PhD Viva Practice
Viva-Prep: Your Academic Ally
Practice your Viva: The big day is coming.
You have spent 3 or more years to get to this point. Your PhD thesis has been submitted and you should be hugely proud of that achievement. But there’s still one more hurdle to get over. The viva. Like all things in life, practice brings improvement and helps you prepare. So I expect you are here because you want a mock viva to help you ready yourself for what will hopefully be the crowning glory of your biological science studies.
This is where I can help. By taking on the role of your “external examiner” I will give you a thorough and genuine viva experience. I will challenge you and I will support you. I will give you feedback for specific and general areas of improvement. I will use my 25 years of experience as an academic supervisor and examiner to your advantage and I hope, I very much hope, that you will be able to tell me of your success after the real thing.
Please read on to find our more and then use the contact form from the menu above and we can go from there. I can help you in any area of the biological sciences (broadest sense).
Prepare for Success with VivaPrep
Get set for your viva! Viva Practice
With more than 25 years' academic experiencein the biological sciences, I can provide a valuable practice viva examination to help you prepare better for your thesis defence.
After a practice with me you will hopefully approach your big day with assured confidence.
I can also help with prepping for undergraduate project presentations.
Prices:
£175 for a practice PhD viva, feedback and on-going support
£100 for a practice Masters level viva with feedback
£75 for a practice undergraduate viva with feedback
My Goal: To Help You in Your Viva
Authentic Viva Experience
I will read your thesis to a level of depth that enables me to give you a good practice viva experience, asking you in depth questions about the background to your work, your own data and its importance, and how your work adds to the existing body of knowledge in your research area. I will look at the published criteria your examiners will be working with to make sure your practice viva is as authentic as possible.
Your mock viva will last approximately 90 minutes for a PhD/DPhil submission, and 45-60 minutes for other post-graduate degrees (MRes, MSc). If you are an undergraduate student with a final year viva we will have the mock for the same length of time you are expecting in the real thing.
At the start of the viva I will ask you some general questions about your work and background just to help you relax. I do this in ALL vivas I conduct because a relaxed student is a talkatvie student. So, in our mock I will start by thanking you for the opportunity to examine you and I will recognise your Herculean achievements to reach the viva day. I will then encourage you to take you’re a few minutes to briefly provide the context for your work and to highlight the major findings. Then we will begin…
We won’t get through the whole of a PhD thesis in the time available. I might even miss out a chapter entirely, particularly if I think you will benefit more from an in-depth discussion on a certain area. That’s how real vivas work as well. Often, the examiners will want to “drill down” to fine details in some areas, and be happy with superficial discussion in others.
When we have finished, I will conclude in a manner that maps onto the majority of PhD vivas. I will leave our call for a few minutes whilst I draft some “headline feedback”. I’ll then convey this to you straight away; subsequently, and usually within another day or two, I will write up some detailed notes for you to reflect upon in your own time.
Hopefully after this you will be better prepared for your viva and ready to succeed.
My Credentials
My name is Ian Kerr, and I'm a Professor of Biochemistry at a Russell Group university in the UK, with more than 25 years’ experience of mentoring and supporting PhD, Masters and Undergraduate students. In that time, I have supervised more than 30 PhD students and conducted the final viva examinations of a similar number, either as the internal or external examiner. I’ve been the head of postgraduate research students in two university departments and so I know the journey you are on as well as anyone in the UK. That experience goes right across the biological sciences in their broadest sense. I’ve examined students in biophysics, biochemistry, pharmacology, plant sciences, microbiology and more. I am confident I can read your thesis and understand the depth of your work well enough to help you prepare for your final viva. It has also challenged me to be honest but critical with students who I don’t think have met the mark on their first attempt. This wealth of experience gives me the academic and personal skills to help you with rigour but also with kindness.
If you are an undergraduate or Masters student looking for a similar experience then rest assured I can help with that too. I’ve vive-ed literally hundreds of undergraduate students as well as preparing scores more for their final year project vivas.
