A few weeks ago, an ex-colleague messaged to ask if we could zoom later this week to talk about how I prepared for my PhD viva – his is at the end of August. So this blog post is really me gathering thoughts for a PhD student who has submitted their thesis, and is about to take that final ‘test’ before becoming a *DOCTOR*.

There are so many helpful websites out there which explains the process of a viva, what to expect, tips for survival, and personal experiences. I am in Music (Humanities), and many of what is out there are either written by science intellectuals, or stuff relevant for social studies peps. My PhD was a mix-mesh of social history, archaeology (instrument organology), and practice-based portfolio (my recordings), so there wasn’t a blog that could tell me exactly how to prepare for my viva. And neither would this blog do for you – Your PhD is unique an you know it the best – so own it!

Before I go any further in this blog: if you are reading this after you have submitted your thesis – yay! congratulations! If you are almost submitting – keep going! The end is near! It is a victory definitely worth taking a moment to celebrate.

Now, I don’t know what expectation you have for the outcome of your PhD viva. For sure, everyone wants to pass their PhD viva, but the chances of getting ‘no corrections’ is extremely rare. When I submitted my thesis, my ideal outcome was minor corrections (<3 months). My colleague who submitted at the same time as me, his ideal was major corrections (~12 months). Despite our differing expectations, we exchanged ideas and resources on preparing for the viva, and we both got what we hoped for. Note: passing your viva does not only depend on your expectations and preparations; the fate of your viva success rests on your examiners. So please do consider your examiners carefully and discuss with your supervisors. To pass a PhD viva, you need someone who will appreciate your work (even if they disagree with you). A PhD is door to walk through to begin life as a researcher, not Mt Everest to climb and prove that one is on top of the world. So make the process easier for yourselves, – and this blog is suppose to contribute to that.

Below is my experience of preparing for the viva voce after having absorbed advice from those who have walked the path (colleagues, supervisors, online bloggers). I am summarising the different actions under three ‘R’ headings: Rest, Read, Rehearse.

Rest: take time to ‘step away’ from your thesis

I was really burnt out when I handed in my thesis. 3 years of research, 10 months of writing and rewriting, and 2 months of grammar the stylistic corrections, I was really fed up with my thesis in those last days. Yet even to the point after I handed in my thesis, I struggled to ‘let go’ and wanted to keep editing it. I was told by my supervisor to leave the thesis alone, and not to read it until 2-3 weeks before the viva. And so I did as I was told. I didn’t realise how helpful this was until I came back to the thesis at the appointed time: the first time opening it, I find myself actually enjoying the reading process. I was spotting mistakes like swatting flies, and finding arguments that could be better improved or debated against. So do time to step away from your thesis, and be preoccupied with other aspects of life (work, cook, sport, eat, catch up with friends and family). Be well rested, because resting can boost your productivity.

Read: familiarise yourself with your examiners’ research interests and outputs

Whilst I was not reading my own thesis, I did continue to read, particularly my examiners’ publications. I read a few of their seminal works. Ultimately, your examiners are the ones to either pass or fail your PhD, so taking time to familiarise yourself with your examiners’ research interests and outputs could help you anticipate the kinds of questions they might ask you for your PhD. Ask yourselves: What research frameworks do your examiners emphasis on in their works? Which part of your thesis do you think they would be most interested in? Which part of your thesis do you think your examiners would most agree / disagree on? Also, take note of parts of research you would like to draw attention to your examiners. Remembering that should you wish to embark on the road of academia, your examiners will be your referees for postdocs and research posts. Discussing with examiners future potentials of research stemming from one’s thesis was something I immensely enjoyed in my viva, and definitely helped in pointing directions of life after PhD.

Rehearse: anticipate and answer viva questions

Three weeks before the viva, I read through my thesis slowly – at the rate of about a chapter per night. I drew circles around mistakes and wrote notes on sentences that could be better said or unpacked. That was also about the time when I started to read blogs about vivas, collating questions… Even though I didn’t find any examples in my field, I did feel that what was said out there usefully informed my preparations. Three blogs particularly stood out: 1) Matthew Partridge‘s guide with all the cartoon depictions and viva-question ‘translations’ is an excellent and easy read; 2) ddubdrahcir‘s comprehensive list of viva questions (near 80!) is more than enough for one’s preparation; 3) ilovephd‘s 38 questions is a good place to start if you are short of time.

