Preparing for your 'dreaded' VIVA
Preparation time
Preparing for your Viva (pronounced ViyVa, and not VeeVa like the 'Up your Viva' advert from a few years back) can seem like a really daunting task, but some great advice that I got from one of my supervisors was that "YOU ARE the specialist of your own topic, you have lived and breathed this research and you know why you made every decision that you did, so do not worry because in that room, you are the expert of your own research and they are only there to double check that, and ask questions in order to clarify this."
She was exactly correct.
At my Viva I found that they asked questions relative to 'why did you use this approach?', 'why did you use/not use this instead?'
The most helpful steps I found when preparing for my Viva was by sitting down and asking myself these types of questions (see section Order of questions for some examples), remembering back to meetings which I had arranged to thoroughly debate these topics and actions with my supervisors. I found that taking this knowledge and bringing it all all back up again so that it was current in my mind helped a lot, it helped me to remember the literature that I had looked at in relation to this, it helped me to remember both arguments for and against my actions, and it really did prove that my supervisor was right. That all of this work I had poured many hours (and my heart and soul) into was something which I already knew that answers to, whether or not I knew how to articulate this to a panel.
Talking to the panel/ getting nervous
If your nerves get the better of you and you struggle to articulate this to a panel yourself, I think that if possible you would definitely benefit from trying to get a supervisor, or just someone who you may know in the field who could spare 30 minutes, maybe even an hour to do a mock Viva with you beforehand in order to get a feeling for how it will be within the room. If this is not do-able, even just talking it through (using the questions below) in front of your cat or dog could be helpful, by pretending that they have posed the question, and they are the panel that you have to answer. This would work wonders for helping you feel out how you want to answer their questions and will be nice practice for on the day.
If none of that works channel your physiological response of nervousness into feelings of excitement by telling yourself that they are exactly that- because biologically speaking they are, and work on some breathing techniques or stress management techniques which may work for you. Remember that every little helps and that you are the expert. Here is the link to an article on techniques that you can use when dealing with anxiety https://www.beyondblue.org.au/the-facts/anxiety/treatments-for-anxiety/anxiety-management-strategies
Maybe even listening to motivational videos on YouTube for example may help, here are a few linked here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJCt7y4lAjo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAwAK5MNRbc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pFXcgjyDBw
But just remember through these nerves, you do not have to be nervous, you already have the answers in your head, and if on the slight chance you don't- feel free to start a lively debate about it!
Structure of the VIVA
The Viva will usually consist of two examiners, one internal and one external, and one independent chair who is their to moderate if needed. You can also have your Director of Studies present if you may wish, although this is entirely up to you, and if they are present, you are unable to look at them for help or talk to them. Your two examiners are usually the two people who have read your thesis, and they will most likely have your thesis with them. I found that I could have taken a copy of my thesis myself had I wished, but if they wanted to refer to anything like tables or figures within my text, they referred to their own copies.
The structure of the Viva is usually pretty consistent, although may differ dependent upon your institution. For mine, the Viva was structured in the form of an Itinerary which was sent to me. This began with an Introduction period of about an hour for the examiners and chair to discuss what I can imagine was the important points they wanted to ask me and talk about, which they discuss what points they may agree on or differ on from the thesis. They then recess for a break and you then turn up. This is when the Viva itself will take place. i.e. Question time, staring yourself and your thesis. This can take up to two hours, in which a structured set of questions from each examiner will be asked of you relating to your research and your thesis. After this, your examiners will be given around 30 minutes in which both you and your supervisor (if applicable) will be asked to leave in order for them to discuss your answers and how they want to grade you, and how they may want you to move forward with any potential corrections.
The grading system works in such a way:
The holy grail- Pass with No corrections. (on average only 1% of people will probably achieve this). Where you are not asked to do anything more and you have completely finished your degree
Pass with Minor Corrections- Where you are given on average 16 weeks/ 4 months to work on a few things within the thesis, e.g. adding or detracting any information, elaborating a bit more, or clarifying a few points etc.
Pass with Major Corrections- Where you can be given around 8 months to work on the thesis.
