Hello all,

Yikes!

I have my viva at the end of this month and I am BRICKING it. Obviously at this moment in time I seem to be focusing on all the negatives. Images of the examiners sitting laughing at me across the table, or asking me to spell a word. I'm certainly ignoring all my loves how keep telling me 'you'll be fine'. I just need to calm down right, even though I know I have to take it seriously. I read a Guardian article that said it would be mistake to think of the viva as being a formality, which I don't *fighting tears of panic*.

I'm trying to get my head into a good space and I wondered if anyone had any top tips.

Many thanks in advance!

Everything you are feeling is totally normal, I remember all too well the complete blind panic I felt in the run up to my viva! It was over a year ago now and I still feel sick thinking about those last few weeks.

The Guardian article is right; the viva is not just a formality. However, it is extremely unlikely that your supervisors would have let you get to this stage if they thought your thesis wasn't up to standard, so you need to think of the viva as just the last little tick in the box. It's a way of proving that it is all your own work, and that you fully understand why you have done it and where it fits into the wider field of work that already exists.

For me, it helped to imagine the viva as a discussion of my work with some 'fellow experts' (try not to think of them as examiners, it makes it sound too scary!). They just want to know more about your work, and they are there to help you explain it fully to them, by asking you some questions. The answers are already there in your thesis, they just want to see how well you can knit those arguments together and show a full understanding of all the concepts/themes/experiments that you have written about.

If you search 'viva' on this forum you will find loads of encouraging and inspiring threads that will help with your preparation. And also some stories of people who have survived and emerged the other side :) Best of luck!

Hi,
perhaps it would be good to check out this earlier thread on it, as there were lots of good tips on there. I suggest a healthy mix of preparation + relaxation. What helped me was that I prepared lots and then took a week holiday to Spain the week before the viva :)
Good luck!

p.s. the waiting and the bit just before the viva is terrifying - but the fear was no reflection on the actual viva experience, it was, dare I say it; rather enjoyable in the end - having an extended intellectual discussion about my research with experienced academics who wanted to help me improve my thesis so that I could get it published.