You Are Here

Tag: viva preparation

Nathan

The Missing Things

Daily Post

I used to travel a lot.

In a busy month I might spend upwards of forty or fifty hours in transit, shuttling between cities in the UK by train, going the final mile or two on foot or in a taxi. Thinking about it, I would stay in two or three cities a month. I would make small talk in hotel restaurants, secrete myself away in the corner of a coffeeshop for a hurried panini, and indulge in reading spy novels or occasionally plot out mad schemes for writing projects and new workshop ideas.

I don’t do any of these things any more.

Life changed. There’s now some of these things I can’t do, some I won’t do and some which I want to do but struggle to include in the new shape of my world.

I don’t miss the travel. I don’t miss being away. I don’t miss the hurried pace.

But I miss the space. I miss the difference and the variety. I am incredibly fortunate, all things considered. But there are still things that I would do differently now. It’s taken me almost sixteen months to realise that I have to make any changes that are going to give me the things that I need. To give me a cosy corner to think in, rather than just a desk to work at. To provide an hour here and there to relax and read, rather than just spend more time working. I am fortunate that I can explore how to make these changes and make them a reality.

 

I can only imagine what changes the last year and a half has brought for you. We can only imagine what changes the next year or so might bring our way.

If there are things in your PhD life that are missing and if your viva is coming soon, now might be the time to think about how you can bring those things back.

If you need space – different, bigger, better – then explore how you could make that happen.

If you need people – for feedback, for companionship, for learning – then ask the right people and see how you can make that happen.

If you need something, anything, you have to take the steps to get it.

 

Be clear about the need.

I don’t need to be on a train or in a cafe to read, write or think – I need a little space away from my desk to make my own.

Hence over the summer there is a corner of my office that is going to receive an armchair: a little corner to curl up in, read and dream.

What are you missing before your viva? What do you need? What will you do?

Nathan

Avoiding Crunch

Daily Post

Sometimes in a PhD you might have to work an extra hour, stay a little longer, try again or keep going even if you don’t want to.

Viva prep shouldn’t be one of those times. Whatever your daily circumstances, bringing viva prep into the mix could create some pressure. It doesn’t take much to get ready for the viva, but if you’re already busy it might feel like one thing too many.

Before you get to crunch time, stop and look at your routine: how could you make space? How could you start as pressure-free as possible? When do you need to start to make it as simple as possible? Who could help you do what you need to do?

Simple questions can’t help magic the work away. They can help you to see that a little planning before you get to prep can make it work out well.

Nathan

The Basics

Daily Post

The viva is an oral exam at the end of the PhD. You submit a written thesis based on your research in advance. Typically two examiners, one internal and one external, will read your thesis carefully. In the viva they facilitate a discussion with you.

The viva is different for every candidate but there are common expectations. Most candidates pass. Most candidates are asked to make amendments to their thesis.

Nervousness is common, but only a symptom of how important the viva is. Candidates can prepare and rightly feel confident of their success given their experience, work, talent and knowledge.

 

I am sometimes asked very simple questions about what the viva is and what happens. I make assumptions sometimes about what someone might know, and get puzzled looks about certain details. The three paragraphs above are my attempt to share “the basics” in 100 words. What do you think?

Nathan

Halfway To Ready

Daily Post

Viva prep is needed to help a candidate be ready for the viva. We could say that if you start your prep three weeks before your viva, then after ten days or so you’re halfway to being ready.

But when you think about it, you might do more work in the week immediately preceding your viva. So then being half-ready skews more to the days just before your viva, when you’re working more intently.

Or maybe it’s most useful to consider: viva prep is spread over several weeks at most, whereas the real work of the PhD takes several years.

Viva prep is a focussed period with one goal, making sure that you are ready for the viva – but by the time you start that prep, you are definitely more than halfway to your goal.

Nathan

Preparing A 3-Minute Summary

Daily Post

Three minutes is not long to share something of your work, whether on stage for a competition or as part of your viva. Depending on how quickly you talk and the emphasis you give to things, you have between 300 and 400 words at most. Exploring what you would say with that much time and that many words could be a nice way to play with your viva prep.

Start your planning by reflecting with a set of Why-How-What questions:

  • Why does your work matter?
  • How did you do your research?
  • What is the result of your research?

You can focus this more by thinking about your audience: what would they need to hear to help them understand what you’ve done or to help them see the most important aspects?

If it was your examiners, for example, in your viva, you would know that they had read your thesis. You would know that they had studied it and prepared to meet with you. You don’t need to overthink your summary, you simply have to share with them again what you think matters, why it matters – what really stands out from what you’ve done?