Or
Fail- Where you usually are given the open to re-take or redo (but consult your university for the specifics).
Once you have been informed of the decision you will usually then receive a confirmatory email from your faculty to inform you of your results and how to move forward, and your time will start from there, but your examiners will also go through this roughly with you on the day.
Order of questions
During the Viva itself, there may be a coherent order to your questions, such as starting with broader or easier questions to ease you into it, and then going through paragraph by paragraph with any questions that they may have encountered reading your work. These questions may get a little harder as they go along over the time, or they may just depend on what types of questions your examiners have at certain points. Just make sure to not freak out if you start answering a really long question where you forget your own point by the end of it, just remain calm and politely ask if they could repeat the question, or reword it if it is unclear (they are only humans too they may be trying to shorten down a long scientific principle which may not translate well when shortened, and they will understand.) Especially if they have taken a long time to come to their complicated question, they will completely understand if you would like them to re-iterate the point.
Some example questions which I looked at beforehand that helped me through my Viva were posted by a fellow student at my University on our University PhD Facebook group (I absolutely encourage MRes Students to join these groups too). His post was to get your brain engaged with your own research before your Viva, which it definitely did. I will post these questions here:
1. Can you start by summarising your thesis?
2. Now, can you summarise it in one sentence?
3. What is the idea that binds your thesis together?
4. What motivated and inspired you to carry out this research?
5. What are the main issues and debates in this subject area?
6. Which of these does your research address?
7. Why is the problem you have tackled worth tackling?
8. Who has had the strongest influence in the development of your subject area in theory and practice?
9. Which are the most important papers that relate to your thesis?
10. What published work is closest to yours? How is your work different?
11. What do you know about the history of [Your Topic]?
12. How does your work relate to [Your Topic]?
13. What are the most recent major developments in your area?
14. How did your research questions emerge?
15. What were the crucial research decisions you made?
16. Why did you use this research methodology? What did you gain from it?
17. What were the alternatives to this methodology?
18. What would you have gained by using another approach?
19. How did you deal with the ethical implications of your work?
20. How has your view of your research topic changed?
21. How have you evaluated your work?
22. How do you know that your findings are correct?
23. What are the strongest/weakest parts of your work?
24. What would have improved your work?
25. To what extent do your contributions generalise?
26. Who will be most interested in your work?
27. What is the relevance of your work to other researchers?
28. What is the relevance of your work to practitioners?
29. Which aspects of your work do you intend to publish – and where?
30. Summarise your key findings.
31. Which of these findings are the most interesting to you? Why?
32. How do your findings relate to literature in your field?
33. What are the contributions to knowledge of your thesis?
34. How long-term are these contributions?
35. What are the main achievements of your research?
36. What have you learned from the process of doing your PhD/MRes?
37. What advice would you give to a research student entering this area?
38. You propose future research. How would you start this?
39. What would be the difficulties?
40. And, finally… What have you done that merits a PhD/Mres?
Lastly, if you have produced your own tasks for the study they may ask you questions such as:
1. Why did you create your own task?
2. What is the research/ literature behind this?
3. Why have you approached it in this manner as opposed to using this other task that is out there?
4. Your task was unsuccessful, why do you think it may not have worked?
5. You have adapted this task, tell us how your adapted it and why?
Questions can even be as specific as 'In your analysis, you entered your control variables in this order, why is that?' or, 'You refer to this variable as a certain type of skill when that is not always the stance taken within the literature, why is that the perspective you have taken in this thesis?'
LASTLY
Finally, now that you have read all that, and have thought about a these different aspects of your thesis (OF WHICH YOU ARE THE BOSS AND YOU KNOW YOUR STUFF) remember that you are a lot more prepared now just from having spent the time reading and thinking about this. Go you!!! You already know the answers, you just have to say them out loud. You are the expert on all things related to your thesis in that room, and just by telling them and answering these questions you are going to kick ass. Remember to just enjoy the experience of having people who are so interested in what you've just spent the better part of 4 years writing. I want to wish you a lot of luck on your Viva and let you know that you are going to smash it.
