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Tag: viva prep

Nathan

Clear Out

Daily Post

It’s early in the year for spring cleaning, but I have been sorting out my office space and shelves recently.

Last summer I was struck by a notion, I wish I could remember where I read it, but (paraphrasing) it said “The less stuff you have, the more enjoyment you can give to the things you do have.” I like this idea. It really got me thinking about my shelves and storage spaces and possessions.

Rather than have fifty boardgames, each of which I play once a year – maybe I should have twenty I really like which I play more often. Having fewer means I could decide more quickly on what I play too! Instead of hoarding books (because they’re mine!), maybe I could trim down my bookcases to see more of what I actually want. Stop hoarding trinkets of past hobbies just because I used to do this or collect that.

Focus instead on the things I like, or the few things I do want to keep.

Have less, to focus more.

Which makes me think of viva prep (of course).

There are many things one could do, but not all have equal value. Focus more on a few things than spend only a little attention on lots. You don’t need to re-read every paper in your bibliography, but you can focus on the few that will really help. You don’t need to read every paper by your examiners; perhaps focus on the most recent ones to get an idea of current work. You can’t write endless summaries of what you did and why, but you can choose two or three to invest time in.

Focus on what you need most for the viva. Find the few things that will give you the most help.

Nathan

Vulnerable

Daily Post

You will be vulnerable in the viva. In a way, you have to be.

Your examiners have to ask you questions. But they are carefully asking questions. They’re not trying to hit a weak spot; they have to ask you questions, they have to listen to your responses, there has to be discussion. In doing so, they may hit a weak point, either in your work, your knowledge, your understanding or something else. But that’s not their intent.

You have to put yourself in a position where you’re open to questions. You have to put your thesis out there so that it can be questioned.

You can’t be invulnerable. You have to be vulnerable. For some people that’s one of the scariest things you can do.

What can you do? Acknowledge it, but don’t just worry about it. Work on it, maybe work through it. You can’t build a suit of armour that covers you, but you can – through preparation – make a more confident way of being open to questions and discussion.

Nathan

Three Word Reflections

Daily Post

Reflection is useful in many areas of life. It takes time though, and good reflection takes a lot of time. You can start small. Try taking three words, just three associations you have with whatever you want to reflect on. For your viva, this could be helpful in a lot of ways.

  • What three words come to mind when you think about your thesis? Why?
  • What three words do you think of when you think about your examiners? Why is that?
  • What three words describe your methods? Why?
  • Think of three words to summarise your bibliography? Why are those so important?
  • What three words would describe how well prepared you are? What do you need to do?

Three words can start a reflection. Typically ask yourself “Why?” to dig deeper. Maybe that leads you to a slightly better understanding. Perhaps you have to do something now. Three words is just a starting point, but you can go a long way.

What three words do you associate with your forthcoming viva? Why?

Nathan

Start With Your Calendar

Daily Post

Let’s say you have a month before your viva. You know you need to do something to get ready, but there’s lots packed into that something (reading, making notes, talking and so on). You have a life too, maybe a job and other responsibilities. Lots to juggle before you start preparing for your viva as well.

So start with your calendar:

  • Sketch the month on paper, every day between now and the viva.
  • Cross out every day when you know, realisitically, you can’t get anything done – where you couldn’t sit down for at least thirty minutes.
  • Cross out any day where you feel you just won’t want to do prep; it’s not wrong to take time off and better to be honest about it!
  • Mark down days where you have other big commitments. Maybe you could still fit in an hour’s reading or thirty minutes of thinking and making notes, but you know you have to schedule it.
  • Pay attention to any days that look “free” – days where you could comfortably schedule productive viva preparation work.
  • Look to the closest date with a bit of freedom. That’s your start date. What will you do there? What would start you off well?

Start with your calendar to be honest about how much time you have. Compare it to your list of something to get a handle on all the things you will do to get ready.

Start!

Nathan

Are You Ready?

Daily Post

There’s always a thought that you could do more.

  • One more experiment before you write up.
  • One more section before the chapter is done.
  • One more paper to check or question to answer before your viva.

Before you ask yourself if you’re ready, maybe ask if you’ve done enough.

Before you ask yourself if you’ve done enough, maybe define what enough would be.

Enough research, enough of a thesis, enough prep for the viva.

Decide on enough, so you can confidently answer “am I ready?” when the time comes.

Nathan

A Valentine For The Viva

Daily Post

A sappy rhyme

A silly card

Could never really say…

So little time

Easy or hard?

One important day!

 

A great big book

A lot of work

And now it comes to this…

Another look

No way to shirk

A date you cannot miss!

 

A thousand days

Or maybe more

And by that time you’re steady…

So many ways

And none a chore

And then you can be ready.

 

It’s not easy

You could worry yet

But you’re a survivor.

This poem’s cheesy

But I’d bet

That you’ll pass your viva.

 

It’s not one in a million, Cupid’s Arrow, or a lightning bolt that doesn’t strike twice.

Consistently you’ve done good work. You can do that one more time for your viva.

You might not love it, but you’ll survive it!

Nathan

Inventing New Questions

Daily Post

You had to ask original questions to find the original contribution in your thesis. You had to do something new and different. What was it? What did you ask that was new? What were the answers or ideas that you found?

Now, to make the viva happen, your examiners might have to invent more new questions. Predicting viva questions isn’t simple or easy, but finding people who can ask you new questions, questions you’ve not been asked before, can be useful. Get your supervisors and colleagues to ask you questions so you can practise responding.

You built your contribution on new questions. Now cement your confidence with them too.

Nathan

Every Little Thing

Daily Post

The success you’ll find in your viva is cumulative. It’s built on top of everything you’ve done over the last few years.

It’s not an all or nothing, once-in-a-lifetime event. You’re there because of every little thing (and quite a few big things) that you’ve done well, got right and been amazing at over the course of your PhD.

Find your confidence for your viva in all of your other successes that have come before.

Nathan

Press Enough Buttons

Daily Post

Our washing machine broke a few months ago and blew a fuse. The power was off all around our house.

In the moment, I knew the sort of thing I needed to do in our fusebox, but couldn’t tell which fuse had gone. It took a little experimentation (and a call to my father-in-law) before I figured out what needed to be done. Ten minutes later the lights were back on.

You might know the sorts of things you need to do to get ready for the viva, but not which specific things will help you feel ready. You might know you need to do something, but not know the thing that will help you feel confident.

So pull some levers. Flick some switches. Press some buttons.

Try things: reading, annotating, presenting, rehearsing, priming, deciding on what you will wear… The list of things you could do to get ready for the viva is long. You don’t need to do everything, but if you press enough buttons you’ll figure out what helps you feel and be ready. Press enough buttons and you’ll feel confident for the viva.

Press enough buttons and the lights will come on.

Nathan

Nervous or Excited

Daily Post

Like a lot of important things in life, candidates tend to be nervous or excited for their viva. Two sides of the same coin, the currency that marks out something as a big deal, and your viva is a big deal.

Which side of the coin is showing?

  • If you’re nervous, why? What has you that little bit concerned? And is it only a little bit, or something more? What could you do to help how you’re feeling?
  • If you’re excited, why? What sounds good to you? What are you doing to get ready to meet your examiners? Is there anything else you need?

Being nervous isn’t “bad”, but I’d personally prefer to be excited rather than nervous – generally it feels better! If you’re nervous, what could you do to flip the coin to excited?

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