hey miss spacey , great to hear from you! i can definately sympathesise about being annoyed and sick of the phd. its a good idea about leaving areas out, and just focusing on the essentials. summer submission is definately doable. good luck!!

i dont feel like im doing at all well with my viva prep. i feel so insecure about my knowledge and being able to defend my thesis - but i'm going to give it my best shot this final month.

no my viva examination hasnt been sorted yet, because i'm procrastinating on it. as im not at all confident to sit for the exam. my sup is basically waiting for me to tell him when im ready. so i'm giving myself one more month to properly study for it and then contact him in april and get the ball rolling. the viva questions are just so yucky lol but i'm going to prepare answers for them as best as i can.

---

my aims for today:
1. answer 4 viva questions.
2. read 6 pages from thesis and make flash cards of the essential bits.
3. read papers (about 11 papers)

Thanks Miss spacey! how are things going with you? what's the latest??

well i havent done any studying this week i'm afraid *hangs head in shame* the only thing i did manage was compile a list of viva questions, i have 116 questions listed! yikesamondo! going to a wedding tommorow, so going to start studying properly for my viva starting monday :) i have made a plan, where i have to write answers for 4 viva questions each day, and re-read my thesis again, 6 pages each day and write down the highlights on flash cards. in addition to reading new papers.

see you guys all on monday for proper study session *fingers crossed*

wow CONGRATULATIONS RUBY!! you are a superstar!! well done on submitting your thesis!! i am soooo proud of you!!
you must have been so relieved!! its a great feeling handing in the thing. please dont worry about mistakes or what you left out. that's all in the past now. just focus on resting and pampering yourself and rewarding yourself, you have accomplished alot!!!

and then when you've relaxed you can join me and Armendaf on the viva train! yeh!! that's good that your viva wont be until april /may. so you got plenty of time to prepare. definately take some time off though to relax and recoup. cause your brain needs a complete break from your thesis. so take however many weeks you feel you need. and then we will see you back here for viva prep! :-)

i still have one month for sure, to prepare for my viva. as my 2nd sup is away on holiday the whole of march, so that's abit of a relief. i will contact my sups in april. and in the meantime, ie during march, prepare a document with all possible viva questions and my attempt of answers. i've given myself till april 1st to get it done. then will contact my sups 1st week of april, regarding viva etc.

i had a fabulous time in madrid for my birthday, thanks everyone for their well wishes. it was really great to get away and have that break. and my friends were so much fun! it was a group of us, 5 girls. i feel very refreshed and ready to start revising again. i spoke quite abit of spanish with the locals, which was so much fun for me!!
i am not feeling at all depressed about being back home, actually got tired of being on holiday, walking around all day and sightseeing, being on holiday is tiring too! lol it was just the right amount of time to be away, and i felt it was time to go home.

but i havent done any studying since i got back. but i'm going to start this evening. i thought i would start off with making a long list of viva questions. and then reading some papers. get myself back into study mode. i'm actually looking forward to studying again, not dreading it. well i say that now! haha

thanks Pari for your very encouraging message, really appreciate it!

Hiefer, i totally understand what you mean, i too have fallen off the wagon, i'm going to attempt to scramble back on

Armendaf, yes please let us know what you hear about your viva next week :)

congratulations again to Ruby. we will miss you around here for the next few weeks whilst you're resting! and i look forward to having you back for the viva prep :)

======= Date Modified 24 Feb 2009 13:32:32 =======
======= Date Modified 24 Feb 2009 13:31:59 =======
Hey Pari ! nice to hear from you :) how is your phd coming along?

Ruby, my thoughts are with you, as you finalise your final thesis, i'm so proud of you, working so hard! you really have been a soldier! good luck with the final submission.
yes you're right, its best to go with your own studying style. thanks :)

i'm going to madrid for the weekend for my birthday, i'm turning 31, so wanted to distract myself haha by leaving the country lol. so going with a bunch of friends. should be fun and will be nice to get away for a few days. i'm using the whole "its my birthday" excuse for a mini break. then back to studying again on tuesday. and then will study hard during march and prepare viva answers to all the viva questions. and then contact my sup in april. my 2nd sup is going away for the whole of march, so that hopefully buys me another month. i want to be on par before i contact them about my viva.

i've been trying to brush up on some spanish. i only know a few words haha. i went through a stage where i wanted to learn spanish. so i have all these books and cds. so just been going through it over the weekend.

my study plans for today are:
1. read some papers to get some ideas about the viva qs. - what would you do next.
2. make some notes for some viva questions.

i'm struggling with coming up with good answers for the viva questions. and i think it probably reflects my lack of background knowledge.

