Hi everyone,

I've searched through old threads to find similar questions but wasnt successful (but I apologise if this has been discussed before)

I've been doing a science PhD for about 8 months now, but today was the first time it all really hit me. We have to submit a 1st year progress report before christmas (with a mini-viva in january). Now I have been collating all my data, I realise how badly I've been doing everything (not writing down key details, not doing enough replicates, making really simple mistakes). I think my interpretation of the results is horrendous and am seriously thinking about failure. My supervisor gave me back a first draft with red pen pretty much through everything, though they have given a lot of advice to sort out my report and make it submittable. I'm certain I've just had some sort of panic attack and really seriously am on the verge of crying. I just wasn't expecting this much worry. It sounds silly as its nothing compared to what the final dissertation will be, but is this common for a first year progress report? Did anyone else get this stressed or worried at the end of the first year?

Thanks for any responses! :-) Back to writing now.........:-(

======= Date Modified 12 Dec 2010 06:25:02 =======
In the UK system, the transfer-exam/mini viva is by no means serious business,

I have never heard of anyone in my graduate school(usually considered top 1 or 2 in my area of research) who has failed it, you dont need to put near half of your efforts to get a pass.

Based on my rather limited experience (I am an oversea student), I think in this country, for a PhD programme, the only thing that matters is your PhD thesis/final viva.

hi Seven :-)
hows your progress report coming along :-)
don't worry about all the mistakes you made.
Everybody makes mistakes.
Mistakes are helpful because they tell you what needs to be done in the research and are a means of future improvement.

May I suggest that you focus on writing your report; there must be some way of going round this to verify those ''mistakes'' made. In my opinion, ''mistakes'' mentioned in reports give them character; and are more life-like to the reader.

I am rushing my writing too. Have a great sunday
love satchi

Hi Costate and Satchi :-) Thanks so much for both of your replies.

@ Satchi, My report is going OK thanks. Just trying to put everything together - most of my graphs look terrible though and I haven't done enough repeats :$ but I guess this is something that I have to point out in my report. I think you're right about explaining all the mistakes in my report. I've been trying to lay out everything I think i've done wrong, then suggest on how I will improve these. Thanks for your suggestions! :-) Are you currently writing a similar report, or are you writing your final dissertation?

@Costate. All the other PhD students in my dept that I've spoken to have said the same which is slightly reassuring. They said their reports were basically ripped apart and that they were really put down after their mini-viva, but none of them failed despite big mistakes being pointed out. I guess I can't just get the thought out of my head that maybe I'll be the first one who fails :$ . Though I know that I still have to submit a decent report to get a pass. Costate, have you also done a first year transfer report?

Best wishes
Seven

It takes a considerable amount of effort to fail the first year report. Supervisors and academics are very easily impressed. No doubt standards vary from university to university but as long as you write something you'll pass. The viva at the end is a lot more important. It's not worth the worry!

hi seven
nice to hear from you; I am writing parts of the thesis; and struggling at that :p
but not giving up :-)

best of luck
love satchi

Hi Seven,

Nothing to worry about I'm sure! In my experience, the thesis committee is encouraging for the first report, and much more critical in the second.

Mistakes are very helpful - if they don't find a lot of mistakes in your work than they aren't doing their jobs properly...

Thanks everyone for your replies, I definitely feel much more calm about it now :-) Hopefully it will wokr out in the end!

:-)
seven