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Tag: viva regulations

Nathan

What To Expect

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Viva expectations are hard to pin down sometimes.

Every viva experience is different, but there are patterns in the stories. Viva regulations vary between institutions but there is consistency around key practices.

More than anything you can build up a general impression of the tone of vivas; you can get an idea of what areas are discussed and what topics examiners focus on. You can get a better sense of all this if you get a feel of what vivas are like in your department or your research area.

It’s important to remember that expectations aren’t guarantees. Past experiences don’t automatically drive future events.

Expectations are a feeling: you feel that your viva will likely go a certain way. Ask enough questions, read enough regulations, see enough stories and you can get a good sense of what your viva will be like. Eventually you know what to expect.

Nathan

Crumbs

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That’s the way the cookie crumbles!

An old saying which means that some things have a tendency to behave in a certain way. There’s no equivalent saying for vivas, but there are still lots of patterns that tend to be followed:

  • Candidates are nervous – because the viva is really important.
  • Examiners are prepared – because they want to do the job well.
  • Vivas last for hours – because there’s a lot to talk about.
  • Questions can be difficult – because one of the topics of conversation is original research.
  • Candidates are often asked to complete thesis corrections – because writing a book is hard.

And candidates often succeed – because, when you think about it, a person couldn’t work for years and years and submit a thesis without being good enough.

Nathan

Viva Responsibilities

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Supervisors have a responsibility to help their candidates understand what’s expected of them.

Universities have a responsibility to ensure candidates have access to regulations and support.

Independent chairs for the viva have a responsibility to set the tone, observe and help steer things if needed.

Examiners have a responsibility to do their homework, prepare well, ask relevant questions and facilitate the discussion appropriately.

And finally candidates have a responsibility to do what they can, after submitting a good thesis, to arrive in as good a place as they can for their viva. They have a responsibility to respond to questions, to think, to be clear, to engage.

 

It may seem like you, as a candidate, have a lot to do; given everything else you have already done, it doesn’t take much to live up to your responsibilities when you get to the viva.

Nathan

Expectations Are A Compass

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Every viva is unique, but there are enough common experiences that you can help yourself be ready.

It’s like walking through the countryside and you don’t quite know where your destination is. Your travelling companion asks where you’re going and you wave your hand vaguely and say, “Somewhere over there!”

Expectations for the viva give you a compass. Knowledge about viva lengths helps you to prepare yourself for the effort. Understanding the purpose behind questions raises confidence for responding. Expectations help give you direction even if the final destination is a little uncertain.

The more you know about what to expect from the viva generally, the more you can help yourself be ready for your viva particularly.

Nathan

Not A PhD

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For over a decade Viva Survivors has been geared towards the PhD viva and helping people get ready, but PhD candidates aren’t the only postgraduate researchers who have a viva.

What if you’re doing an EngD or an EdD? Or an MPhil? Or an MScR? Or you’re researching towards another collection of letters?

How do the hundreds of thousands of words on Viva Survivors (and the resources, and the podcast archive) apply when you’re not doing a PhD viva? What changes? What stays the same?

I don’t know – or at least, I don’t know everything.

 

The basic principles of viva prep hold. The ideas of getting ready and building confidence based on your success and development hold.

But the regulations will differ, at least a little. Viva expectations might differ because the general experience of an MScR viva, for example, might not be quite the same as a PhD viva.

But still there is help out there and on Viva Survivors.

Whatever your research degree, read the regulations for your institution. Whatever you’re working towards, talk to people who have gone on the journey before you and ask them questions about what their viva was like. Take time to think about what you need to do to prepare, plan your prep and then get it done.

Whatever you do, ask for help. Whatever you do, take time to get ready. Whatever you do, share what’s helped with others when you’re done.

Then go on and do something even better, because your research degree is only one step in the journey.

Nathan

Considering Outcomes

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A few loose thoughts…

 

Viva regulations are impersonal.

They give structure. Section 2, paragraph 3, check appendix 2A.

Regulations say yes and no. They specify and describe: this is a pass, this is a fail.

 

But viva outcomes are not a binary. Most people pass, but they pass in different ways. Most people pass with minor corrections, but all corrections are unique, in the same way that all candidates and their theses are unique.

Universities offer multiple outcomes that are passes – no corrections, minor corrections, major corrections and more. Typically there’s only one real category of failure, something that the vast majority of candidates don’t experience.

 

When considering viva outcomes, the point that stands out to me most is that every candidate has to find the meaning and the value in their success. Rules and regulations don’t care: you do.

What does your PhD mean to you?

What’s going to keep you going while you finish and have your viva?

And how will you celebrate your success when you find it?

Nathan

Expectations Matter

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Every viva is unique, but expectations show that yours will not be a total unknown.

Expectations provide an outline.

“Vivas are generally like this and not like that.”

Viva expectations shape preparation and build confidence.

The set of expectations you build up are a structure based on regulations and stories.

They build certainty but provide no guarantees.

Expectations matter because they are far better than wondering “What if…?”

And expectations typically show that vivas are nowhere near as terrible or challenging as the vague worries and unverified rumours about what happens.

Read the regulations. Listen to the stories. Ask around.

Find a set of expectations that will help you work towards being ready for your viva.

Nathan

“Not Like I Thought”

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It’s one of the most common things people say about the viva.

I believed my examiners would grill me but instead we just talked about what I had done…

I thought I would go blank but it was just good to be discussing my research…

I expected that I would be there for hours and hours, but it was all done by 1pm…

In my experience there is a massive mis-match between what PhD candidates generally expect from their viva and what happens when they meet their examiners. Typically, this is because the candidate expects it is going to be far more dire an experience than it actually is!

It’s good that vivas tend to work out well, but it would be better if people went to them knowing more of what to expect and thus get ready in a more positive frame of mind.

So what can you do? Don’t just listen to the person on the internet. Talk to your friends. Talk to your colleagues. Talk to your supervisors. Read the regulations. Read blog posts and articles describing real experiences. Through all of this try to arrive at a good, positive idea of the viva that is ahead of you.

Nathan

Timing

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If you check the viva regulations and talk with friends who have been through the process then you can start to appreciate the possible timing of your viva. Ask how long people had to wait for a viva date and how much time they were given to complete corrections.

Details help because at some point it will be your turn, your time – and like everyone your time is filled up already.

You have work and family and friends. You have responsibilities, obligations and the things you actually want to do. You have enough stuff already in your life and with your viva there will be new things to do.

  • You need to arrange a date that works for you.
  • You need to do the work to get ready.
  • You’ll probably have to do work afterwards to make a final version of your thesis.

Check the regulations and ask your friends to get a sense of when and how you’ll need to do things for your viva. Use the information to plan for how this will impact your life.

Nathan

Patchwork

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Every viva is different because every thesis and candidate are unique. Your thesis and experiences will to some extent ensure that your viva is different from every other viva before or after yours.

Every viva follows patterns because of university regulations, general expectations and departmental norms. There’s a patchwork of rules and ideas for what a viva is supposed to be like that gives every viva some structure. Taken together, each of these elements tells a candidate roughly what to expect: how long it might be, what kind of questions could come up and what the experience might feel like.

The more you stick pieces together, the better informed you can be and the more ready you can make yourself – while understanding that you won’t really know what will happen until you get there. The patchwork of regulations, expectations and norms helps you be ready for whatever happens.

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