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Tag: viva process

Nathan

Clear Questions Get Better Responses

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This sentiment applies in life, work and the viva!

Clear requests for prep help from friends and supervisors are more likely to get a helpful response.

Clear questions from your examiners (and you) will help drive good discussion at your viva.

Clear follow-up questions will allow you to dig deeper – and questions for clarity from you, if you need to ask, will only make the viva conversation better.

Take your time, choose your words carefully and be as clear as possible at your viva and during prep.

Nathan

Intro & Outro

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Whenever I deliver a viva help session I spend a lot of time thinking about the beginning and the end.

For the Intro I think about what expectations need to be set. What is critical for me to get across? What’s the logical sequence of information that people need to hear? And what’s my backup plan in case something isn’t right?

I think ahead about the Outro too: what points will I need to close off before I’m done? What parts of the session do I want to call back to? And how do I handle the sudden influx of final questions that participants might have?

To be clear, I think about everything in the middle too! But the Intro and Outro need some special attention of their own.

 

The same is true for your viva. In preparation you need the general flow of review and rehearsal to help for most of the viva – but I’d make sure you give a little extra thought to be ready for the beginning and end.

  • What do you need to know about the viva to feel ready for when it starts?
  • Do your examiners need to know anything about you and your situation to make reasonable adjustments?
  • What can you do to feel alright with any nervousness at the start?
  • How can you prepare for the end of the viva and final questions there?

Intro and Outro. Beginning and End. They’re small parts of your viva but important to think about and prepare for.

 

PS: I’m thinking a lot about the intro and outro for this Wednesday’s 1-hour 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva webinar! I love sharing this session and have delivered it over 100 times now. Registration for this Wednesday includes attendance, one of my pdf publications and a catch-up recording if you can’t attend live. I’m sharing two more sessions in November and December if this is too short notice but do take a look if you or someone you know is looking for viva help. Thanks for reading!

Nathan

It’s Supposed To Be Difficult

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Whatever else one might say about the viva – it’s a discussion, it could be really interesting, it most commonly leads to success – it’s very important to remember that it’s supposed to be difficult.

That’s a key expectation.

Given the level you’ve been working at you can expect that the topics up for discussion will be difficult. Given that the event is a challenge you can expect difficulty. Given your probable nerves and the sense of the unknown about what will happen you can expect your viva to be difficult.

The viva is supposed to be difficult – but not impossible, not necessarily stressful and not an overwhelming situation.

You might need to know more before you get there. You might need to focus on a particular area of preparation. You might need your institution to make some adjustments to your viva process to ensure that it is a fair situation for you.

You can expect difficult and also know that you can show yourself and your work in a good way. You can be ready for the difficulty you’ll find at your viva.

 

PS: If you’re looking for more help with the difficulty of the viva then consider signing up for my 1-hour 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva webinar next Wednesday 7th October 2026. Registration includes attendance, follow-up resources and a catch-up recording if you can’t attend live. Hope to see you there!

Nathan

The Work

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The work you need to do to get ready for your viva – and to do well at your viva – is the same as the work for your whole PhD so far:

  • You have to find out more.
  • You have to figure out more.
  • You have to figure out how to tell others about what you’ve learned and done.

The purpose and need involved with prep and the viva might be specific and different to the rest of your PhD but the work is the same. It’s the same for every PhD candidate regardless of discipline.

So: what does that work look like for you as you get ready?

 

PS: You can find out more about the specific work of rehearsal in Viva Survivors Select 14 which is out now. If you like the blog, want more help and want to support what I do then please check it out. It’s the latest issue in my series of curated collections of viva help: twenty posts from the blog’s archive and new help to help you get ready!

Nathan

Need To Know

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What do you need to know about the viva to feel happy with the process?

What do you need to know about your examiners to feel comfortable talking to them?

What do you need to know about the logistics of your viva day to feel sure it will go well?

What do you need to know through completing your preparations to feel ready?

And, when you know what you need to know, what do you need to do to get ready for your viva?

Nathan

A List Of Requirements

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Success at your viva requires:

  • A candidate (you).
  • One or more research projects.
  • One or more active supervisors.
  • A few years of work.
  • A suitably written thesis.
  • Regulations that have been followed.
  • Two or more examiners.
  • A period of preparation for those examiners.
  • A period of preparation for the candidate.
  • A sufficient amount of self confidence.
  • Adjustments to the typical viva process depending on the candidate’s personal requirements.
  • An interesting discussion that facilitates an exam.

What else do you require to succeed at your viva?

Nathan

Thesis Vs Viva?

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“To what extent is the outcome based on the content of the thesis rather than the discussion in the viva? Is there an approximate ratio or is it totally random?”

Here’s another question from a webinar I delivered just before my summer break! I’ve been thinking this over for weeks. It’s a good question because it gives me another perspective to describe what is happening in the thesis examination process.

Here’s my almost-stream-of-consciousness reflection:

  • The viva outcome is not random but is there a ratio?
  • A ratio makes me think of recipes: three parts flour to two parts water and so on. But the viva is not as simple as that.
  • You can’t have a viva without a thesis. So that’s our starting point.
  • But: you can’t have a thesis without a candidate. So that goes back even further.
  • The viva process is an examination of the candidate.
  • The thesis is an artefact that represents the work and achievement of the candidate.
  • The thesis has to be good enough as an output and the candidate has to be good as a researcher.

So how about this as a response, not an answer, to the original question:

The outcome of the viva is based on the work and ability of the candidate. Examiners have to assess the thesis as an output of the candidate’s work and talk with the candidate to give them opportunities to say more about the thesis, their process and themselves.

The outcome isn’t based on some unpicking of thesis and viva but of considering the candidate: their work, their contribution and themselves.

 

PS: registration opens tomorrow for my upcoming 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva webinars. I have dates in October, November and December for this helpful 1-hour live session which I think of as a confidence boost for the viva. I’ll cover why PhD candidates succeed and what you can do to help how you approach this important event. Registration for all autumn dates opens tomorrow and there’ll be an announcement post going up then too. You can also follow my Eventbrite page or the individual event pages you can find via this link. Thank you!

Nathan

What It’s For

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The viva is a facilitated discussion to confirm that you did a good piece of work over a long period of time – and in doing so you became a good researcher.

The viva follows a long academic tradition in the UK and is seen as a good mechanism for assessing the progress that someone makes as they pursue their research goals. It’s a custom exam every time, following rules, traditions and experience, unique but not unknowable.

The viva is there to check you and your work out:

  • Is it enough?
  • Have you done enough?
  • Have you developed enough?

(and enough is enough: your examiners aren’t looking for perfection)

Your viva is for you: it’s your viva, your exam, your work, your journey.

That’s what your viva is for.

Nathan

Give and Take

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When you’re asked a question at the viva:

  • Give a response to the question;
  • Take your time to do it.

Any question. Any kind of question. Give a response, take your time.

There are no prizes for speed and only your own stress for rushing.

There might not be an answer but you can always respond with an opinion, a hunch, an idea or a question.

Give a response, take your time.

Nathan

Keeping It Simple

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The viva is simple. A group of examiners leading a discussion with purpose asking a candidate about what they did, how they did it, why it matters and who they are.

Simple.

Viva prep is simple. Invest a little time to be ready for the particular challenge of your viva. Read the regulations, get help if you need it and take tens of hours to build on thousands of hours of work. Read, think, rehearse and prepare.

Simple.

Feeling confident for your viva is simple. Reflect on what you did and what it means. Remember how much work you invested and see the difference between when you started and where you are now. See what change you’ve made.

Simple.

Everything about the viva is simple but simple does NOT mean easy.

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