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Tag: viva preparation

Nathan

Revise or Review?

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Words matter.

It might help to think of viva prep as revising for a test. If that’s how you think of it then follow that impulse. Make a plan. Consider what you need to do. Build structure to help you get the work done. Thinking of viva prep as exam revision has merit.

Another consideration could be that viva prep is reviewing things. You don’t need to revise and re-learn everything. You already know what you know. Because you’ve been doing this for years you don’t need to revise and cram your mind with information. Instead you just have to review who you are, what you can do and how far you’ve come.

Words matter.

What words are you using to describe your process for getting ready?

Nathan

Superlatives

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Here is a small reflection and summary exercise to help gather useful information before your viva. Four questions:

  • What’s the best part of your thesis?
  • What was the least useful period of research during your PhD?
  • What was the hardest thing you learned?
  • What is your proudest achievement?

Take a moment to reflect for each of these. Write down your thoughts in keywords or sentences. Reflect more and then dig deeper for each by asking yourself, “Why?”

  • Why is this the best part of your thesis?
  • Why was that the least useful period?
  • Why is that the hardest thing you learned?
  • Why is that your proudest achievement?

Reflection questions are helpful for shaking loose ideas that are worth remembering or considering more.

“Why?” often allows one to dig a little deeper.

Nathan

The Sixth Activity

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There are six main types of activity that make up viva preparation.

Five of them are, in a strange way, quite similar. Candidates can prepare for their viva by:

  • Reading their thesis;
  • Annotating their thesis;
  • Creating summaries;
  • Reading recent publications;
  • Checking recent papers by their examiners.

These are quite different at first glance. They are all essential, helpful activities for viva prep – and also completely unlike what a candidate will do in the viva. That’s the strange similarity: they are essential for viva preparation but practically unlike what someone will do when they meet their examiners.

The sixth essential activity is finding opportunities to rehearse. Mock vivas, seminars, conversations with friend and more. Work that is much, much closer to the work you will do when you meet your examiners. Deliberate practice that helps you to be more comfortable for viva day.

The other five activities make a difference. They are essential, but they are not the same kind of actions that you will take in your viva.

Find opportunities to rehearse.

Nathan

What Does It Mean?

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What does this mean? What does that mean? What’s the difference between X and Y?

If there are any terms that you can remember being asked about a lot during your PhD, then take time to refresh your memory before your viva. If there are terms you use regularly while you do your work, be sure that they mean what you think they mean. Be sure that there aren’t edge cases or extra points you’ve forgotten.

You don’t need to know every fact, detail, reference and idea, but take time to unpick what common terms mean, especially if you’ve used them a lot.

Nathan

Schedule Your Prep

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You might not know your viva date at submission. Confirmation could come weeks after you have submitted. In some cases a candidate might only get two weeks warning of a viva date (assuming that the date works for them too).

Sketch out a plan for viva prep at submission. This might have some blanks. It might not have precise dates. But consider how busy you are and what commitments you have already.

When, where and how would you fit in viva preparation?

A schedule could have tasks broken down date by date or be a list of points you have to tackle. Any helpful structure you can give yourself at submission will help you appreciate the scope of what needs to be done, what questions you need to ask yourself and what further planning you need to do.

Then you need to do the work!

Nathan

No Shortcuts

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There’s no quick three-step process to getting ready for the viva.

You can’t bypass reading your thesis to refresh your memory.

No-one has invented a 5-minute mock viva that gets you two-hours of practise in 300 seconds.

There are no shortcuts to just doing the work – but the work involved in viva preparation really doesn’t take all that long. Maybe an hour per day for about four weeks leading up to your viva could be enough, even with taking a day off here and there.

It’s not nothing, but it’s a lot less than the hundreds of days and thousands of hours invested in your PhD up to submission. It’s a little more work to help you be ready for the particular challenge of your viva.

And given what’s at stake, why would anyone want a shortcut to being ready for their viva?

Nathan

Jargon Busting

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You probably have terms in your thesis that are unfamiliar to anyone who doesn’t do what you do. These could be names of key people in your field, references to important information or just a piece of jargon that means something important.

Over time words can become forgotten. To make sure that you have what you need, take an hour in your viva prep to refresh your memory.

Write a glossary of fancy words and jargon. Make a list of key names and data. It might seem like overkill to think and write about terms you know but a little extra thought won’t hurt to be sure you know what everything in your thesis means.

Nathan

6 Reasons To Create A Summary

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There are lots of reasons to create summaries as part of getting ready for your viva. Here are 6!

  1. They help you to figure out what you think.
  2. Writing a summary can help you find clarity about some aspect of your thesis or research.
  3. You can highlight key information or details.
  4. You can gather useful thoughts you might want to use in the viva.
  5. You can build confidence by reflecting on what you’ve done.
  6. A summary is a small project.

I think number 6 is overlooked sometimes. Viva prep can feel big, daunting and even open-ended. A summary is a finite task to be done. The process helps and the output is a resource.

Find an important aspect of your thesis or research. Spend a little time thinking about it and capturing useful thoughts about it.

Nathan

Value Your Contribution

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A key topic for discussion at your viva is what you’ve been doing for the last few years.

Your examiners need to explore your significant original contribution. They need to ask questions that get you to share what makes your work matter. They need to get you to talk about why it makes a difference. So in preparation for your viva:

  • Reflect on what makes your contribution valuable.
  • Think about how your work connects with the field or disciplines it’s a part of.
  • Explore the difference your research makes.

You can do these sorts of things through reading your thesis, writing notes or summaries and talking about your work. Make sure you find opportunities to talk about your research and respond to questions.

It’s not enough to just think a bit: you have to do more to explore what makes your work special.

Nathan

Supervisor Support

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Talk to your supervisor around submission time to get a sense of how they can support you when you prepare for your viva.

Your supervisor is best-placed to offer advice and perspective as you get ready. You might not need a lot from them. Maybe you want a mock viva. Perhaps they can share some thoughts on your examiners or the general process of vivas.

Whatever you need, you can be sure that they are busy. They’ll want to help but will only have a limited amount of time to do so and a limited availability as well. So talk to them at submission to get a sense of what they can do, when they can do it and how you’ll make it work.

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