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Tag: viva preparation

Nathan

Ten 5-Minute Viva Prep Tasks

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A half-hour or hour of viva prep doesn’t have to be spent with your eyes glued to the pages of your thesis. Yes, you need to read, and yes you need to spend time on slightly longer, considered tasks – but short activities can be useful too. A few five-minute tasks spread between longer pieces of work can add to your sense of being ready.

Small things add up. Here are ten ideas for five-minute viva prep tasks:

  1. Reflect on a key reference for your thesis and write a paragraph about why it helped your work.
  2. Think and write down three questions you’d like to ask your examiners (and make a note of why for each).
  3. Record yourself (either audio or video) responding to the question, “What are you most proud of in your research?”
  4. Write about a tricky challenge you overcame. Why was it tricky? How did you resolve the situation? What did that help you to do?
  5. Search through your thesis for five pages/points that are great; put a Post-it Note or bookmark with all of them so you can find them again with ease.
  6. Record yourself responding to the question, “What do you not know about the viva process that you think would help?”
  7. Click the random Viva Survivors post link five times to get five random pieces of advice/help/perspective!
  8. Record yourself responding to the question, “What do you hope your examiners ask you about?”
  9. Make a list of five things you could do on the days leading up to your viva to help you feel confident.
  10. Take five minutes to listen to or watch one of the recording tasks from above.

More time-intensive tasks are required to build up your preparation for the viva. Smaller tasks help too. Think about how you can use your time well to increase your readiness for your viva.

(and contrast with 1-minute viva prep tasks!)

Nathan

Viva Prep & Focus

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Viva preparation helps you to change focus from the kind of work needed to get you to submission to the work needed to get you through the viva.

Is it ready, how much more, did I tweak that change that get it right…

Rush and overtime, a few more days, got to get it done get it done get it done done done

Prep, and the viva, require a slower pace. Nerves or anxiety come from the viva being important: rushing, continuing to try and get everything “right” is only going to compound nerves.

Use your viva prep time to change your focus. Slow down. Take your time. Read your thesis, make some notes, practise a little, remind yourself of your accomplishments and abilities.

Change your focus from rush to ready.

Nathan

More More More

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I don’t remember a lot of the day-to-day life of my pure maths PhD now. I remember little sparks, breakthroughs, and the feeling of being “in the zone” while trying to figure something out.

I also remember, as my PhD went on, the growing feeling that there was always more I could do.

There were more ways to apply the ideas I had developed.

There were more papers to read to find more methods for exploring my field.

There were more questions to ask, and more answers to be found – more to explore.

Even though of course there was a limit to how much I could accomplish throughout my PhD, there would always be more things I could do. And in preparation for my viva, while I invested a lot of time, I could have done even more. I could have spent thirty minutes more each day, an extra day of reading papers or an afternoon checking over the details of a chapter.

I think this generalises further: even with time pressures, life pressures and so on, candidates have to recognise that there will be more things they could explore or do than they have done; however much time they spend getting ready there will be more that they could do which would help them.

And we all have to take a deep breath at some point and say “No. This is enough.” You have to find a way to do that for your research and your thesis. For your viva prep, making a list in advance of what needs to be done could be helpful. Break down what will be enough for getting ready, then work towards it.

There is always going to be more, and there also has to be enough.

Nathan

Thoughts on Sustainable Prep

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Getting ready for the viva is far more productive and beneficial if it’s done in a sustainable way.

  • Don’t sit down to get ready when you’re already tired.
  • Don’t sit down in a space that isn’t right for you, where prep is going to be a struggle.
  • Don’t leave it all to the last minute so that you have extra pressures.

You can’t exhaust your personal resources and work well in an environment that adds pressures to you. That’s no way to get ready.

  • How can you get ready at a time that works well for you? When might that be?
  • Where can you prepare well? What might you need to do to prepare that space?
  • How do you need to plan your preparation so that it’s not a rush? When do you need to start?

Prep will take anywhere from a few weeks to a month. Invest a little thought into how you are going to do that to look after yourself, as well as considering what exactly you will do to get ready.

Nathan

The Control Room

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You can’t control how long your viva will be. Or what question you’ll be asked first. Or what parts your examiners do or don’t like. Or how they express themselves or pose their questions to you.

