Hi,

Just wondering: If you get major revisions at viva, is that a pass?

Generally, yes. If you do the corrections as requested you will pass. But at my university you couldn't graduate until your corrections were signed off, but you could if you had minor corrections.

However, I have seen on here that some people were given majors, and then somehow this got changed to revise and resubmit when the external wasn't happy with the corrections made.

Thanks TreeofLife!

So if you get minor corrections at viva, you can say you have passed.

But if you get major corrections at viva, you can't say you have passed yet?

I think it depends on the uni. At my uni, both minor and majors constitute a pass because if you do the corrections to the satisfaction of the examiners you will pass. The only difference is whether or not you can graduate yet.

Technically though, even you get no corrections at viva, you haven't passed until the exam board has met and has confirmed you have passed. You can't graduate until the exam board has confirmed your pass. Exam boards generally meet every few months.

Maybe check your university guidebook?

Thanks Tree of Life, I'll have a look.

One of my supervisors explained how it works at my university. There are two external examiners who are awarding a letter grade. Plus as my supervisor is Head of School, she also reviews PhD's before they are sent off to examiners. She may recommend changes as Head of School and provide some time for this to occur but won't recheck after this. They are then sent off to the externals and they award a letter grade based on a long list of criteria. The thesis comes back from both examiners with the check list ticked off and a grade from each and then they have a panel meeting.

Double A- brilliant, absolutely nothing could improve this, very rarely achieved-she's an experienced academic of many years and she can only remember two.

B's (or B/A combo).

Just need to fix a small number of minor things, a couple of typos, an inaccurately presented reference-or small errors or other matters.

C's - need to revise a few things and are given a period of time to do this but do not need to resubmit.

C-'s - Revise and resubmit (still a pass but the thesis needs substantial changes and you are given a period of time to fix this before the examiners take another look).

Ds (Her version of a non pass-she has only seen one or two of these in her career as well).

She didn't mention an MPhil. I was a bit too bemused to ask further...I'm assuming that a combination of C/B or D/B modifies these somewhat.

Hi there, this is an older thread but as I am gearing up for submission on 17/01/17 I've been exploring the various guidelines and found this-which explains my Head of School's explanation of the A-D system-she didn't go into E and F. I've attached it below for any one who is interested. (My submission date is based on Part time loading, so essentially the 6 months is really 3 months in real time.)

Higher Degree by Research Thesis Preparation, Submission and Examination Policy
A. (a) be awarded; or
B. (b) be awarded provided that the minor revisions and textual changes identified in my report are undertaken to the satisfaction of the Chair of Examiners; or
C. (c) be awarded provided that the substantial revisions recommended in my report are undertaken to the satisfaction of a research committee of review convened by the Chair of Examiners; or
D. (d) be not yet awarded but that the Candidate be permitted to revise the Thesis in response to the examiners’ reports and submit it for re-examination; or
E. (e) Doctoral Degree and Professional Doctoral Candidates only:
(i) not be awarded but the appropriate degree of Master be awarded or, (ii) not be awarded but the Candidate be permitted to revise the Thesis and resubmit it for the degree of Master; or
F. (f) not be awarded and the Candidate not be permitted to resubmit the Thesis for the degree

thanks pjlu

It does depend very much on the university, so everyone should check their own regulations. At mine for example there's no formal category of 'major revisions' -- it's either minor revisions to be done within 12 weeks of the viva, or else 18-month revise/resubmit. I got the latter, as my corrections were judged too much for me to do by the 12-week deadline, especially as I now have a full-time job as well.

I guess the important thing is that you eventually pass; it's the same qualification regardless of how long it takes to get there (that's what I'm trying to tell myself anyway :)).

I just checked out uni regulations and you either get minor revisions or re-submit, with the examiners deciding whether it's a viva is needed again or not.