I've been reading through much of the discussions and there seem to be quite different lengths for the viva ranging from 50 minutes to 1.5 hours to 3 hours to an unbelievable 8 hours. I'm trying to get an idea of how long I'll be in that room. And, did you have a break during it?

I know- or at least I suspect- that my PhD will be gruelling as it's, well, big enough to be two doctoral theses. I'm not worried about it, though. Nevertheless, it's over three months since I submitted and I still haven't been given a date so if I don't hear from them by the middle of this month I will have to ring the department as the final thesis must be submitted by mid March in order to be conferred in April.

The second question is: how did you prepare? Did you all have mock vivas? If so, who attended? Does everybody have a mock viva? (I haven't been told anything about this). I'm very curious about it.

The third question is: did you all make a presentation before the viva? How long was it for, and was it by Powerpoint? Is it open to anybody? Is there a section where you can invite your girlfriend/boyfriend or father/mother to watch you? If so, do most people exercise the right to have somebody there?

I have loads more questions, but there are the three most important tonight! Thanks!

The rookie.

Standard practice in my department is that the vivas are in the morning mainly because there are lunch reservations booked for the examiners supervisors and candidate for 1 so i think its a 2-3 hour process max. Our sups bring in people for about 2 mock vivas with the department lecturers to try and weed out as many questions we can think of. And finally depending on faculty presentations happen. My faculty doesnt have them but some others do. A lot of the German students I know talk about having to present their viva to an audience.

Ithink you can exercise the right to have your supervisors there but thats about it. Supervisors are good to have present because often they can point out things that others wont know about the research when you leave the room.