Preparing for your Viva (pronounced ViyVa, and not VeeVa like the 'Up your Viva' advert from a few years back) can seem like a really daunting task, but some great advice that I got from one of my supervisors was that "YOU ARE the specialist of your own topic, you have lived and breathed this research and you know why you made every decision that you did, so do not worry because in that room, you are the expert of your own research and they are only there to double check that, and ask questions in order to clarify this."
She was exactly correct.
At my Viva I found that they asked questions relative to 'why did you use this approach?', 'why did you use/not use this instead?'
The most helpful steps I found when preparing for my Viva was by sitting down and asking myself these types of questions (see section Order of questions for some examples), remembering back to meetings which I had arranged to thoroughly debate these topics and actions with my supervisors. I found that taking this knowledge and bringing it all all back up again so that it was current in my mind helped a lot, it helped me to remember the literature that I had looked at in relation to this, it helped me to remember both arguments for and against my actions, and it really did prove that my supervisor was right. That all of this work I had poured many hours (and my heart and soul) into was something which I already knew that answers to, whether or not I knew how to articulate this to a panel.
Talking to the panel/ getting nervous
If your nerves get the better of you and you struggle to articulate this to a panel yourself, I think that if possible you would definitely benefit from trying to get a supervisor, or just someone who you may know in the field who could spare 30 minutes, maybe even an hour to do a mock Viva with you beforehand in order to get a feeling for how it will be within the room. If this is not do-able, even just talking it through (using the questions below) in front of your cat or dog could be helpful, by pretending that they have posed the question, and they are the panel that you have to answer. This would work wonders for helping you feel out how you want to answer their questions and will be nice practice for on the day.
If none of that works channel your physiological response of nervousness into feelings of excitement by telling yourself that they are exactly that- because biologically speaking they are, and work on some breathing techniques or stress management techniques which may work for you. Remember that every little helps and that you are the expert. Here is the link to an article on techniques that you can use when dealing with anxiety https://www.beyondblue.org.au/the-facts/anxiety/treatments-for-anxiety/anxiety-management-strategies
Maybe even listening to motivational videos on YouTube for example may help, here are a few linked here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJCt7y4lAjo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAwAK5MNRbc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pFXcgjyDBw
But just remember through these nerves, you do not have to be nervous, you already have the answers in your head, and if on the slight chance you don't- feel free to start a lively debate about it!
Structure of the VIVA
The Viva will usually consist of two examiners, one internal and one external, and one independent chair who is their to moderate if needed. You can also have your Director of Studies present if you may wish, although this is entirely up to you, and if they are present, you are unable to look at them for help or talk to them. Your two examiners are usually the two people who have read your thesis, and they will most likely have your thesis with them. I found that I could have taken a copy of my thesis myself had I wished, but if they wanted to refer to anything like tables or figures within my text, they referred to their own copies.
The structure of the Viva is usually pretty consistent, although may differ dependent upon your institution. For mine, the Viva was structured in the form of an Itinerary which was sent to me. This began with an Introduction period of about an hour for the examiners and chair to discuss what I can imagine was the important points they wanted to ask me and talk about, which they discuss what points they may agree on or differ on from the thesis. They then recess for a break and you then turn up. This is when the Viva itself will take place. i.e. Question time, staring yourself and your thesis. This can take up to two hours, in which a structured set of questions from each examiner will be asked of you relating to your research and your thesis. After this, your examiners will be given around 30 minutes in which both you and your supervisor (if applicable) will be asked to leave in order for them to discuss your answers and how they want to grade you, and how they may want you to move forward with any potential corrections.
The grading system works in such a way:
The holy grail- Pass with No corrections. (on average only 1% of people will probably achieve this). Where you are not asked to do anything more and you have completely finished your degree
Pass with Minor Corrections- Where you are given on average 16 weeks/ 4 months to work on a few things within the thesis, e.g. adding or detracting any information, elaborating a bit more, or clarifying a few points etc.
Pass with Major Corrections- Where you can be given around 8 months to work on the thesis.
