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Tag: viva rehearsal

Nathan

Talking Comfortably

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I think a huge part of viva confidence for a candidate is based on feeling comfortable when talking about their research.

Examiners need to ask the candidate questions, they need to share opinions and they need the candidate to respond so that they can have a discussion and examine. Candidates have to do their part and want to do their part, but too often worry that they won’t be able to in the moment.

  • “What if I forget something?”
  • “What if there’s a long pause?”
  • “What if I don’t know something?”
  • “What if it’s a bit awkward or I’m hesitant?”

The short answer for all of these questions and worries is that the viva will still happen. It’ll continue however you feel, but will feel better for you if you’re able to talk with some confidence about your research and all the related things your examiners want to discuss.

How do you get to talk comfortably? You prepare. You read your thesis and think and make notes. More important than anything you take time to rehearse for being in the viva through opportunities like a mock viva.

You can’t be ready with pre-loaded responses to every conceivable question or comment.

You can be ready to engage with whatever question your examiners ask by taking time before the viva to rehearse.

Have a mock viva. Talk with friends. Talk with your supervisor. Make opportunities to be in situations where you’ll talk about your work and respond to questions. Make sure you have real experience before the viva so that you feel more comfortable talking about your PhD research.

Nathan

Slide Deck Prep

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You might need slides for your viva if your examiners ask you to prepare a presentation. It’s not a common experience, but it does happen.

If you need a presentation then prepare carefully: think about what your examiners need to know, what they might need to see and how you can best summarise what you have to get across to them. Your supervisors and possibly your friends and colleagues can be valuable in helping you to know what you have to include and what you have to do.

If you need a presentation then you would have to practise. Don’t simply copy and paste old slides together and rely on old memories. Rehearse your presentation if you’re asked to prepare one for your viva.

And if you’re not asked then you don’t need one! Simple as that.

 

Although, if you’re not asked for a presentation for your viva, putting together a slide deck could still be a helpful way to bring your thoughts together.

A few bullet points on each topic. A few images that help you remember. A logical sequence of information to organise your thinking. Something simple to scroll through and refresh your memory on the days leading up to your viva.

If you’re not asked for a presentation then you don’t need one – but you might still get help from making a slide deck. Simple as that.

Nathan

What Matters To You?

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Your examiners have to ask you about the significant, original contribution that you put forward in your thesis. They have to do this. They have to ask questions about what it adds to your field, how it’s different and why it’s valuable.

In effect they are asking you, “Why does this matter?” – although they probably won’t say it as simply as this.

Every thesis has a logic to it; you have reasons that bring your ideas together. To start exploring yours just ask yourself why your work matters to you.

What is it about your work that made you want to do it? What did you find and what carried you through long hours and hard work?

It’s a starting point – there are more questions to reflect on that will help you find words to explain what you’ve done to your examiners – but as a starting point it gives you a powerful motivation to say more and explore more.

Nathan

Traffic Lights

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Traffic intersections use simple colour-coding to indicate what actions should be taken. They’re used to prompt very specific behaviour and action. Perhaps we can borrow the terminology to consider the kinds of questions that might come up at a viva…

Green light questions are anticipated; you are entirely comfortable with them. Whether it’s about something in your thesis, your research or your general field, if you were to hear a green light question you would be happy to just go (and start talking)!

Yellow light questions force you to slow down. You might have to change pace. There’s no problem but you need to think and focus more. There’s nothing wrong with doing that. You’re not expected to know everything or remember everything in your viva; pausing for a moment to get your thoughts together is good.

Red light questions make you stop. A question could be unexpected. It could be something you struggle with. And it might make you feel uncomfortable.

 

In the real world, red lights make people stop – but then they go again, and that’s also like the viva.

If a question is hard, unfamiliar or unexpected at the viva you still need to respond to it. You still have to engage in order to meet the expectations of the viva.

If you know of a red light topic for you, what could you do to improve how you feel about it? If it’s a yellow can you make it a green?

Nathan

Another Way

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If you can’t have a mock viva or don’t want one, there will be another way for you to rehearse talking about your research. Give a seminar, go for coffee with a friend or just chat with people about what you’ve done. These actions are not the same as a mock, but they help in the way that a mock does.

If you don’t want to read your thesis in preparation for your viva in the way that your colleague did, then think about how you could do it. They did a chapter a day? Maybe break it down into sections instead. Or maybe take an afternoon off to read it all. There will be a way for you to do the work.

