Hi all,

I had my viva last week so thought I would share my experience.

To start I asked both my supervisors for advice. They suggested looking at the following website and to practice answering the following introductory questions:

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Users/dt31/phdviva.html

1. Can you summarise your thesis?
2. What do you think are the major/key contributions?
3. What were you trying to do in your thesis?
4. What does your thesis add to the debate?
5. Why did you decide to write THIS thesis?
6. Was there an existing argument or position that annoyed you that you wanted to argue against?
7. Where did the idea from the project come from?
8. What parts are you most proud of and are there any parts that you would do differently?
9. Why did you structure it in this way?
10. What next? How will you disseminate your work?

I asked to record the viva in advance, my supervisor said this was a good idea and the examiners had no problem with me doing so. In fact, after the viva both examiners said they were quite envious that I had recording of it. It meant that I didn't have to worry about writing anything down to remember for later. Instead, I just made a note of their question and when necessary asked for 30 seconds to a minute to quickly write down the points I wanted to make before responding.

I used coloured sticky labels to mark each chapter. I also had sticky labels to mark key theoretical sections, so that I could turn to them easily. As I'm dyslexic I like to see things spatially so I also had mindmaps of each chapter, but in the end I didn't use them.

For me the most helpful preparation was a mock viva three days before the real thing. This really helped me to get into the swing of talking about my work.

Finally, a bottle of Rescue Remedy!

The viva itself was actually a pleasurable experience. It was great to talk with two people who had read the entire thesis and I realised how much I actually did know. I passed with minor corrections.

Hope this helps.

Best of luck to everyone with up-coming vivas!