You can’t control the flow of the viva. Knowing which questions commonly come up won’t mean you can control if they’ll be asked to you. You can’t control whether or not a response to a question will be satisfactory. You can’t control if your examiners agree with you on a methodological point. You can’t control whether or not they are going to ask that one question which you dread being asked.

But you can control how you prepare.

You can control what you do to get ready.

You can control how you start your viva day.

You can make choices to help lead you in the direction of confidence for your viva.

Nathan

Keysheet

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Because cheatsheet sounds a bit wrong, how about you make a keysheet for your PhD? One page capturing all the things you need to know.

Success in the viva is more than rote memorisation of details, but there are some that are worth seeking out and listing. A little search before the viva, either through your thesis or through your memory, can give you a helpful boost. You can be confident the important facts are filed away where they need to be. Facts like:

  • a short list of the most important references in your bibliography;
  • a one-paragraph summary of what your thesis is about;
  • a few details about each of your examiners’ interests;
  • several key questions you’ve explored in your work;
  • a list of the contribution(s) that your research makes to your field;
  • the talents you have developed over the course of your PhD.

Don’t forget the last one, whatever else you add to this single page. It’s important to remind yourself of how you’ve been able to achieve everything.

It’s not a cheatsheet, because you didn’t cheat. A keysheet captures the essential components of your thesis and research.

Like you.

Nathan

Three Questions To Reflect On

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First: What question do you hope your examiners don’t ask in the viva?

Second: …whatever the question was that you thought of in response to the question above!

Third: Since you can’t do anything to prevent the question from potentially being asked in the viva, what can you do before the viva to help you be in a better position to respond?

 

And a fourth bonus question: more generally, what can you do to put yourself in a good position for your viva?

Nathan

More Starters

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I was playing with the random post link when I came across Starters (from a few years ago) and was once again reminded of these very helpful words by Rudyard Kipling:

I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.

If you’re starting your viva preparations, and perhaps want to shake loose some thoughts about what you’ve done, consider the following questions inspired by the words above:

  • What’s been your aim for the last few years?
  • Why did you start a PhD?
  • When did you find your greatest idea to date?
  • How have you approached your research?
  • Where do you think your research could be applied?
  • Who are you now, compared to when you started?

Reflect on your research and your journey to start your viva preparations. You may not be asked these questions directly, but you can be sure they will uncover ideas relevant to the discussions you’ll have with your examiners.

Nathan

Three Prep Sketches

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A period of viva prep could be lots of things depending on your circumstances. You might not be able to control your situation entirely, but the direction of your work can be chosen. You could decide to have:

  • A few busy days: many hours a day of reading, noting, reminding – emailing your supervisor – checking the regulations at the last minute, unsure and perhaps worrying over what your examiners might ask or do.
  • Two weeks of prep: an hour or two most evenings. Reading your thesis, making notes, a mock viva to be scheduled and had, and a bit of a chance to sit with your concerns and do something about them.
  • A month of small tasks for the most part: thirty minutes most days. A week to read your thesis, a week to make notes and check details. You already know the regulations before you start preparing. Plenty of space to reflect and do what needs to be done.

Three sketches, but you can probably tell by my word choice which I favour!

Of course, different situations can drive different needs. Your situation could require you to squeeze your prep into the few days leading to your viva. That said, if you can space out your prep over a month you can take your time to be sure you’re ready. You don’t need to over-stress because you’re doing the long, slow approach to your viva which leads to confidence – confidence through regular, deliberate actions that highlight your talent and your knowledge.

Nathan

The Humble To-Do List

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Make a little list of things you have to do for your viva prep, things that you know will help. It might include:

  • Read all of my thesis;
  • Read two or three papers by my examiners;
  • Chat to friends about my research;
  • Check the regulations;
  • Find out how my video viva will be done;
  • Check my supervisor’s availability for helping me.

Just a little list – this example is by no means complete, but there shouldn’t be hundreds of things! Some examples can be crossed off neatly, others will take time. You might want to break those down, depending on your preferences.

It’s much easier to know when you’re ready if you plot out what you need to do to get ready.

A little to-do list could help a lot.

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