You Are Here

Tag: viva prep

Nathan

False Hopes

Daily Post

Don’t hope for a short viva. Don’t hope for no corrections. Don’t hope that your examiners “go easy on you”.

Don’t hope they tell you the outcome at the start. Don’t hope they have no comments. Don’t hope you won’t be worried or nervous.

Hope is a powerful thing, but you can do so much more than hope when it comes to your viva.

For some of the points above, you have no control at all: so why focus on them when there are things you can do something about? Better to put your efforts where they might do something. You can do a lot more than hope you won’t be nervous: you can act to work on what makes you nervous, and act to boost your confidence and offset anxieties.

Don’t hope for things you can’t control. Do more than hope for things that you can. Put your focus on more than hope.

Nathan

17% Uncomfortable

Daily Post

That’s my prediction for your viva.

You know your research, you wrote your thesis, you’ve prepared for the day. You’re reasonably confident, not arrogant, slight flutter of nerves because it’s important. There’s a few moments of worry – you don’t know what your examiners think, what they’re going to ask, if you’ll go blank on something or not – but you can probably feel pretty comfortable with the situation.

I would hope that you feel only a little uncomfortable, just a little, because when you think rationally you know why and how you’ve got this far. 17% uncomfortable means that you’re doing well.

And if you’re feeling more uncomfortable than that, what are you going to do about it? Who are you going to ask for help? What actions are you going to take?

Nathan

The Least I Can Do

Daily Post

There are lots of things that could get in the way of preparing.

You’re busy or you’re bothered, you feel stressed or worried…

What’s the smallest meaningful thing you could do? Even if you’re busy or something’s getting in the way, what could you do that would take five minutes and make a difference? Two minutes? One minute?

Why not…

  • Read a page of your thesis.
  • Add a bookmark.
  • Stick a Post-it in your journal saying what you need to do next when you get a moment.
  • Write down a question that occurs to you.
  • Summarise your contribution, even if you’ve done it many times before.
  • Google your examiners and save their staff pages for later.
  • Pencil in half an hour in your diary for when you will do some prep.
  • Download “The tiny book of viva prep” to print and fold later!
  • Print and fold “The tiny book of viva prep”! 😉

Viva preparation takes time; usually thirty minutes to an hour at a time is good for considered thinking or work. But little things add up too. If you find yourself short on time, short on patience, short on confidence, just ask yourself, “What’s the least I could do?”

What small thing could you do, even if it takes only a moment, that would make a difference overall?

Nathan

Celebrate Your Thesis

Daily Post

I love World Book Day! Not the costumes and dressing-up, but the sheer love of books.

It’s… a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) it’s a celebration of reading.

I don’t remember a time when I couldn’t read, when I didn’t read for fun, for learning, for joy, for the thrill of it. Books are fantastic.

A PhD thesis is fantastic too, but, like the viva, I wonder if they tend to get dragged down a bit. Lots of questions about writing up and so on tend to be negatively tuned in tone, or get a less than positive response from the person being asked.

That would be nice to turn that around, don’t you think? We can’t dismiss the hard work, the long hours, the difficult effort that goes into a thesis, but we can do more to recognise that a thesis is amazing.

So this World Book Day, if you have a thesis and want to celebrate:

  • Tell others what’s so great about it!
  • Write summaries in preparation for your viva!
  • Explore what makes it great – which is what your examiners will be looking for too!

If your friend has their viva or submission coming up, help them to celebrate their thesis:

  • Ask them about it! Not “How’s it going?” but “What makes it special?!”
  • Ask to know more: go for coffee and ask for more details.
  • Celebrate when it is finished!

Books are fantastic. A thesis is fantastic. To write one, you’ve got to be fantastic too.

Nathan

Not Ideal

Daily Post

There’s so much about your viva that might not be exactly how you want it to be.

You find typos or a clunky paragraph after submission.

You’re busy and struggle to find preparation time.

Your first choice examiner can’t do it.

You feel more nervous than you want to be.

You worry there’s something missing in your thesis.

You worry you should have done more.

Worry and mistakes and missed opportunities are all not ideal. But the best thing to do is ask, “What can I do?”

Then act. Do something. Don’t diminish how you feel, or just stress about would be better: work to get closer. Work to do something that helps.

So underline your typos or pencil in a correction.

Make a plan for your prep and do what you can.

Learn about your examiner’s research.

Ask yourself why you feel nervous and work on the root cause.

Examine whether there’s really something missing, not just a worry.

Ask why you didn’t do more – probably, because you were doing something else in your thesis!

If something’s not ideal, you can feel disappointed or cross or upset.

But then act. What can you do?

Nathan

Viva Advantages

Daily Post

There are lots of things in your favour when you go to meet your examiners!

  • The conversation is about your research, which you know better than anyone.
  • Your examiners have read your thesis, but you wrote your thesis.
  • You can annotate your thesis to help details stand out in the viva.
  • You can rehearse being in the viva.
  • You can decide in advance how to approach responding to questions.
  • And finally you have extremely relevant talent, knowledge and experience.

Individually, these are helpful for viva day. Combined, they mean you have a lot of advantages to meet any challenges you’ll face in your viva.

Nathan

Typical Amounts Of Time

Daily Post

PhDs typically take between three and seven years to complete in the UK.

Thesis examinations happen around two or three months after submission.

Vivas are usually 90 minutes to two-and-a-half hours long.

And all of these things are typical, but not representative of your experience at all. They’re common, but not even close to universal: averages and groupings that don’t respect the variety of experiences in postgraduate research.

In all of these different situations, it’s perhaps best not to focus on how long something is taking – How much longer? When will I be done? When will this be finished? – and instead divert yourself to action. Your thesis submission deadline might be a stressful milestone in some cases, but you don’t have to have that pressure waiting for you in the viva.

Stop watching the clock, start doing something. What can you do to help yourself? Don’t worry about how long your viva might be: what can you do in the viva to help yourself, or what can you do to prepare well?

Nathan

Forecasting

Daily Post

When it’s going to rain, take an umbrella.

If it’s due to be cold, wrap up warm.

If there’s ice on the path, take care!

Sensible advice that many can follow, partly because weather forecasting has got pretty good. More data helps to create more reliable predictions, which helps direct advice for those who need it.

The forecast for vivas, and the advice that follows, can also be viewed similarly, but comes in two parts. First, general advice, because there are general expectations for vivas – the atmosphere, the intentions, the needs, the outcomes, and so on. Vivas happen in certain ways, so it follows there are general preparations to make.

The second part is your unique circumstances. There are things you need to do for the viva, and things you need to do for yourself. Generally, you might need to read your thesis, learn a little about the process and your examiners, and reflect on how you’ve got this far. But specifically, for yourself, you might have to write a particular summary, or have a mock viva, or wear something that helps you to feel confident.

In both cases, there is lots of data to help you forecast: information about vivas and information about yourself. It’s up to you to interpret that data, see where it leads you, and act accordingly.

What’s your viva equivalent of taking an umbrella?

Nathan

Take A Break

Daily Post

Take breaks while you’re doing your PhD to help you get through. Take breaks while preparing for your viva so that you can keep things in perspective. Take breaks in the viva (it’s OK to ask for them!) for whatever reason you need them.

Breaks don’t solve everything, but they can help. Use them.

Nathan

Perfectly Prepared

Daily Post

You can’t be perfect. You can be prepared.

Help yourself by switching your goal for the viva. Move away from wanting “nothing to be wrong” and work towards “being ready and confident”.

No-one has a perfect viva. Everyone can be prepared for their viva.

1 … 96 97 98 99 100 … 138