A lot of really helpful viva prep advice gets swallowed in the specifics of how someone else did it. Find your way to do things like read your thesis, make notes and summaries, rehearse and so on. If your friend’s way won’t work or you can’t follow the advice of the person on the internet then find another way to do it that will work for you.

Nathan

Three Mini-Vivas

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I’m still quite pleased with the Mini-Vivas Resource I made several years ago. I think it’s a nice little way to get ready for your viva with a friend; it doesn’t require a lot of preparation to use, and gives a little structure to having a conversation about research to help with speaking practice and confidence.

There are 7776 possible combinations of questions you can find by following instructions and rolling dice; here are three to save you a little time, indexed by the dice numbers!

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  • Why did you want to pursue your research?
  • How would you describe your methodology?
  • What were some of the challenges you overcame during your PhD?
  • What questions would you like to ask your examiners?
  • If you could start again, knowing what you know now, what would you keep the same?

Mini-Viva 13551

  • How would you define your thesis contribution?
  • What influenced your methodology?
  • How did the existing literature in the field influence you?
  • What comments or questions have you been asked about your work previously?
  • How could you develop this work further in the future?

Mini-Viva 25314

  • What are the three brightest parts of your research?
  • How did your process change as you did your PhD?
  • How does your work build on prior research?
  • How can you be sure of your conclusions?
  • What publications do you hope to produce?

Are these typical of questions you might be asked in your viva? Yes and no!

Yes because these are all the sorts of things that your examiners might want to dig into. No because your examiners will have read your thesis carefully and examined it against what they know about your area of your research and what they know from their own experience.

A mini-viva is different from a real viva, because while a friend may know a little about your research, they won’t have read your thesis to prepare. They’ll be using the mini-viva questions to provide structure and listening to your responses to steer things.

Still, a mini-viva is a little help, a little practice, a little step closer to being ready for your viva.

Well, three little steps in this post – and 7773 more at the Mini-Vivas Resource post!

Nathan

Silence In The Viva

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Like nervousness, silence might not feel comfortable sometimes but it doesn’t necessarily mean something negative.

In your viva a moment of quiet could be while you or an examiner checks a detail or finds the right place in your thesis. You might need a quiet pause to think or read, or to make a note. Silence could be a side-effect of a video viva delay or a simple pause to settle after a noise from outside.

Silence in the viva is a brief quiet between questions, responses and discussion about really important things. Silence in the viva is not for long before the words flow again. Silence in the viva is just one of those things that will happen.

Prepare for talking at your viva by rehearsing and talking before your viva. Use that opportunity to prepare for the silence too.

Nathan

Elevate Your Pitch

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It’s unlikely that you will have to give an elevator pitch of your research at the viva. I’ve never heard of examiners asking for a polished thirty-second or two-minute overview of 3+ years of work.

But that said, exploring a concise summary could be a useful part of viva prep. You could:

  • Highlight the most important points of your research;
  • Organise your thinking about key ideas;
  • Rehearse using technical terms and jargon;
  • Practise talking about your work.

Your examiners don’t want a pre-prepared speech as a response in your viva, but rehearsing a pitch for your research could help how you think and talk on the day.

Nathan

Going Back

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What would you change about your viva prep if you could go back and do it over?

I was asked this at a recent webinar. I knew immediately what I would change: I would have a mock viva. I definitely spent way more time on getting ready for my viva than any typical postgraduate researcher would need, but the one thing I didn’t do was rehearse.

For five or six weeks I read my thesis, made notes on pages and read my examiners’ work. I checked several papers I’d forgotten and had a weekly meeting with my supervisor where we talked about a thesis chapter. My examiners asked me to prepare slides to give a presentation for the start of my viva.

And while all of this helped, none of it prepared me directly for the simple thing I would spend my time doing in the viva: responding to questions and being part of a discussion.

So what would I do differently? Rehearse. I recommend every candidate do this too!

Nathan

Finding The Words

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If you’re concerned about saying the right thing at the viva – or worried about saying the wrong thing – then invest time before then in finding the words to share your research.

Write summaries to draw out key points. Review literature that has helped your work. Take time to rehearse with your supervisor or with friends.

The last part helps a lot. You can’t find the words by only worrying and thinking. You have to talk, because that’s what you have to do in the viva.

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