself. Be thoughtful as you prepare: if you were to feel nervous in the last minutes before your viva, what could you do to help yourself?

Nathan

One More Thing

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There’s always more you can do.

More ideas to be pursued to add to your research.

A new perspective or an extra thought to include in your thesis.

Another paper to read. And another!

All that proofreading and there will still be a better way to say something – or one more typo that’s not been spotted.

There’s always more but remember, by submission and through preparation for the viva, you’ve done enough to pass.

Nathan

Warming-Up For Viva Prep

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Instead of jumping straight into a long session of reading or note-writing, do one or two of these little things to get your brain warmed-up for viva prep!

  • Pick a chapter in your thesis at random and write two sentences describing how it makes a contribution to your research.
  • Write down three things about both of your examiners and their work.
  • Rehearse for a moment how you explain a core idea of your research.
  • Gather together two or three items of stationery to help annotate your thesis.
  • Grab a Post-it Note and write down one thing you want to accomplish in the period of viva prep.

Getting ready for the viva can sometimes involve intense concentration on a particular task. Before you focus, do something small to start well.

Nathan

When Do You Know?

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Getting ready for the viva can feel hard sometimes. Reading your thesis, checking old notes and papers, finding time for a mock viva, and so on. The whole point is to get to a point where you feel ready.

But when do you know? How do you know that you’re all set and ready for the viva?

As “readiness” is based around how you feel there is always space for doubting yourself. Try some of the following if you’re uncertain or worry about feeling ready:

  • Set targets for your prep. Define what you’re going to do, make a plan and tick things off as they’re completed. Seeing that progress can help how you feel.
  • Ask friends about what they did. Your story and needs may differ in some aspects, but having an example to follow can provide reassurance that you’re doing the right thing.
  • Remember times that you have felt ready for big events and compare how you feel now. If you don’t feel ready in the same way then consider what other actions you could take.

Perhaps we can’t set a time or standard for when you will be ready for the challenge of your viva – but you can set out how you might get to that feeling.

Nathan

Little Lists

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Annotating your thesis as part of viva prep is useful: it creates a better resource to be consulted during the viva and also focusses your attention while getting ready. You have to engage again and again to add value by underlining, highlighting and making notes in the margin. There’s plenty of space to add details but it helps to be concise and clear.

A specific, short idea for today then. Write a little list at the start of each chapter; five bullet points to capture something of the pages that follow:

  • A one-sentence summary.
  • The key takeaway of the chapter.
  • A reference that really supports the work.
  • A question to remember or reflect on.
  • Something you learned while doing the research.

A micro-review of each chapter will help sharpen your thinking while you get ready for the viva and continue to support you when you meet your examiners. Invest a little time in some little lists.

Nathan

Simulated

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Rehearsal for the viva is essential because it simulates some of the aspects of being there. If you’re nervous about how you will respond, what will come up or what it will feel like to be there then you can’t do better than rehearse in some way.

A mock viva is the best way to simulate the viva experience. Questions from experienced academics in a relevant field or disciplines. Time to think and be in a viva-like environment. Facing uncertainty of what the next question or opinion will be. You can practise what you will do and get a sense of how you might feel.

A mock viva, a simulation, however polished, can’t be as accurate or as good as the real viva. How will it differ from the real thing? You can’t know beforehand. You can simply be better prepared for talking to your examiners.

Nathan

How To Finish Well

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Look back over the progress of your PhD journey. Your progress.

Realise that there is something new that now exists – and the only reason it does is because you made it happen.

Prepare for your viva carefully, invest time to make sure you are ready and confident.

Listen, think and respond to your examiners; make the most of your viva.

And when all of that is done, take a moment to think about what you take with you beyond your PhD. When it is finished it’s not the end for you and who you are now.

Nathan

Good Viva Prep

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At submission, if not before, take a little time to sketch a simple plan for getting ready for the viva.

When will you start? What do you need to do? Who do you need to ask for support?

As you ask and reflect on these questions you’ll realise changes or missing details. If you have a big thesis maybe you need to start reading it sooner. If you need more practise then you can make better arrangements with your supervisor or friends.

Sketch a plan, because it will help you to get organised – you can always make changes to it too! It can be hard to simply react if things change when your whole plan for prep is “just wing it”.

Good viva prep starts with a plan: you know what you need to do, when you need to do it and who will be there supporting you.

Nathan

Side Quests

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I love a good open world video game.

They often feature a big map to explore, an interesting story and characters to follow, missions to complete, a character to develop and more. What I like most of all is a world to fall into that’s different from our own.

Another common feature of these sorts of games is side quests: optional, shorter storylines that aren’t essential for completing the main game. If in the main story you’re hunting for clues or tracking down a villain, a side quest might involve simply helping someone out or collecting something you need.

Side quests also bestow rewards: more experience points to level up your character, a benefit that’s unobtainable somewhere else in the game or sometimes just a satisfying piece of the story or detail about the world.

Take some time to consider the side quests of your PhD journey as you prepare for your viva:

  • When have you productively diverted from the main path of your research?
  • How did that help you and what did you learn?
  • What have been the most rewarding times you’ve had during your PhD years?

The real world isn’t always like video games. We can’t see XP numbers. We can’t naturally apply stat boosts or perks. We have to reflect. We have to look back and see.

While you will have progressed through the main track of your PhD journey, you will have also benefitted from the side quests you’ve been on. In preparation for your viva, take some time to realise how you’ve got to where you are now.

Nathan

What You Need

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You need to feel prepared and confident for your viva.

What does that mean for you? I don’t know.

I can make some guesses:

  • You might feel you need to read your thesis a lot, so it sticks in your mind.
  • You might need to know about your examiners, to feel happy with who they are and what (you think) they might ask.
  • You might need to make a lot of notes, read a lot of papers or have a mock viva.
  • You might need to read the regulations or you might simply need to ask a few friends about their vivas.

You will need particular things to feel prepared and confident for your viva. You are the only person who can figure out what practical things will help you feel that way.

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