I believe in God. infact the more i study biology, the stronger is my belief. the complexity of for example just the human body down to the genes, is just incredible. but everyones faith is personal to their own. if someone does not believe in God, each to their own. Sometimes i think its incredible the whole universe, how big it is, and that i exist, and if i exist then its not impossible to believe that God exists aswell.

Hey Ruby! by the number of battle faces scattered throughout your message, i can feel your pain and frustration and tension. the only advice i can give you, is what got me through the last few weeks, and that was i wanted that feeling, that feeling, that i've finished my thesis, its in my hand and i'm submitting it. it was when TG handed it in that really spurned me on, and all i could think about was, that i want to be in the same position as her, of having it handed it in. so just keep focusing on that moment when its all done and you just have to get it printed. do the best you can.

and i know what you mean, it gets depressing, knowing that everyday is the same, but its not the same, because everyday is one step closer to you getting out of jail and getting your thesis finished. just think of it as jail time, and you might aswell work on your thesis, cause you cant do anything else

it is perfectly normal to feel overwelmed. so just focus on one thing and get it to a level where its satisfactory and move onto the next bit. if you really cant do something with a section, leave it for awhile, and come back to it later on.
and please make sure you are taking adequate breaks and treating yourself for some relaxation from time to time. its a marathon, not a sprint, so you need to look after your mind and body aswell.

we're with you every step of the way! just do your best, and leave it at that. it wont be perfect, its not meant to be perfect, just do as much as you can.

======= Date Modified 21 Feb 2009 00:23:48 =======
======= Date Modified 21 Feb 2009 00:12:49 =======

Hi Heifer, yeh the learning style test was cool ! i cracked open an old biology textbook of mine from my BSc years, and realised i still study the same way hehe. basically my learning style consists, of reading a text, and underlining keywords, or putting lines in the margin of interesting bits, then going through the text again, and making notes from it. and then going through the notes and making notes of those. so each time i'm doing "something" with the text.

i also have been studying in 45 minute sections. i learnt that 45 minutes is the maximum concentration time, after which your attention starts to fall, so its best to take a break and come back to it for another 45 minutes. its from a book called "how to make the most of your mind by tony buzan, i read it when i was a teenager.

basically the brain recalls first and last things best , and can be exploited for a learning strategy. quote "for eg, if you study for four hours without a break, you will be giving yourself only one primacy and one recency situation, allowing your recall to sag in the middle. breaking the four hours into more reasonable units, will provide a greater number of "first and last" situations and a consequent rise in recall.

these time units have to be long enough to enable the mind to build up a rhythm and short enough to prevent it from having too large a sag in the middle.

experience now indicates an ideal study time between 10 and 45 minutes, depending on such things, as difficulty of subject, and your level of interest.

organising learning periods in this way not only helps recall, but also leaves you far more rested at the end of the learning period, because in the breaks (which should normally be between 2- 5 minutes) your mind has had a chance both to rest and to sort out the information it has been taking in during the learning period" end quote

so i've been setting my timer for 45 minutes, and studying for a minimum of that time, and then the timer goes off, and sometimes i spend another 5-10minutes, finishing off whatever i was studying. however my breaks last much longer than 5 minutes! haha, its like a constant cycle, between recreation and studying, throughout the day and evening.
---

my progress today.
i finished reading my thesis today. read the conclusions chapter. it's so light! i hardly am saying anything fundamental or pow pow punchy enough. oh well. hence why i need to read alot more papers and think of ideas.

i made notes from a paper. and read up on a concept that the paper mentioned in a couple of textbooks that i had no clue of what it was before today.

i feel much more happier now that i am studying in my own style and not fighting against it. its like there's no point studying for 5 hours in a room, and not learning or remembering or understanding anything ,and just going through copious amounts of information, so better to study less each day, but everyday and try to understand it

i'm going to study for another 45 minutes now and then call it a night.

