I'd swap that wine for a big G&T right now but I need to save myself for submission day on Friday eek!!

I have the same deadline and I'm feeling surprisingly calm today despite the fact there is still loads left to do. Perhaps I have reached the same zen state. It's nicer than feeling panicky which is how I felt a few weeks ago.

Thanks for the replies, I'm feeling less panicky today. The sensible rational part of my brain knows that I can do this otherwise I wouldn't have been allowed to get this far, but occasionally the silly irrational part rears it's head and I get scared about whether I can finish and get through the viva.

I am nervous about it even though my supervisor seems fairly happy with my work as I don't feel like I've spent enough time talking about my work in front of others so I don't feel overly confident that I know what I'm talking about and I tend to find that my mind goes blank when people ask me detailed questions about my work.

Starsgoblue - I know what you mean about the procrastination, I seem to be doing a lot of that and I really don't want to but there are days where I seem to get loads done so I guess it will all balance out in the end. I'm trying to make sure that even on a bad day, as long as I can get a few paragraphs written etc it's better than nothing.

My 4 year deadline is at the end of October and I'm starting to panic. I have 2 results chapters close to being finished but I seem to have a mental block on them and am struggling to get them completed. The third chapter still has what seems like loads of data analysis left to do. My literature review needs updating with a lot of editing and some reorganisation. I feel like I don't have a clue how I'm going to write a discussion/conclusions chapter linking everything together. There are students in their 3rd year in my department who are planning on submitting around the same time as me. I know everyone's project turns out differently but it still makes me feel a bit shit that they will have taken a whole year less than me to get it done.

I've known for nearly a year now that I don't want to go into academia and was hoping that I'd be done with all of this by now but I just don't seem to be able to get the damn thesis finished. Thoughts of quitting have entered my mind repeatedly over the last year but as I transferred uni's at around 18 months in to follow my supervisor and convinced my boyfriend the move was a good idea (we live together), I kept deciding to just stick it out. I know I have to get this finished but I'm struggling with a lack of confidence and fear that I'll crash and burn in the viva and that the last 4 years of my life will have been wasted.

Sorry this is probably garbled, I just needed to vent.

You can make an estimate of deductions using an online tax calculator e.g. this one

That's rubbish, then again my boyfriend is with Halifax on a normal account and isn't overly impressed with them.

Hopefully other banks are more sensible. I was only ever allowed up to £2000 with HSBC but it ended up being enough.

Tax rules changed recently so there are no exemptions for students any more, I found this out when I had to do some office temping recently. I was paying tax and NI at the standard rate though as the wage was fairly low I didn't have much taken out of my wages.

I'm with HSBC not Halifax but I was allowed to keep my interest free overdraft by taking in a letter from the university to a branch confirming my student status and the duration of my studentship. They seemed happy with this so I imagine it will be the same at other banks.

Any chance anybody can access this paper for me please?

Estimates of the annual net carbon and water exchange of forests: the EUROFLUX methodology. Aubinet, M.; Moncrieff, John; Clement, R. C et al, (2000) Advanced Ecological Research, Vol. 30, p. 113-175.

Didn't get my job but still got my fingers crossed for you Incognito

I had an interview last Friday which I think went well and they said they would be in touch mid week but so far I haven't heard anything. The guidelines on the company's website say they inform all candidates within 2 weeks so I'm guessing this probably fairly standard. In the meantime I'm stuck waiting which is frustrating. Fingers crossed for both of us!!

Try using Mendeley, you can annotate and highlight text in the pdfs and write a summary in the notes section too. It's free software with web storage available for your pdfs too (you have to pay for extra storage). I've been using it for just over 3 years and it's very rare that I print a paper now.

Plus you can use it for your citations with Word and LaTeX.

Thanks rubygem :)

I've been told there will be a 20 minute test beforehand which requires no preparation but I have no idea what the test will be. I also have to give a 10 min presentation about my work and what I think I can bring to the job. I've got a few weeks to prepare which is good as I'm already quite nervous about it.

I suppose getting this interview is the motivation I need to get as much of the thesis written as possible over xmas!

I've just found out I have an interview for a research associate position in a non university research institute. This will be the first time I've interviewed for a 'proper' job and just wondered if anybody had any words of wisdom to share. I haven't finished my thesis yet, hoping to get it done by Easter if possible so I know this is something they will ask me about, just not sure what else to expect really so any advice welcome.

Thanks.

I'm 6 weeks into my 4th year and I still have actual work to do, i.e. running simulations etc but I'm writing as I go along. My funding runs out at the end of March and I will need to find employment before then so it's unlikely I'll finish before the money runs out. I've decided I don't want an academic career and I'm not stressing about the fact it could well take me up until the end of my 4th year to finish.

Someone in my dept recently submitted at the end of 4 years and she has just started a post doc at a different uni whilst waiting for her viva. Somebody else in my dept submitted last week meaning he took just over 3 years and he also has a post doc lined up. So from that very limited evidence I don't think it matters too much if you take an extra year to finish. I'm in the sciences, I don't know if this is different for humanities/arts.

I'd advise against rushing unless of course money is an issue and you need to finish up quickly to find a job. If you can stay calm whilst editing then there's less chance of any mistakes finding their way into the finished thesis.