Or
Fail- Where you usually are given the open to re-take or redo (but consult your university for the specifics).
Once you have been informed of the decision you will usually then receive a confirmatory email from your faculty to inform you of your results and how to move forward, and your time will start from there, but your examiners will also go through this roughly with you on the day.
Order of questions
During the Viva itself, there may be a coherent order to your questions, such as starting with broader or easier questions to ease you into it, and then going through paragraph by paragraph with any questions that they may have encountered reading your work. These questions may get a little harder as they go along over the time, or they may just depend on what types of questions your examiners have at certain points. Just make sure to not freak out if you start answering a really long question where you forget your own point by the end of it, just remain calm and politely ask if they could repeat the question, or reword it if it is unclear (they are only humans too they may be trying to shorten down a long scientific principle which may not translate well when shortened, and they will understand.) Especially if they have taken a long time to come to their complicated question, they will completely understand if you would like them to re-iterate the point.
Some example questions which I looked at beforehand that helped me through my Viva were posted by a fellow student at my University on our University PhD Facebook group (I absolutely encourage MRes Students to join these groups too). His post was to get your brain engaged with your own research before your Viva, which it definitely did. I will post these questions here:
1. Can you start by summarising your thesis?
2. Now, can you summarise it in one sentence?
3. What is the idea that binds your thesis together?
4. What motivated and inspired you to carry out this research?
5. What are the main issues and debates in this subject area?
6. Which of these does your research address?
7. Why is the problem you have tackled worth tackling?
8. Who has had the strongest influence in the development of your subject area in theory and practice?
9. Which are the most important papers that relate to your thesis?
10. What published work is closest to yours? How is your work different?
11. What do you know about the history of [Your Topic]?
12. How does your work relate to [Your Topic]?
13. What are the most recent major developments in your area?
14. How did your research questions emerge?
15. What were the crucial research decisions you made?
16. Why did you use this research methodology? What did you gain from it?
17. What were the alternatives to this methodology?
18. What would you have gained by using another approach?
19. How did you deal with the ethical implications of your work?
20. How has your view of your research topic changed?
21. How have you evaluated your work?
22. How do you know that your findings are correct?
23. What are the strongest/weakest parts of your work?
24. What would have improved your work?
25. To what extent do your contributions generalise?
26. Who will be most interested in your work?
27. What is the relevance of your work to other researchers?
28. What is the relevance of your work to practitioners?
29. Which aspects of your work do you intend to publish – and where?
30. Summarise your key findings.
31. Which of these findings are the most interesting to you? Why?
32. How do your findings relate to literature in your field?
33. What are the contributions to knowledge of your thesis?
34. How long-term are these contributions?
35. What are the main achievements of your research?
36. What have you learned from the process of doing your PhD/MRes?
37. What advice would you give to a research student entering this area?
38. You propose future research. How would you start this?
39. What would be the difficulties?
40. And, finally… What have you done that merits a PhD/Mres?
Lastly, if you have produced your own tasks for the study they may ask you questions such as:
1. Why did you create your own task?
2. What is the research/ literature behind this?
3. Why have you approached it in this manner as opposed to using this other task that is out there?
4. Your task was unsuccessful, why do you think it may not have worked?
5. You have adapted this task, tell us how your adapted it and why?
Questions can even be as specific as 'In your analysis, you entered your control variables in this order, why is that?' or, 'You refer to this variable as a certain type of skill when that is not always the stance taken within the literature, why is that the perspective you have taken in this thesis?'
LASTLY
Finally, now that you have read all that, and have thought about a these different aspects of your thesis (OF WHICH YOU ARE THE BOSS AND YOU KNOW YOUR STUFF) remember that you are a lot more prepared now just from having spent the time reading and thinking about this. Go you!!! You already know the answers, you just have to say them out loud. You are the expert on all things related to your thesis in that room, and just by telling them and answering these questions you are going to kick ass. Remember to just enjoy the experience of having people who are so interested in what you've just spent the better part of 4 years writing. I want to wish you a lot of luck on your Viva and let you know that you are going to smash it.
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