How to be prepared for Dissertation Viva
Dissertation Viva Voce, or briefly called dissertation viva are the oral tests that are conducted after the completion of a Ph.D. or Masters degree. They have importance as failing in this test means failing in the whole course.
Viva Exams have to be conducted with great care as your professors and the panel of judges might mark you out because of your mental presence and the common sense used in the Viva Exams. The panel of judges looks out for your confidence, dress code, common sense, and mental presence. They might as well look for the extra information that you want to share with them. But, your professors require your information on the particular subjects and the things you learned during the duration of completing your Ph.D. degree.
When the two markers are looking for different things to judge your knowledge, you have to be very careful to answer the correct answer and don’t guess at the things. When this is the condition, you might feel it hard to take care of everything, and in the end, your physical and mental presence is also necessary.
You have to remember some wise people when they say that you don’t have to learn everything present to learn, but you have to learn everything important.
Keeping this thing in mind, you will be able to understand some of the points of your own, and in addition to that, you can make sure to be completely dressed up properly, and your mental state is also in a good way, not in a confused state.
Mental presence is necessary for the Viva Exams because your professors might ask you questions that you would feel confused about if you have ever heard of them. And, the panel of judges might confuse in a way that you would feel burdened by everything. So, in the beginning, you have to relax. And then, you can answer the questions asked by them. If you don’t know the answer to a question, you can at least provide your own opinions on it, rather than being confused. You have to know that the panel of judges is sitting there to confuse you and check your mental state and confidence.
Mental state and confidence are the things that are the most necessary in a job interview. The Viva Exams are preparing you for interviews in one respect. If you pass in these Viva Exams by impressing the panel of judges, you won’t be afraid and confused to go into an interview and answer all the questions there.
While you prepare to be dressed-up and all in a mental being, you would also have to learn different things. These things include the information you have learned and the points you have gone through in your educational time. You don’t have to take out all those thick-covered books. You have to take out just the notes of your lectures, some assignments, essays, research papers, theses, dissertations which you prepared in the duration of completion of your Ph.D. degree. Moreover, if you have the confidence and want to win over in the Viva Exams, the best way is to go to your professors and supervisors and ask them to guide you in different aspects. The professors are strict, but they are the ones who want you to win over in the exams. They would help you in every aspect, only if you go to ask them. So, consult your professors and ask them the things that you want to know.
When you have all these things on your side, you can go to the persons who already gave the Viva Exams. When you reach them out, you can ask them to guide you in some respects. After the help of your seniors, you can look here to have some information on the questions.
What the Dissertation Committee expects for Dissertation Viva
1: Things related to your Projects
As already mentioned, they will look out for your academic papers and projects. If you have explained a new thing in your theses or any academic paper, they would be asking you to explain it to them in such a way that they have no confusion about it and that they can accept a new point of view. If you have mentioned a thing that some other people have already presented, they would probably ask you to give reasoning, explanation, and observations on the topic. They might ask you the things that you have looked at once while choosing a certain thing. Your professors might expect you to mention the information they have taught you while teaching a certain topic. If they have not mentioned it, they might be expecting you to give them a new topic to teach their next students. The panel of judges would be looking for your arguments and reasoning. If you are capable of answering them and impressing them, you would be at an advantage in this respect.
While answering it, you would have to keep some points to note out. First of all, you should explain your point of view so that the people who have never heard of it can understand it easily. Second, you should answer it in a maximum of ten minutes and a minimum of 3-4 minutes. You should keep your arguments simple and don’t try to use some master language to confuse the people.
2: Explaining the things that you might have left out in your project
As mentioned in the previous article, it is impossible to write a perfect academic paper. You can’t write everything in your academic paper, and it is because you don’t have that much information on certain topics. So, after you submit the academic paper, you will have to read out some other papers. The students have different minds from one another. The thing that you might have never thought out could be mentioned clearly in the academic paper of another student. So, you would have to gain some points related to your topic and explain it to the panel of judges and professors with confidence that should be portraying that you admit your mistake and provide the things on the topic.
