I also barely made it. I wrote up in limited time, and under a lot of pressure. The viva was challenging, and they recommended lots of revisions, but somehow, they recommended pass with minor corrections. I knew things weren't going well when the external said perhaps I should remove the main chapter. I thought this would mean major. But they told me to remove the main chapter, and make adjustments to the rest. The reason for removing the main chapter is the wrong framework. It didn’t make sense to the external, or I couldn’t explain it well. To be honest, having finished the corrections, I understand what was the problem there. I think I got minor corrections because I had another chapter that used the right framework to back up the arguments in the main chapter. I think that if I hadn’t had this additional chapter, the outcome could have been major corrections because I would have to come up with a new skeleton for the work.

I just wish there was something more than online chat here... Come on people, share your "nearly failed viva" experience.

My viva is next week, send the answer now or never!!!!

How did you convince them your topic was original?
What else did they ask you?