Hi all, well, I passed my Viva with minor corrections on Thursday. What a relief! There's been many a time when I thought I might give it all up. And the last bit... the three month wait, then "the fear" of the Viva process... well that nearly finished me! My experience of this was certainly *far* more positive than I expected, I actually came away feeling cheerful :) Of course I have some corrections to do, but not nearly as many as I expected. So anyway... four years later, a new discipline, methodology, topic, it's all finally paid off :) So now, if I can offer any words of wisdom, or you want to know what I did for preparation etc. please let me know! (up)

Hi Charls...

Many congratulations.

At the risk of repeating myself... I always ask zillions of questions on the Viva.. put simply ... spill the beans, all of them... how did you prepare ? what did they ask ? what did you say ? what did you wear ;-)

everything .. the full monty. Congrats again. Chuff

I don't think I've 'spoken' to you much on here but congratulations!! Hope you're out celebrating tonight, Natassia xx

Right, here's what I did/didn't do, if it helps. I'm a social scientist BTW so this may not be relevant for all.

I had three months between submission and viva, but I have been working in between full-time so I couldn't dedicate myself to revising. In fact I only started two weeks before, and decided to book a week off work just before the viva so I had time to prepare mentally. I knew I was going to be nervous, and had to get myself into a good state. Most people I know do not do this/don't need to do this, and they take off one day before.

I re-read through my Thesis twice in total, the first time just to refamiliarise, the second to look for typos and errors. I attempted to summarise each section/chapter for recall, but got bored of that and stopped after the first chapter. To get me to face it, writing out a list of typos was really helpful. I did this in word so I could print it out and take it in to the viva. I was really depressed to find so many mistakes (perhaps 100, but this included extra spaces, commas etc). Really, the typos *do not* matter at all. I did find a more problematic error - a mistake in my results. I panicked, then recovered, and considered ways I would bring it up in the viva. I decided I couldn't just lie about it, so I had a strategy to cope with it (and I did mention it, and it didn't matter).

The other prep I did included answering and revising my answers to 40 questions about my thesis. I got these from a "viva prep seminar" run at my uni. I can email them if you PM me. This was very very helpful, as it made me locate the "answers" in my Thesis. Actually, only two came up in the actual viva, but I still used the other answers I'd prepared to help me answer the actual viva questions. Once I'd answered the questions, I read them over and over, highlighted important bits, went on a couple of long walks and thought about the answers. For me, knowing why I did the thesis, being able to summarise it, its original contribution, its strengths and weaknesses, the findings, and what I would do next research-wise - these were the most important things to know.

I also did a mock viva with someone in my department - not my supervisor. I thought I'd be embarrassed with my sup. It was a hard as I couldn't answer the questions properly but it did make me think about my work. I also practised answering a few questions with friends.

I also stuck chapter post-its and hundreds of other postits in the thesis directing me to important bits. This was a total waste of time, don't bother!! The chapter ones were helpful I guess.

On the day I took water, tissues, aspirin, my thesis, pens, paper, also my Q&A (just in case I froze!!). I'm a girl, and decided to wear smart casual, definitely not a suit (not my style - I'm a jeans and trainers chick). So I wore a black and brown wrap-over dress, black cardigan, tights and boots.

The examiners started by telling me that my work was good, which immediately calmed me down :) Then they asked me about why I chose to do it, what its contribution was, where I'd like to take my research. They then went through the areas that they wanted me to correct (I realised afterwards), about six in all. These q's were about "had you thought of this" "what about this?" "what's your opinion on this in relation to this?" I'd say they were broad q's to examine whether I could discuss my work more generally, in relation to other theories etc. Quite a lot to do with my external's research interests (top tip - make sure you check out what your external is doing before the viva!). Then I was asked a few specific q's about the thesis ("turn to page x, why did you do that?"). I definitely did not have the page-by-page going through the thesis experience that some have. The whole thing lasted just over 1.5 hours, quite short really. They sent me out then asked me back in and gave me the result and told me what I h

[sorry didn't all fit in!] ...had to do for corrections; a week's work at most.

Overall, the experience was very positive, much more like a discussion. I think I was very lucky as I had a very experienced external who was relaxed and not trying to "prove" himself.

Hope that helps! 8-)

Thank you Charls that was wonderful to read, thanks for taking the time out ... some really useful hints and tips.

Hope you have a lovely relaxing and stress free w/e. Chuff

Congratulations Charls! that's such a positive account!

Please pm me the 40 questions. am also struggling juggling work and viva prep. I don't have a date yet but am hoping its sometime before mid December.

i will definitely take a week off work!

J.

Huge congrats!! What a wonderful account the viva experience(up)

Hi!

Congratulations on becoming Dr. Charls! (up):-)

Can you share with us some tips or any words of wisdom in doing PhD? Especially when the thought of "giving up" crosses your mind.

Thanks.

Congrats that's excellent and I'm glad to hear it was a good experience. Cheerful's definitely good. Could I also get the viva questions please as I should get a going to my prep too.

Thanks and good luck for the future (up) :p

Well done Dr. Charls!!