I had my viva today and after 3.5 hours of intellectual conversation, I finally got the "congratulations Dr ...' but there are very very minor corrections that we would like to see and sign off".

The examiners: One Emeritus Professor (internal) and established Dr (external). Prior to my viva, I had read some posts regarding what sort of examiners to choose and not to choose, emeritus was mentioned as a no-go area. I was not too particular about this because my choice of internal examiner was purely based on his experience and previous work in my field of research, therefore I did not think that his emeritus status would adversely (not like this is a confounding factor) influence his examination of my work.

The Viva: oops! got to go...friends ...and drink time. I shall continue on my return.

Congrats!!!!!!

Must have been an excellent night out ;-p Well done, makes me excited to be starting mine.

Congratulations DGold! Hope you have fun celebrating :)

[quote].[From DGold:I had my viva today and after 3.5 hours of intellectual conversation, I finally got the "congratulations Dr ...' but there are very very minor corrections that we would like to see and sign off".

The examiners: One Emeritus Professor (internal) and established Dr (external). Prior to my viva, I had read some posts regarding what sort of examiners to choose and not to choose, emeritus was mentioned as a no-go area. I was not too particular about this because my choice of internal examiner was purely based on his experience and previous work in my field of research, therefore I did not think that his emeritus status would adversely (not like this is a confounding factor) influence his examination of my work.

The Viva: oops! got to go...friends ...and drink time. I shall continue on my return...]

Returned (PART 1):

Pre VIVA viva with supervisor 3 days before:

Friday I had a mock viva with my major supervisor. The role play was real and I felt like I was doing the real thing. My sup pointed out some of my assertions which I truly thought needed some re-wording. When I defended my assertions, he either let it go or kept digging in and asked further questions (this is not a good sign). It meant that I have got my assertions slightly wrong and need to elucidate further e.g. " xyz CAN be defined as" instead of my assertion that read "xzy is defined as". The difference between the two albeit very small in terms of the written word but it's very massive in terms of perception, hence the reason why Sup wouldn't stop his repeated line of questioning my assertions. That on board, I eventually gave in and mentioned that I must have typed it wrongly and in fact "xyz CAN be defined as...". That was only an example but the trick is that when an examiner keep asking the same question on the same sentence, then 'maybe I should reward that properly" should quickly come out of your mouth...

[Returned (PART 1):

Pre VIVA viva with supervisor 3 days before:

Friday I had a mock viva with my major supervisor. The role play was real and I felt like I was doing the real thing. My sup pointed out some of my assertions which I truly thought needed some re-wording. When I defended my assertions, he either let it go or kept digging in and asked further questions (this is not a good sign). It meant that I have got my assertions slightly wrong and need to elucidate further e.g. " xyz CAN be defined as" instead of my assertion that read "xzy is defined as". The difference between the two albeit very small in terms of the written word but it's very massive in terms of perception, hence the reason why Sup wouldn't stop his repeated line of questioning my assertions. That on board, I eventually gave in and mentioned that I must have typed it wrongly and in fact "xyz CAN be defined as...". That was only an example but the trick is that when an examiner keep asking the same question on the same sentence, then 'maybe I should reward that properly" should quickly come out of your mouth...]

Returned (Part 2)

Feedack from mock viva: At the end of my mock viva, my sup said I did very well, he liked my confidence BUT I was too defensive and that it took him 'digging deep' before I could own up. He mentioned that had I told him it was probably a typo, he wouldn't have stayed on the question for as long as he did. Well good it was a mock viva. Lesson learned here...and I seriously BORE that in mind.

A few pointers here and there: a table that needed to be corrected alongside its reference etc. Note taken, I had all those ready for Tuesday to refer to should my examiners mention that I had one or two inconsistencies. A further warning from my Sup was " do not point out any fault until you're asked, then present any correction so that they know that you are aware"...