In a few short days (four) will be sat for four hours in a small, hot room, depserately trying to remember important details from the past four years (such as: name, supervisor's name etc...). Please tell me that the stressed out, paniced feeling of imminent doom is normal.... please?

I haven't had mine yet, but it all sounds perfectly normal.

Big big hugs.

to say I was stressed would be an understatement. I had a mock viva the night before - which was too awful for words. I cried and cried all night and the next morning. I shook and I sweated and I considered just not turning up. The next thing I knew I passed!! Good luck - be calm

ah, you'll be fine. Bucket loads of confidence, award winning smile, what could be easier?

What could be easier...? Off the top of my head:
- turning water to wine
- getting a camel through the eye of a needle
- controlling a ranch of cattle with only the power of my mind and a polish phrase book
- establishing an idillic rural retreat where man, monkey and llama co-exist in peace and harmony
Gah. Am doomed to be 'the girl who nearly got a PhD', aren't I....?

You'll get the PhD. Whatever the examiners do, if they shake their heads or do anything irritating, never let them intimidate you during the viva. be confident.

and don't answer too quickly. Listen to the questions, take your time to think about it and then answer in a calm and confident way. Don't waffle. Keep your answer short and ask them if they would like you to go on.

It's normal to be (very) nervous (and feel very sick at the thought of it), but try to approach it by thinking it's a similar scenario to a job interview (except with this, you've had a few years to prepare!).

Remember, you know your research better than anyone else AND ... be confident.

You'll be fine!

Hi, very best of luck, let us know how you get on! The best pieces of advice I can give are:

1: at the point you go into yout viva, remember that nobody - repeat; NOBODY - will know more about your topic than you. Sieze that thought and feel confidence

2: don't assume that every question you are asked pertains to a weakness in your thesis. Even if your thesis is perfect in every way, an examiner still has a job to do, and some questions may be just simply because they are genuinely interested.

3: enjoy it if you can - I was a wreck before mine, but as I got into it, I enjoyed the conversation. You'll never talk in depth about that piece of work again so make the most of it.

kronkodile - that's really, really comforting words... I've been given my viva date - 8th Feb and I'm trying desperately to read my thesis at night times and at weekends (I work full time) .. I've been dreaming all kinds of horrible dreams and every time I find a typo in my thesis I feel truly sick.

Best of luck in yours, MTB - I guess we wouldn't have got this far if we weren't at least remotely capable of getting one... have you read 'how to sruvive your viva?' I have found it quite good for generic questions.. 'What inspired you?' 'How did your research turn out differently?' 'What would you have done different if you had your time again?', 'Who are the main researchers in your area?'

It's actually very reassuring reading these comments... I'm still trying to read things and prepare answers to the general questions at the moment. This time tomorrow will (hopefully) be in the viva and answering questions in a calm and collected manner. I'm working fulltime as well, which I've found really hard to cope with. I'll let you know how it goes, anyway.

Tra-la-la! Passed my viva. It was nowhere as awful as I thought it would be...!

Congratulations! That's great news!

congrats!!!!

Good stuff, well done!