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Surviving Your Viva
Dec. 21st, 2010 10:52 pmOr advice I found useful.
Notice I say surviving and not passing, as far as I can tell passing your viva is between you, your supervisor, your examiners and whichever God or Gods or lack thereof you believe in.
1) It's not personal. Your examiners would grill you even if you were the reincarnation of Einstein. It's what they're there to do.
2) Find someone who has had a viva in a similar part of the field to you and ask them about it. They'll mention all the little things that someone who isn't in your particular field won't. In my case, L said they asked a lot of methodology questions, so I made sure to read up on it. I didn't get a lot of them, but the ones I got I knocked out of the park.
3) Don't panic. Yeah, I know, easy to say. It would be better to say accept the fear and the insomnia. They happen to everyone, do not worry about it.
4) You will end up unaccountably grumpy. At the oddest things. With me, the phrase most likely to set me off was 'don't worry, you'll be fine'. That also comes under the heading of things not to worry about.
5) This one is from my boss. Remember that you are the person in the world who knows the most about your thesis topic. You are the expert.
6) Also from my boss, and related to 1). Do not be overly defensive. There are going to be errors in your thesis that they are going to find. Going overly defensive will only raise their hackles and make them question you more.
Notice I say surviving and not passing, as far as I can tell passing your viva is between you, your supervisor, your examiners and whichever God or Gods or lack thereof you believe in.
1) It's not personal. Your examiners would grill you even if you were the reincarnation of Einstein. It's what they're there to do.
2) Find someone who has had a viva in a similar part of the field to you and ask them about it. They'll mention all the little things that someone who isn't in your particular field won't. In my case, L said they asked a lot of methodology questions, so I made sure to read up on it. I didn't get a lot of them, but the ones I got I knocked out of the park.
3) Don't panic. Yeah, I know, easy to say. It would be better to say accept the fear and the insomnia. They happen to everyone, do not worry about it.
4) You will end up unaccountably grumpy. At the oddest things. With me, the phrase most likely to set me off was 'don't worry, you'll be fine'. That also comes under the heading of things not to worry about.
5) This one is from my boss. Remember that you are the person in the world who knows the most about your thesis topic. You are the expert.
6) Also from my boss, and related to 1). Do not be overly defensive. There are going to be errors in your thesis that they are going to find. Going overly defensive will only raise their hackles and make them question you more.
