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Hello all!

I submitted my PhD around 2 weeks ago and I have to say I'm sick with nerves and terrified my PhD will be failed even before I reach the viva. I can't bare this wait!!!!! This run up to the viva has to be the second most stressful thing ever! (First being submitting in time). I was really unhappy with the final draft :( and what I submitted was about 98% from a complete draft. I'M TERRIFIED!!!!!! I was thinking about getting a job pre-viva, but I'm wondering if I should just focus on preparing for my viva instead (I have savings to support myself until the viva).

Anyway, my number 1 worry is that I'll fail and receive an MPhil. My supervisors feel that the mostly likely outcome will be at least major corrections (and definitely not an MPhil). They also feel that I've put a considerable amount of work into my PhD (more than their respective PhDs) so I'm desperately trying to stay positive which is incredibly hard to do!

I was thinking about attacking my viva and drawing up a list of mistakes (i've spotted loads of typos errors!) so show that I've spotted my errors. What do you think?

The good news is that my PhD is extensive, very original and explicitly builds on the work of my external examiner. My internal examiner is an academic who marked my upgrade report and noted in his feedback that I'm an impressive student with an excellently organised thesis- so I know at least my internal examiner knows my work and has already credited my work. Despite the above, I'm desperately worried about my viva. I'm fully expecting a fail (MPhil) due to errors (typos, a few omissions from some chapters and a weak rather incomplete discussion chapter).

I would be grateful if anyone could offer any tips on how to prepare for the viva. I have a few viva books that I intend to work through over the next few weeks, but I'm interested to find out if anyone has any golden nuggets of advice. My viva is not until January so I have some time....

Any comments on the above would be much appreciated!

Dear Pineapple

I don't have very many words of wisdom / nuggets of advice i'm afraid. But I am pretty much experiencing similar feelings and thoughts as you. I too am not entirely happy with the thesis that I submitted and i am terrified of failing / MPhil.

It took me a very long time to be brave enough to read through my thesis. I am now half-way through reading it, and although i am continuing to find mistakes / areas of weakness etc it is becoming less and less painful. I am feeling more and more 'ready' for the viva.

Think of the viva as an excellent opportunity to add to an (inevitably) incomplete thesis. Remember, no thesis is perfect or complete. I would imagine (and hope) that the examiners are not looking for perfection, but are looking at the 'good enough' thesis and your ability to talk about what you did, why you did it, what you would do differently etc.

I would say get to know your thesis very well; practice some questions/answers; and above all work on your confidence

Good luck x

Hi Pineapple,

well done for submitting. It is great to hear that you have come this far, you are nearly there!

Regarding the thesis. I think the feelings you are describing are very common amongst the people who have just submitted. I think it is the norm that you find all kind of errors and typos after you have submitted. Perhaps it is not very productive to get upset about these, as you cannot change them anymore. It may be a good idea to make a list of typos, so that you can indicate to the examiners that you are aware of them. However, I would not spend to much on time on this.

My preparation is based on views on the forum and the book from Jackson and Tinkler. This is not rocket science, more a common sense approach. I have summarised my thesis, summarizing every page in a few sentences. I have a few key documents looking at questions like: Why have I done this project? What is the methodology, why? As a results what methods have I used, why? What are the results? What is my conclusion? What does this mean in practice? What mistakes have I made? What would I do differently if I would do a similar project again etc.

Finally stay cool, you can do it!
:-)

My viva preparation involved reading a viva preparation book (Tinkler and Jackson) to demystify the process, rereading and summarising my thesis to familiarise myself with it and spot typos (I took a list into the viva on the day and handed it out - all examiners/convenor were very grateful), and thinking about and memorising my answers to 5 key questions: originality of my thesis, contribution to knowledge, methodology, weaknesses/gaps/mistakes, and what would I do differently if starting again.

I had a very 'Que Sera Sera' attitude in the 7 weeks between submission and my viva. I expected to be primarily judged on my thesis, with the viva optionally swinging things if there was a marginal result. But I knew that winding myself up with nerves wouldn't do me any good at all. What would be would be. That made me feel vastly better :-)

Hi Pineapple, I am not there with my submission but I can feel your concerns. I am sure everyone who has done this feels that their thesis could have been strengthened, altered and rearranged over and over. I don't think that the thesis will ever be 'complete' as such but it will be good enough to pass the viva. I am sure that the supervisory team would not have allowed it to be submitted if it was going to fail as their reputation is also influenced by your outcome. I would take the time to note down all of the errors that need to be corrected and take this with you to the viva. Then I would look at the areas you are concerned about and write down what improvements you could make. This may come up in your viva but you will have addressed this already. I also think you should consider all of the good points and contributions you have made as this will highlight to you what you have acheived with all of this work. Hopefully this will empower you to feel better about the thesis. The work you do now in prep for the viva will make you feel more confident for the big day. I agree with previous posting 'what will be will be'! Good luck.

Hi Pinepple29 .. i read your post and went "understandable concerns", "normal post submission panic", "the viva is meant to be scary, that's how Prof's get their kicks"  - as my Prof said.

Then i went "wowwee" to these bits...  "if only" i thought :-)

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take a month off and come back to it fulltime at the start of December!

that'd be my advice. :-)

i was very afraid of my thesis post submission but one day i read 55 pages of it and found very few 'perfectionist' typos (commas and that) nothing major. i remember adding a word seconds before submission and sweating as i read it later. thankfully it fet in properly.

after that i drifted away from it all.

thinking back..... i feel like my work is shallow sometimes. but whenever i read it, it becomes pretty obvious that that's actually not true - its pretty good. my supervisor also agrees its an original contribution to knowledge and says my discussion chapter is my strongest. so am a bit happy and banking on that. i can understand your concerns with yours in that respect. but.. i once watched a viva video of a person with a weak discussion and they passed with minor corrections and were given an opportunity to rewrite it.

my new concern has been my ability to actually talk about my thesis.

i have never talked about the argument in my thesis. never! i always shyed away from it because i was never sure about it. so for my viva i need to learn by heart the definition of some things and practice how to articulate them. thinking about this just makes me numb.

for now i have decided to take it easy before i get my dates. after that i will see my viva as any other oral exam and really learn my stuff. after spending 5 years on it am not allowing myself to jinx it with panic.

so panic is not an option for me on the day! i just believe i will pass! whether that is true or false, its what i need to believe to get through this without sinking into depression or getting a nervous breakdown!

all the best!

am off the whole week. Yipee!!! you should do the same. sleep and allow your brain to recover from the stress of writing up!