Mock Viva

I am going to graduate on 17th July 2020 and would like to reflect a bit on my DBA (Doctorate in Business Administration) journey and incredible role the DoctorateHub played in it.  

Through the past years I have been a regular at the DoctorateHub and engaged in various services for my thesis development such as thesis review; informal community discussions during the webinars; conducting a Mock Viva; or reaching out to them with ad-hoc questions related to my studies. 

So it happened that after the proposal preparation I was matched with a professor outside of my university to be my primary supervisor. He was able to provide me with a number of recommendations and review draft of chapters. It became clear however after the second supervisor’s feedback that the first draft of the thesis needed to be considerably reviewed, else I would not have been able to pass through the stringent Viva examination. This is where I decided to approach the DoctorateHub to see if they could provide help. I have been attending some of the webinars, which were very insightful and instrumental in the further progress throughout the journey and clarified many of the research challenges. It was also an interesting exchange with fellow students that shared their own experiences at the Viva and various research stages.  

It was necessary though to have the thesis submitted within a very short period of time and taking into consideration substantial second supervisor’s feedback. I acknowledge that I needed help in turning around the thesis before the final submission. This is where the Full Thesis Review service came to rescue, followed by providing detailed feedback on the re-written thesis and the Mock Viva. In comparison to the ‘light tough'  feedback from my primary and secondary supervisors, the in depth feedback and discussion with the team at the DoctorateHub allowed me to re-construct a weak version of the initial draft thesis into a more professional and presentable version before the submission. 

I now can confidently say that I would not be able to make through the Viva without these two services. The DoctorateHub team was extremely helpful and thorough with their feedback and detailed suggestions during the thesis review and Mock Viva. The Mock Viva itself added a lot of confidence and helped with the strategies on how to answer difficult questions. I am very happy how I dealt with the questions at the real Viva, it was even complimented by the examiners and major part of it was due to the rehearsal with the Doctorate Hub. 

The DoctorateHub always delivered what was promised for the services, helped to be engaged at the webinars and stay persistent and motivated during the stages when I was almost about to quit. And I will continue to attend the Learning Cafe interactions organised by the DoctorateHub to continue the journey of a researcher-practitioner and perhaps inspire other DBA students and stay connected.

Dr. Sona L.

I am a pragmatist, both as a researcher and as an individual. I start this note with this declaration to make clear to the readers that what follows is the product of a specific paradigmatic belief.

A month prior to my DBA viva I learnt of the Mock Viva service offered by the DoctorateHub. I decided then to request the service because I was not sure of my ability to defend my thesis verbally. I was looking for weaknesses in my defence style. That said, I was very sure that my written thesis quality was beyond doubt.

The DoctorateHub team was very responsive and managed to conduct the Mock Viva at very short notice. The Mock lasted around two hours and it was full of engaging debate. The examiners profoundly interrogated the thesis in matters of thesis objective, clarity, methodology and analysis. Acknowledging that every thesis is unique, it might be noted will that in every Viva the questions differ substantially.

So, how would I know that a Mock Viva was helpful to me and might be helpful to others? The basic answer is that doctoral research is mostly a lonely journey. It is very likely that during this loneliness the traveller falls under a sort of illusion that his direction is correct beyond doubt. And this is why such reality checks provided by a scholarly team who are strangers to your work can help you recognize how your real examiner (strangers too) may perceive your work.

The result of my formal Viva was resubmission. The examiners in both the Viva and the Mock Viva were not convinced of the rigor of what I still believe is an original piece of action research. However, as a pragmatist, if I had a Mock Viva further ahead of the official submission, I may have changed it to satisfy the examiners point of view.

So, in a nutshell, I suggest that the Mock Viva with strangers-scholars is worth doing. To gain the most from it, you should have it at least three months before your intended submission date. This will allow you to incorporate new insights that you believe should be addressed.

Another benefit of the Mock Viva was to sharpen my verbal defence style based on the feedback from these professional scholars.

Considering those important components above, I would say a Mock Viva like the one that I experienced can make the difference between a minor and a major revision, or even between a minor and a direct award of your doctorate degree.

Ahmed S.

12 January 2019

I have been attending several webinars of DoctorateHub and also used the Full Thesis Review and the Mock Viva services. DoctorateHub always delivered and it was extremely helpful for me. I could not make it through the Viva without these 2 services. The DoctorateHub team were extremely helpful with their feedback and suggestions during the review and mock exam. The Mock exam added lots of confidence for me and also helped with the strategy on how to answer difficult questions. I am very happy with how I dealt with the questions at the real Viva, and major part of it was due to the rehearsal with the DoctorateHub. I have had a bit of 'light touch' feedback from my primary supervisor and the Doctorates Full Thesis review helped me a lot to re-construct the thesis to achieve much more professional and presentable version before the submission. Overall I am very happy that I have been referred to DoctorateHub services and this has helped me a lot during my thesis stage. Many thanks to all involved !