To be honest, I think I only attempted about 20ish questions. Doing the questions was a confidence-building process: writing down answers, reading them out in a recorded self-zoom meeting (and listening to the recordings), repeat. To prepare the answers, I used the traditional method of highlighters and sticky notes, and made notes on the margins of my thesis. My viva was conducted online as it was during UK’s 2nd Covid-19 lockdown, so the examiners couldn’t see my ‘cheat-sheet’ of answers; but I have heard of stories of people bringing in suitcases of notes to their in-person viva, so you don’t need to force yourself to memorise answers to questions.

I really enjoyed my PhD viva – it was an hour and a half of challenging questions, but I was confident as I knew I did the preparations, and believed that I had performed to the best of my abilities. That was an altogether different experience to one of 6 years ago, when I failed a MPhil to PhD upgrade. My sympathies go to those who share similar disappointments. Though not every viva may result in a silver lining, don’t live in the regret of wishing that you could have done something to prepare.

To conclude, I have drawn up a list of 23 questions, some of which were asked at my viva.

1. What is your thesis about?
2. Is your research project original?
3. Who is your thesis for?
4. Why would it be an important contribution to your field?
5. What three publications are the most influential to your work?
6. What three key primary sources have you used in your thesis and why have them specifically?
7. What are the three key research (theoretical /practical) frameworks in your thesis?
8. How did you decide on the structure of your thesis?
9. What are your research questions?
10. What are your three key research methods, and why these over others?
11. What three strengths do you see in the way you have collated and presented your evidence?
12. And three weaknesses?
13. How did you arrive at the conclusion in Chapter X and could it be interpreted differently?
14. Could you elaborate on your findings on page X?
15. You eloquently bought forth the argument on pages X, but have you read scholar A’s thoughts on the same theory (or similar theory) and do you agree / disagree?
16. Have you considered applying X theory/concept/framework/source in your work, and why have you rejected them?
17. (auto-ethnography research) How did you position yourself in your work?
18. (auto-ethnography research) How did you minimise bias in your research?
19. (auto-ethnography research) How does your practice component prove / disapprove against the theoretical evidence you provided on page X?
20. What are you most proud of about your thesis?
21. What three future research do you see can be done to follow from this thesis?
22. What do you want your examiners to not ask you about?
23. What would you publish from this research, and where?

Reference

‘Is it a PhD…or not a PhD? Unpacking the viva’, https://ddubdrahcir.wordpress.com/2014/09/15/is-it-a-phd-or-not-a-phd-unpacking-the-viva/

‘PhD Viva Voces – A Complete Guide’, https://www.discoverphds.com/advice/doing/vivas#:~:text=A%20PhD%20viva%20involves%20defending%20your%20thesis%20in,and%2C%20overall%2C%20that%20you%20are%20a%20competent%20researcher.

‘Top 38 possible PhD viva questions’, https://www.ilovephd.com/top-38-possible-phd-viva-questions/

Hanak, Dawid (2021) ‘What is the #1 Milestone to a successful academic career? What is a PhD viva voce!’, https://motivatedacademic.com/phd-viva-voce/

Partridge, Matthew (2017) ‘How to survive a PhD viva: a terrible guide no one should follow…’, https://errantscience.com/blog/2017/01/11/how-to-survive-a-phd-viva-a-terrible-guide-no-one-should-follow/

Radcliffe, Rebecca (2015) ‘How to survive a PhD viva: 17 top tips’, https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2015/jan/08/how-to-survive-a-phd-viva-17-top-tips

Tidley, Jimmy (2020) ‘I had a brutal PhD viva followed by two years of corrections’, https://medium.com/the-faculty/i-had-a-brutal-phd-viva-followed-by-two-years-of-corrections-here-is-what-i-learned-about-vivas-5e81175aa5d