======= Date Modified 20 Feb 2009 03:47:34 =======

Thanks Ruby :-) i love your comments, they always make me feel better about my life.

don't worry about feeling sleepy. i also used to fall asleep after dinner too , still do sometimes! i think its your body way of *making* you feel relaxed, cause right now you're on the edge , stressed all the time. i used to sleep alot aswell when i was writing up. heck i still take odd naps here and there now im studying for my viva. i think its the only time your brain can relax and escape from the tension and stress. besides you need sleep so your brain can make all those connections. so dont worry about falling asleep. you will get the work done. its better that you are rested. haha sometimes i think sleep is so nice, and nothing nicer than taking a nap.

i procrastinated all day today, and felt really tired and lazy for some reason! lol took a couple of hours nap in the evening. then woke up. but told myself i have to read chapter 6 and finish reading through it tonite. so i just finished reading it. so that just leaves chapter 7 conclusions chapter to read tommorow. and then i've finished my first reading of my thesis :)


i started reading through my thesis - feb 1st. so the whole- do abit everyday, is a good idea :) and does really work. you dont realise it.

"one day plus another has an accumulative effect" ...

well i'm signing off now. going to go to bed. see you folks tommorow! cant believe its friday already. this week has really flown by hasnt it?

======= Date Modified 19 Feb 2009 01:42:46 =======
no one can tell you how you feel EVER, however you feel is how you feel. you are the only one that has control over your feelings. and if you are feeling a certain way you do not have to justify it, the fact you are feeling it, is justification in itself!

i like the others, agree that you should just ignore it and put it past you. i had a friend who was a phd student and she also got the impression she was there for the eye candy. but she is clever and got her phd and passed her viva!

i think most males in senior positions crack stupid jokes like that, but they dont mean it. i mean if you're a pretty girl, they just commented on that. it has no reflection on your intelligence!! they would NOT have given you your phd based on your looks! your obviously capable of doing the phd, and dont let their negative thinking that you wont get past the first year bring you down. you just work your hardest, and ignore them, do it for YOURSELF not for them. as long as you can then say hand on your heart and say to yourself and honestly say i did the best i could, no matter what the outcome, you will be able to live with yourself.

so like the other posters, ignore it, take it as a backhanded compliment, and just move on. i wouldnt bring it up. and i agree what the other posties have said about how things can be taken out of context and sometimes people just say stupid stuff without thinking.

and good for you for dressing how you feel comfortable!

======= Date Modified 19 Feb 2009 01:34:59 =======
hehe thanks Heifer, yah new notebook :-)

Ruby - yes the british library is great! went there again today. i had a really good day today actually - one of those rare days that come once in a blue moon. it was a lovely day. not only for socialising but also for my studying.
i met up with a friend for lunch. then went to the british library and studied there for a couple of hours and i was so productive- i only took one break for 6 minutes. and i concentrated and studied this really good paper , i think the paper was the key, it was really well written and had so many useful information in it that are really relevant. one of the reviewers for my first paper mentioned that the author of the paper *SHOULD* read it. whilst writing my thesis, i didnt get time to read the journal so just quickly referred to it by reading the abstract lol. but for the viva i had always planned on studying it, and im glad i did cause its given me some ideas on a couple of viva questions.

i then met up with my best friend for dinner, and we had quite a few long discussions about science, and it was nice to talk about it with her, and she was giving me ideas for stuff i could look into to answer the most common viva qs - on how to take the project further, and we were bouncing ideas around. so felt great :) then went to see a chick flick. confessions of a shopaholic which we both really enjoyed.

so today has been a great day. both workwise and socialising. i'm going to stick with the once a week plan to go to the british library.and leave the house once a week. otherwise i get depressed.
====

i took a test yesterday on the way i study, and wow it was so true! basically my studying style, is to make notes and then notes of notes. which is so true. i cant just read something, i have to do something with the text.

the first two line describes me perfectly!

