======= Date Modified 26 Nov 2009 18:14:09 =======
======= Date Modified 26 Nov 2009 18:12:51 =======
Well Olivia,



if you think you don't need any reminders... etc, then do not make one, may be you know your work very well and do not need reminders? am thinking that during the viva people might get stressed and these notes will remind them during the viva (if someone is panicking easily, like me ;))



Recently, I have only been advised to reread the thesis and read new papers published in the field, which is enough to keep me busy for a long time :(







By the way, based on your mock viva, what do you think is the most important thing to do?



were you surprised by a question for example? I mean a question that you did not expect?



and how do you respond really?



I read in a book that you have to be articulate (how I can be articulate when I don't have the experience?)





Good luck in your viva, wish you the best and thanks for the replies.







(up)

hello Olivia,

how was your mock viva? wish you the best
and is the viva approaching now?

am really getting stressed I only got two weeks to go

hopefully it will be over soon

Hello,

I have same problem here.

I have been advised to search for specific supervisors, read their research interest, then choose what area of their research you like and send an email in a cover letter format, with your CV attached.

But to be honest, I found two groups I like but, for some reason they did not reply to me.

I also know what I like, but what I find it difficult is to find a good group. every one says make a network, but since i have been so busy on my practical work I didn't have time to make proper networking. So the only thing I do right now is searching popular job websites and hope for the best.
Is there any other strategies?

Congratulations. I will have my viva in December, although am doing biomedical sciences but, thanks for writing down your detailed viva, good to hear positive things.
all the best

======= Date Modified 15 Nov 2009 21:10:19 =======
go to www.prospects.ac.uk/funding it has a range of funding councils, check http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Funding_my_further_study/Postgraduate_scholarship_and_awards_search/p!empefkj 

You can ask your school or university? they have the best advice for you !


hope it helps.

Hello Joyce,
thank you very much for the advices, it helped a lot. it made me remember few things i need to do.
by the way I have voted for you as a helpful user ;) :$

I found the advices given by this website reasonable

http://pages.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~saul/wiki/uploads/Chapter1/NastyPhDQuestions.html

Hello Olivia,

I just read your thread again. I'm going through the same problems, I was not able to look at my thesis and got really fed up, but now when I have a fixed date, I thought OK I need one more step to fight this PhD and I will be finished. I don't want to destroy the hard work of four years in one day (for me that is a good motivation, besides there is not any other option, so the sooner it is done the better).

I went to a viva course at my uni, and they gave me about 15 common viva questions, and the whole advice of the course was, ask your supervisor, and do exactly what he says.
I haven't yet organised a mock viva, am sure my supervisor will help me, but I want to get some ideas about questions, cause to be honest am not good at replying quickly, I stress too much (even forgetting things that i know).

I think books and guides help but, to a certain extent (it is not like the real experience). I read the books and they are helpful, but i think is the most useful help would be if I get real questions asked by real examiners (NOT THE FAMOUS COMMON QUESTIONS).
if you don't know the answer, there has to be some strategies for responding. if it is a very difficult question, am guessing it is better to admit and say I don't know I will do more research on that.
if it is a question about something that you should know but, you forgot about it, in that case I will panic really, cause it makes me feel guilty, what do you think is best answer?
am not very articulate in replying to things even in real life, I mean I don't know how to go around things, I just reply honestly, which i don't think can be applied for the viva defense. from my impression it is like a trial with lawyers defending someone even they don't believe the person is innocent ,)

A student told me they asked a lot about statistics and they were trying to find out if I knew about statistics, I think that is very good example, because I used a software and didn't know i need that detailed knowledge ( I knew what am doing but, apparently they want all the details), I know this is obvious question, but for some reason i forgot how important these things are!
Another question was what is the structure of a solution he used in an experiment (am doing Biochemistry)?
which is a bit too specific but, it gives you an idea what to expect.

another advice is to read through recent papers in the field.


ANY ADDITIONAL REAL VIVA QUESTIONS ASKED BY EXAMINERS IN REAL VIVA (SPECIALLY BIOCHEMISTRY :p) WILL BE REALLY APPRECIATED

Hello Olivia,


Glad to hear from you,  as I was writing to you an idea come to my mind to make a new thread named real life viva questions, my point is to collect as much real viva questions as I can, hopefully it will give us better understanding of the type of the questions and how to respond.

Keep in touch please



:-)

======= Date Modified 15 Nov 2009 12:35:46 =======
======= Date Modified 15 Nov 2009 12:11:32 =======
well i have not looked at my thesis since i submitted, which is about one and half months now, but I'm planning to start tomorrow.







my plan includes the following:



1-find typos (the easiest).



2-read again the whole thesis and study what might i have forgot.



3-list and answer common viva questions.



4-make a list of weak parts in my thesis (although i have no idea on how to do that)



5-Defend the practical/statistical methods i have used, also i have no idea how exactly i will do that.



6-may be a mock viva.



Olivia, do you want to exchange ideas and support each other?

Hello All,
At last my viva will be soon, I thought of making a thread for my self, similar to those made by previous students (it might be good to de-stress).

Any suggestion from previous students?
any advice will be much appreciated?

To be honest am much worried about the fact that I don't have a job yet and it is killing me, but i thought for now it is better to wait till i pass the viva, any tips for finding jobs?
there is one position in which i really like the subject but, it is in Glasgow, which I don't like to live in, as am international student and there is not much people from my ethnic background there, do you think am making a mistake?

one of important parts of writing is to cut repetition and be able to decide what to include or not, so I think you have to do it again yourself, and after that you can hand it to your supervisor, and tell him/her that there might be repetition.

read what you wrote, and ask the question is this paragraph really necessary to include? or have I included it somewhere else?

Hope this help.

======= Date Modified 13 Nov 2009 13:20:14 =======
Until you find someone and just for now, read the manual again with someone a bit more experienced in your lab, it might be there, but not in a straight forward way, if not email or phone the company, they usually reply.

Take the senior technician in your lab with you to figure out how it work together, it might be easier than you think, sometimes the best way to learn is to try things yourself.

======= Date Modified 12 Nov 2009 20:22:52 =======
Well you might not believe it, you are describing my feelings in detail, I felt that it was me who wrote this thread. I really felt exactly the same for the last four years, but luckily I finished now and waiting for my viva.

I was always thinking my work is worse than the others, and my supervisor was not critical at all, but at the end I found out that my work was actually good and now I got a good paper in respectable journal.

so just keep going and try to remember positive things whenever you hear a negative tape in your head, I started to try to distract my self with what ever I can.

listen to this video I find it very encouraging when I am sad :

1-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc
2-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6hz_s2XIAU
3-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkCFeNeqyHk




hope this will help, all the best .