Wow, not long to go, it will soon be here! How is the prep going? Have you managed to relay your thesis to any unsuspecting mirrors or plants yet?

23 days to go.. :-) thanks Lara. i agree... it really helps to have a date. thanks for your support and reassurance. Dunni - i have been working on a publication, which i will put on hold for now, of that stuff i cut out from my thesis so i did take sometime off prep but i will still have to talk about its contents in the viva so its not a waste of time.

currently just taking a few days to warm up to the idea of the viva. with work and everything, i have come up with a very dramatic way of coping which i hope works for me. and that's waking up at 4am for the next 21 days til the viva and working til 9am because i work part time. i also found out i have an exam the same day as my viva :-( :-( :-( at this other course am taking.. and there is no way out of not taking it. so am preparing for both but ofcourse prioritising my viva.

am currently reading through a how to prepare handout that was given during the talk i attended and hoping to come up with a final revision plan which i'll put on here. to relax am reading a novel and i count work as relaxation time. i work three days a week, so i consider those my weekends.

am not taking the thing tooooooooooooooooooooooooo seriously before i jinx it. am treating it as any other exam. for that reason am taking this exam also. it'll offer a distraction. plus 2 exams on the same day is not bad. after all.... how many times did we do lots of exams in days after each other during undergrad? and we coped and even managed some firsts. so its all about attitude. am definitely aiming at keeping a healthy attitude to the whole process.

by the end of today i will have come come up with a game plan. watch this space!

8-)

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Ok.. so i've come up with the list of what i need to do to pass my viva.. not all i could possibly prepare but all i need to prepare to feel confident on the day and i've cut down that list to what i can reasonably achieve in three weeks whilst working and preparing for another exam. here's what i need to do:

1) re-read my thesis, formulate and answer questions about my work as i go along.
2) definitions. i need to list my definitions and learn them by heart :$ to be able to comfortably talk about them.
3) prepare to talk about things i omitted and why.
4) read lit rev again and update if anything new has been done. also prepare to talk about authorities in my area in a comfortable manner.
6) know my examiners work for courtesy reasons.
7) know broader context of my thesis.

good thing is i have most of this stuff already in the thesis. like why i did one thing and not another, broader context etc. so it shouldn't be too bad.

so tomorrow is day 22:

This week's goal:

read all 7 chapters but now with a purpose (unlike before!):

1) in one sentence, sum up each chapter.
2) for each chapter formulate a series of questions and answers. (summarise into point form and make each question and answer into a slide)
3) use the questions in my practice sessions.
4) how does the chapter fit the bigger picture?
5) list definitions to be learnt and do list of typos as well as correct main thesis for typos.

The thesis has 7 chapters and there are 7 days a week.. so a chapter a day at a minimum.

after that i will deal with literature review, knowing new work and examiners work.

all the best to me. :) am also on the look out for a program where i can record myself and playback. any ideas?

I have managed to do three quarter of ch.1 and i actually enjoyed formulating and answering my questions even though i thought i'd be quite terrified and not able to come up with a question, i actually have 26 possible questions on chapter 1! am so happy! its actually not that bad once you start the prep in a sensible way.

unfortunately i have to leave for work now. will continue tonight. :-)

all the best everyone!

am actually enjoying viva prep and can't wait to give my work the best chance it has at a pass! :-) this technique is wonderful! i recommend it to everyone. it not only works but it puts you at ease by giving you a healthy view of your work - there are obviously good and bad parts and it gets you to that point of accepting that and living with it and better still turning it into a positive.

it gets you thinking and puts you in the position of being the examiner so that when you get there you will rarely be asked a question that you have not anticipated and in the event that you are... because you have answered lots of questions, there is likely to be one that comes close.

the questions that am currently answering on paper are the ones i'll use for oral practice. :)

my lesson from this is: if you've completed a thesis, all the answers you need are in there. you just need to know them. like any other exam only this time you wrote the book!

all the best everyone. am still wading out of ch.1 and will let you know when i actually get to ch.2. am so glad not to be working today and tomorrow! can give quality time to my thesis and revision.

J.

thanks Bilbo! you're a God-send!

finally finished ch.1. took longer than i expected but was quite insightful. onto ch.2. :-) will first test my chapter 1 questions against Lara's list and see what i've left out.

tired and drained... :-) thinking is actually hard work...

i've been at work the past two days. had a good nights sleep and a slow start... i'll now work on my thesis this evening. at least 6 hours. my aim is to finish chapter 2. am also working tomorrow :- ( but monday i'll start on 3. need to up my pace!

goodluck everyone.

Keep going jojo, you are doing brilliantly. Once the thesis is submitted it is really easy to sit back and do nothing so the fact that you are doing all this prep is inspiring. Keep giving yourself small goals, ie read 5 paras in ch 3 as reading a whole chapter is slow work (I am editing mine so I can sympathise!). Smaller goals is easier to acheive and will spur you on.

thanks for the tip Dunni! hope yours goes well. hang in there. good to know am not the only one working. will adopt that perspective now.. and that should increase my speed hopefully!

am struggling with emotional stress as well. i wish i could move out and live on an island far away from the chaos in my house. family can be so difficult and unsupportive even when they know that one needs peace to prepare for stuff that's important to them.

sigh.. needed to let off some steam. :-) back to it now.

Still working on chapter 2. :-(. my whole viva could be based on these two chapters because i justify my study and deal with methodology in chapter 1 and in chapter 2 i come up with my theoretical framework / literature review. after that it's case studies and discussion. i also do all my definitions in these first two chapters.

i have been advised to focus more on theoretical framework and discussion because most humanities vivas dwell on that and not on the nitty gritties of the case studies. has anyone experienced this?

where did your viva focus more - i'd appreciate hearing from anyone who did and who is doing a case study based phd.. as well as anyone else ofcourse.

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otherwise am enjoying viva prep. aside from concerns with my pace, am wondering if i'll remember all this stuff. :$

i intend on taking my notes to the viva. hope that's not too bad. not that i'll be reading them to answer all the questions, but just in case i have a blank moment.

i have made slides for each chapter and am finding that quite useful in knowing where things are.

has anyone made an annotation? how on earth do you do that?

i don't intend to mark my thesis with stickers of all colours, it's just not me! never used stickers before, i don't intend to start now. so it will simply be underlined and have notes. it won't be highlighted either. :-)

that aside, i intend on finding my examiners publications by the end of this week so i can read them over Christmas. 8-) no Christmas for me this yr.

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my work is so similar to my external examiner's its scary! and i have not cited him in my thesis! :$ :-( his papers look like my chapter titles :$

i pray the content is similar otherwise the viva will be like Lord Sugar's boardroom! :-(