Claim JSA immediately. You should have claimed it long before now. Stop delaying. If you get an academic job you will be fine. If you are still stuck job hunting you will have some financial support.

Stop messing about with this. Face up to it. Please.

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I agree with Ady, you sound more prepared than you probably think you are. Which is why I think you should take the next few days in as relaxing a way as possible, to rest yourself to be as ready as possible for the big day.

As for the examiners making up their minds based mainly on the thesis, I agree, and I found that actually quite liberating myself. I adopted a "Que sera sera" attitude in the run-up to my viva. You can influence the decision - in both a good, and a bad way - on the day, but your thesis is the core thing.

I also didn't have a mock viva, but I read Tinkler and Jackson's book, and that demystified the process for me. I think a mock viva would just have terrified me!

Good luck.

Be proud! I was really chuffed when my first paper (derived from my PhD, and published during it) was referenced by someone else.

You've prepared enough. Take a break. Honestly. You can do this at this time, and it will be best for you. Watch trivial TV. Read books you want to. Relax. Go for a walk. Just don't stress about the viva constantly. And try to look after yourself in what you eat and try to sleep well (I totally failed at that in the run-up to my viva, and even the night after!). The best way you can help yourself now is to give your brain and body some time out. And then when the viva comes you'll be best ready for it.

It won't be a big deal. And if your viva is not until October then I wouldn't recommend you do any significant preparation for it until much much nearer then. Like September for example! You need to reread your thesis before your viva, preferably summarising it, and tackling potential questions. And you should do that only a short time before the viva happens, so it's fresh in your mind.

Don't worry about this thing you've spotted. It won't be a problem. And don't worry if - or more likely when! - you spot other things.

If you're between submission and viva then you have the opportunity to correct it post-viva. What you should be doing anyway is drawing up a list of typos/corrections that you spot as you go through the thesis. Then you can do what I did, which is to hand that list to the examiners when your viva starts. Then you simply offer to make those corrections along with any they spot.

They probably haven't picked up on it. Honestly. But for your own happiness and for posterity's sake it should be easy for you to correct post-viva before final bound corrected copy is handed in.

Have you found other mistakes? Make a list of them. I spotted quite a few things my examiners totally missed. And all were easy to fix at the same time, post-viva.

What stage are you at? When you say submitted do you mean that you have submitted your thesis to the examiners? Have you an upcoming viva? Or have you already passed?

The key point is whether you have time/opportunity to replace the old version of the appendix with the new one for your own satisfaction.

If you have already passed though it doesn't matter. And if you are between submission and viva your examiners probably won't even notice/care.

Draw up a to-do list of lots and lots of things you need to do. Then pick them off, one at a time, starting with those that look most appealing (or least unappealing). Keep the things on the list short and simple, and doable. Don't give yourself the task of tackling hard things.

I had to use this technique many times during my part-time PhD, when I would often be knocked out for months at a time and unable to do any PhD stuff. And the technique does work. It gets you making progress again, and builds your confidence.

Good luck!

How would you explain your lit review to your Mum, or your Granny? Try that for starters. Focus on the most essential items. Even try summarising it in speech recording your bletherings into the computer. That should get your brain into gear thinking about the core elements.

I think 1500 words is actually quite a lot for a lit review summary. You should be able to put everything important in there. Include the core secondary research, anything which inspires your methodology/theoretical approach, and the core ideas of your PhD.

I took a break in my PhD, and I was research council funded. My research council (AHRC) would only allow breaks for either maternity reasons or medical reasons. Luckily I qualified under the latter. I took 5 months to recharge my batteries, and came back all guns blazing. Without that break I would have given up.

The fact that your supervisor is happy is really encouraging, but you're not, so there is still an issue. I think you need to work out how much time you and your supervisor want you to spend, and work out how much time you are really spending. And then figure it out from there.

I was a part-time student in my AHRC PhD, very part-time. Never more than 10 hours a week, more like 5 hours a week towards the end, in 1 hour chunks spread throughout the week. So I had to be brutally efficient in terms of how I used that time. But I got through.

Good luck!

Sign up for benefits! Honestly you are making things much harder for yourself than you need to, financially at the very least. Just face up to it.

I know many people who have successfully completed part-time PhDs alongside full-time jobs. It is perfectly possible, and very normal within my field (humanities).

I was completing a part-time PhD alongside severely disabling neurological illness. I wasn't working, but I had no more than 10 good hours at the start of the PhD for my PhD, and closer to 5 good hours a week in the last few hours. And I got through. I was doing my PhD in 1 hour chunks in the evenings through the week, adding up to no more than 5 hours total a week. It's doable.

You need to be very disciplined though, and need to find a routine that works for you. It's essential to have a timetable that you can stick to from the start: no hoping that there will be more time later, and leaving things until another time when things might be better. You need to make good steady progress from the start. I always say to people a PhD is a marathon not a sprint, and that's even more the case with a part-time PhD.

I think you need to ask your supervisor how many hours they expect you to work, then you can agree on a time that you can work within. And it will help if there are other students in your department (current or former) who have studied part-time. That will set a precedent, time-wise.

Good luck!

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If you want to do consultancy then what about doing your PhD part-time? It's something that is very common in my field, but is also common for people like medics studying for doctorates alongside their clinical jobs. Have you considered that? Might it be an option? PhDs don't always have to be done full-time.

EDIT: Ah just reread your post, and you're considering part-time as an option. That's good 8-)

I agree that it's probably not something to worry about, and not to cry over. They say you've passed, which is as much as they can do, given they have given you that bit longer to do corrections, even if you hopefully don't need them. On the downside paying £250 is not good, maybe you can get that waived, but I think it's more a result of your uni's restricted pass options.

My uni has a wider range of post-viva options. For passes there can be pass with no corrections, pass with minor corrections (basically editorial) to be done within a month, pass with minor revisions to be done within two months. After that there are various resubmission, MPhil and fail options. But the extra 2-months pass option means that fewer people have to resubmit, and allows examiners to issue a pass, and still have things tied up reasonably promptly.

Good luck!