Three minutes isn’t long, but it can be enough to highlight something valuable, to emphasise what matters or to introduce a longer period of discussion. Take your time, use it well.

Nathan

Supporting Your Supervisor

Daily Post

Your supervisor needs to support you after submission. Your supervisor is also probably really busy. The best way to get what you need from them is to be as specific and clear as possible.

Before submission, think about what you might need. A mock viva? General support or questions around particular parts of your research? Insight into examiners or the viva process? Explore what you might need before approaching your supervisor.

Before submission, ask about their schedule. When are they busy? Do they have times where they will be unavailable or less able to help? Find out what could get in the way of you accessing their support.

After submission, ask for help as clearly as you can and with as much notice as you can manage. Be specific in your requests, so your supervisor can respond and match your expectations as closely as possible. There may not be time to get everything you need, so consider what your priorities are and communicate them.

You need help from your supervisor to help you get ready for your viva. Support them and they can support you.

Nathan

At The Last Minute

Daily Post

Don’t save your viva prep for the day before your viva.

Save that day for reminding yourself of your successes.

Save that day for reinforcing that you’ve come as far as you have by becoming more talented, more knowledgeable, more capable.

Save that day for remembering that you couldn’t have produced your thesis by being lucky – you must be good.

Save that day for relaxing.

Last minute viva prep can be stressful. Save those last minutes for looking back and simply reflecting. Remember that you’re good.

Nathan

The Hours

Daily Post

Viva prep can take between twenty and thirty hours of work when you consider all of the tasks that could be involved. In the time leading up to your viva, thirty minutes to an hour per day of viva prep could be enough to help you get ready.

It all depends on when you start and how much you need to do.

Start your prep with three weeks to go and spend thirty minutes or an hour each day doing something to help yourself and you’ll have no problem in making things right for the viva. You can take days off or find time to invest an extra hour maybe and the necessary work will seem to be done in no time.

By choice or inactivity you might start your prep with a few days to go. In this case you might have to spend six or seven hours per day on viva prep. It’s not ideal, but it might just be what you have to do.

I think it’s far better to plan for the situation, just a little. Prep for your prep. Take some time to figure out how to make getting ready as unhurried and as stress-free as possible.

You have to put in the hours to be ready for the viva – but you can decide how and when you invest those hours.

Nathan

Disrupted

Daily Post

There have always been candidates whose plans have been disrupted during their PhD journey. A project finds itself without the resources it needs. A plan loses support. Something just doesn’t work out the way it was expected. Every PhD candidate has faced little bumps and hiccups. In the thesis and at the viva, if they need to, the candidate can explain this usually very simply: why something was disrupted, how it had an impact, what the outcome was or what changes needed to be made.

But in the last year, every PhD candidate has faced disruption. It’s not a matter of if, but how much? Perhaps even how often? And so as submission or the viva approaches for Pandemic-PhDs, it’s not unexpected or unreasonable for candidates to be concerned about discussion around disruption. Perhaps in video vivas for the next few years it’s not a case of if examiners will ask about pandemic disruption, but when that line of questioning will start.

The response is still the same, more or less, even though it might be describing a much bigger disruption than candidates in years past. You can explore how you might make this response by reflecting in advance of the viva:

  • Why was your research disrupted?
  • How did it have an impact?
  • What was the outcome, or what changes did you make?

As with typical starter questions like “Can you summarise your research?” or “How did you get interested?” being asked about disruption due to the pandemic is a simple question to ask. It’s a natural, human question to ask. Your examiners aren’t testing you, they’re not trying to find ways that you should have done more. It’s a chance to reflect – and possibly an opportunity to show how your determination has helped you to get through.

“How was your research disrupted?” is a simple question, but for some it could also be a really difficult question to respond to. It’s sometimes too easy to sit at a distance and think about “disruption” in the abstract. For some candidates the last year may have been devastation rather than disruption. Reflect, prepare as best you can, be ready to share what you can in the viva.

Remember that whatever has happened in the last year you have managed to keep going. That counts for a lot.

Nathan

Answers and Responses

Daily Post

An answer is a kind of response. An answer is grounded in truth or a compelling argument. An answer could be what you offer after a question…

…if the question is part of a quiz. But the viva isn’t a quiz. It’s not an interview. It’s not even a question-and-answer session.

The viva is a discussion, steered by the questions of your examiners and the responses you offer. A response could be an answer depending on the question – but it could also be an opinion you offer, an idea that you share, a question to clarify a point or a hunch that you feel. There’s a place for answers in the viva, but you might not have an answer for every question.

However, given your knowledge, your skills, your work and your experience, it’s reasonable to expect that you could respond to every question.

1 … 11 12 13 14 15 … 35