Kinaesthetic Style

· Copy notes over and over, apparently to make them neat or organised

· Must use white-out or start new page after several mistakes


· Prefers learning by doing

--
although descriptions of the above are from dyslexic pupils FOR dyslexic pupils to help pupils with strategies to overcome learning blocks.


http://www.greenfield.durham.sch.uk/a_multipleintelligences.htm

http://www.chaminade.org/inspire/learnstl.htm (when you guys come to studying for your viva, you can test to see which is your personal learning style)

---
Armendaf, ahhh i understand about no literture for the time being! you have me for company when you are going to re-read it!

Heifer - cool about you compiling all your documents and made your first important step to making a thesis document! yah!!

Ruby, you are doing so so so well!!! i know what you mean, its hard for other people to understand your real progress, sometimes alot of things are unfinished, so you cant say, i did this, but every little thing you do is getting you one step closer to finishing it. maybe you can start telling her in percentages of what you've done. i know i used to get depressed when my parents used to ask me what i did during the day and what i got done, usually it was bits and pieces.... you're doing great though Ruby, cause you're working on it everyday.

and LOL at weeble, that is so funny!! you made me laugh. i can totally sympathesise. i've put on so much weight since writing and then revising for my viva. i keep saying im gonna go on a diet , but never do. its hard to diet and study. i'm trying to exercise abit everyday though. but im definately podgier!

see you folks tommorow! :)

awww you're probably just very overwelmed by it and its finally becoming a reality. i too am probably going to cry when my examiners get confirmed! you are not alone!!!

======= Date Modified 17 Feb 2009 17:21:05 =======

wow lucky Armendaf! that you do not need to reread any literature!! that's really good. me on the other hand, have forgotten all the litertature i referred to in my thesis lol. i got millions of papers to read, which i am slowly going through, but sometimes when i read something it inspires me with an angle i might be able to use for a viva question.

i think its a great idea for you to make a list of corrections already for the viva. sounds like you got yourself a good battle plan!

It's nice to have you all back again :) this thread was getting very lonely and bare! nice to hear from everyone and your progress.

i am aiming to finish reading through my thesis by the end of the week, one week earlier than my own deadline. i just finished reading chapter 5, so just two more chapters to go. i too like Armendaf, are coming across corrections, and i find that i repeat myself alot!! i'm cringing about how many times i give the definition of something! lol oh well. i'm writing little questions in the margins, whilst i am reading through my thesis, and putting big asterix on particular interesting things i have said, that i might want to refer to - ie highlights of my thesis...

i've just opened a brand new A4 book that my brother bought for me, and i'm going to use it for my VIVA question and answer book.

the questions i'm going to work on and keep in mind for this and next week are as follows:

1. why did you do this project?
2. what is the most important finding in your project?
3. what problems did you encounter during your project?
4. if you could do your project again, what would you change?
5. if you were continuing this project, what would you do next?
6. do you think the project went well.
--
i will keep these questions in mind and try to come up with half way decent answers.
===


Ruby, hang in there. you're so very nearly there, and I know how you are feeling , it's not a nice place to be. but you will get it done, and it will feel so good to submit the darn thing!
Heifer. good luck with getting back into study mode again
:)

======= Date Modified 15 Feb 2009 13:44:55 =======
thank God valentines day is over! its alright for people who are in a couple, but sucks for singletons, the one day where you're reminded, hey no one loves you!

i avoidded all valentines stuff, and spoilt myself instead, and watched the latest grey anatomy episode :-) it was a nice relaxing day !

but its over now hurrah!! lol

hello peeps. how is everyone doing?
i'm clocking in for today, been procrastinating for the past hour! so thought i better get my head down and do some studying!!

my aims:
1. read 6 pages from thesis
2. read 3 papers
3. answer viva question for today which is: "what is the most important finding in your project?"
4. make notes

======= Date Modified 12 Feb 2009 13:08:15 =======
wow i just read the posts below by Linguist and Aodhan, they are INSPIRATIONAL! (up) well done you guys. :-)

i really liked the part about how studying and gaining knowledge actually helps in building confidence, i completely agree with that.

and wow your friend has been doing a phd since 1997 eh Linguist that just made me feel a whole lot better :-) hehe