Hi all,

I know there are loads of threads on this and everyone is different etc but how much viva prep did everyone do?

I have my viva in two weeks and am confident in thesis and have 2 publications out of it. My supervisor is unconcerned.

But, I have no time to prepare!! And I am seriously stressing that I am going to muck it all up at this stage. What I am doing at the moment (when I can and will be done relatively comfortably before the viva) is to make notes each chapter, answer the 33 relatively generic questions I have put together, read thesis in entirety and do
a mock viva with supervisor.

How have others done it - I will have a week full time on it next week, but up to then it's a case of an evening here and an evening there.

Seriously stressing :(

If you have a whole week to spare coming up you have plenty of time. I had just a few good hours in between submission and my viva.

I would strongly recommend reading a viva preparation book. I used Tinkler & Jackson. It demystifies the whole process and helps you get prepared.

I didn't tackle a long list of possible questions. It's likely few of them will come up. Instead I focused on 5 key questions: originality of my thesis, contribution to knowledge, methodology, weaknesses/gaps/mistakes, and what would I do differently if starting again. Between them those should cover most of the non-subject-specific things you're likely to be asked. This preparation takes incredibly little time.

In addition I reread and summarised my thesis to familiarise myself with it and spot typos (I took a list into my viva and handed it out - all examiners/convenor were very grateful). You're pretty much doing that already though.

I didn't have a mock viva. I didn't think it would help me, and only wanted to go through the eprocess once! But a member of staff kindly talked to me for about an hour about how vivas work. And my supervisor gave me good advice too.

Also I found it helpful to think 'Que Sera Sera'. That lifted the stress a lot. But to be honest the most helpful thing was reading Tinkler & Jackson. Very calming book!

You sounds like you're doing exactly the right thing already.

I barely had any viva prep time as I was working full time and commuting an hour each way on top (didn't have time for a mock viva either!). If your supervisor is unconcerned then that's a good sign. Just make sure you know your thesis inside out, which seems like you do, and think what sort of questions you may get asked, which again you seem to have done.

You'll be fine! Although having been through it myself I know someone saying that isn't enough to stop the worry, but you are doing all the right things (up)

Out of interest, do you have the Tinkler and Jackson book? I have have it in ebook format. PM me if you think you'll find it helpful. Good luck with preparing for the viva. :-)