Re LittleMissWorry: You'll be fine, trust me, if i can do it anyone can. You read my last thread i was on the verge of a nervous breakdown last week, i'd worked myself up so very bad. But, looking back, it was a very enjoyable experience to have an expert be so interested in your work. Its such a good feeling, nothing can beat it. :-D

Okay so here goes...

22nd March Day of the VIVA...

I arrive at my institute and i'm really very very nervous and its only 930 (VIVA doesn't start till 1230), so i hang about, re-read my thesis 3 times have a panic attack because i've forgot to read 2 papers. :-(

So i arrive and wait and then i fall apart (start crying)

Then, suddenly its 1230 and i'm outside the room, i see the examiners arrive and they say hello.. my internal and chair can see that i'm very nervous so, i go in and the internal asks me to summarize my work, why i chose to do what i did, what the relevance is and then more specific questions on methodology and also questions on the discussion followed... I was in there for 2.5 hours but, the time flew me by i didn't even realize. Before i knew it, i was told to leave the room and they called me back in and told me i'd passed...
Woooohooooo!!!

So, i just wanted to say, i did write a previous thread "VIVA panic" outlining how nervous i was and that, i was falling apart. But, to anyone who is nervous, you can't help it. But, as soon as you go in there, it all comes flooding through. As i was waiting outside the VIVA room, i couldn't remember anything and had a complete mental block but, as soon as my thesis was opened it all came flooding through...

If i can do it, anyone can (I suffer from really very bad anxiety attacks).

Thank you everyone, i still can't believe it... I almost thought my external will call and say: sorry pink_fluff we've changed our minds. :-)

Will definatley fill everyone in as soon as i've got over it...

Well done Littlemissworry... Lots of luck for friday just remember: if i can do it, with the nerves that i had. Any1 can!

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to let everyone know that, i PASSED.... With 3 spelling mistakes (Minor corrections)!

Thanks for the support everyone....

This time tomorrow it will all be over.

Re Hypothesis: Best of luck to you.

Thanks Littlemissworry...

I'll let you know the verdict tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a good one!

Aaaw, thank you Littlemiss worry and Littlestar..

Well, it's the big day tomorrow... and i was feeling sick before i read your posts..

I feel a bit better now... :-)

Its midday tomorrow, so i'll most likely be agonising all morning, i wish it was at 9 so then, i could have just gone in and not had time to think about it, at all...

WOW, crying at the beginning of the viva, well, i've been crying alot so hopefully i won't cry tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Aaaaww, thats given me some confidence because, i can't remember 3 pathways and i was just going through them now. I hope my examiners are nice and understand that i'm really very nervous.

Hey Claudia,

Thank you for your post. :-)

Well, i've been getting similar responses too like: "erm... every viva is different" to "oh i breezed through it" to "you just won't know until you go in there". So, what really worked me up was the thought of failure because i'd read a few posts where, people had said "there was a really intelligent girl in my dept and she failed" to " Got awarded a phd". This has got me so worked up. I suffer from bad nerves anyway and the past 2 weeks i have been reading my thesis everyday, memorizing bits but, i think i've done it to the point where my brain is overloading. :-( Also, just, i was reading through my materials and methods and i've left out half of the IHC protocol, i've not added the running gels protocol. I've not included bits. And so, it starts again....

Its really reassuring that, you said i don't know quite alot and your external was really nice. I don't know what mine will be like. :-(
I've made myself so ill over this, i discovered i was bleeding yesterday which, freaked me out. :-(

I just hope i have it in me to perform on the day and not get too nervous.

Well, my first author paper has results from 1st chapter and second chapter.
second paper has, 2 figures from last chapter
and third paper is unrelated to my phd, i ran a blot for my sup and it got published...

I'm going over it again today, but, i'm just losing will now. I hope i can go in on tuesday and perform. :-(

A question for you, if you say i dont know about your work, if you have mental block due to nerves do they doubt that, either you didn't write the thesis or didn't do the work?

Thank you. that is the only thing that has made me smile today. :-)

I suppose that's why i'm putting so much pressure on myself to be able to perform well on the day. :-)

Thank you for the advice... I was just thinking of the worst case scenario whereby, if i failed i couldn't possibly carry on. Its my whole world. :-( as sad as it may sound. Only last month i found out my boyfriend of 3 years had been cheating on me from day one, then i had to prepare for the viva and i've read horror stories about vivas too. :-(
I have 3 publications two from 3 chapters in my thesis, so really i shouldn't have anything to worry about as my supervisor tells me. However, because i have these publications and if i don't perform on the day as well due to nerves will this screw the whole thing up for me. I'm just very nervous i guess, and as i've heard "worrying is the dark room where negatives develop" :-(

And i'm most sacred of getting tongue tied and confusing myself as, i seem to do that alot when i'm nervous. And the external will just think i really don't have a clue about what i'm saying. I'm even contemplating suicide if i don't get through it, i've applied to a few jobs which, would be dependent on my PhD and i'd have to give it all up. i hope i can keep calm and get through it. Its just so difficult to not be nervous.

Re Little miss worry: I know 'm absolutely terrified too. I'm convinced i'll fail! i wish i could just shake this negativity off. Viva is in 3 days for me and i hope i don't screw it up. :-( I feel like i'll forget everything and won't be able to answer questions due to nerves and they'll fail me because they'll think i've either not written the thesis or i've not done the work and they'll stop the viva and throw me out the room. I'm in biological sciences and so i don't know how the vivas work in terms of this. I keep crying still and can't sleep and can't think of anything but thesis, feel like i'm going mad. I have nobody to practice with apart from myself my supervisor is not being supportive at all and i really don't think he gives a damn if i'm honest with you. Which, makes it worse. :-(
It's a shame really because, we spend 3.5 years slogging our guts out, facing up to challenges and then the final decision is dependent upon one person that, sucks.

Also i found bits in my methods where i have the wrong concentration in methodology and wrong concentration on the figure, i've done this on two occasions. :-(

This has by far been the most traumatic experience of my life.

Thanks for the reassurance. it is actually the uncertainty of the viva that makes me even more anxious. I wish i could just block it all out.

I will let you know how i get on, that is if i've not suffered a nervous breakdown by Tuesday.

Thanks Charles,

It just seems like nothings making it better. I've taken a week off work and i'm just revising and going though things. I suffer from really bad anxiety and i just hope my mind doesn't go blank on the day and i don't forget everything i've done for the past three years.

It makes me cry when i think about it, because i'm currently employed as a post-doc and if my nerves get the best of me and i can't answer on the day i'll just have to kill myself.

Thanks again for the advice.

Hey everyone,

I've been coming onto this forum for quit a while now and i've posted a couple of things. But I just wanted some advice. I have my viva one week from now and i am rally nervous to the point where i hope i can hold it together on the day. I feel sick each time i think about it and feel like i will fail because my nerves will get the better of me.. :-(

Has anyone else ever been this nervous and got through their viva?