i had my viva a recently (minor corrections) and have just received the reports - a couple of things have surprised me:

1 - i received two reports - the external and the internal. Although they don't contradict each other, the internal has added a lot that is not in the external's report and was not mentioned in the viva.

2 - my external's last words were that the extra stuff would only be a couple of pages and i can hand it in earlier than the deadline (2 months) if i want. the internal has included some sweeping statements that imply i should re-do the theoretical framework and re-analyse the data, plus extra redrafts of three chapters.

My first instinct is to just get on with it as i would rather re-write the whole thing than have to deal with university bureaucracy, but i'm genuinely worried that i can't do it all in the time. Would anybody else challenge this? what is actually at stake with minor corrections? could it still be a fail at this point?

I've tried to check with university regulations but they recently changed and haven't been updated. Any advice welcome!

Definitely get clarification on precisely what it is you need to do instead of just deciding to get on with a complete re-working. You seem to have two completely different viewpoints from the examiners here, and I wouldn't bust my back trying to do more work than is needed. 'Pass pending minor corrections' is the most common outcome of a viva, it being very rare to pass without having to do any corrections.

Get this sorted asap - sit down with the internal, your supervisor (and even someone neutral from the academic staff) and go through it all. A similar thing happened to a friend of mine and it turned into a complete mess with him not knowing what was expected and stuff being mentioned after the viva by the internal that, eventually, he was not required to do. Clarify exactly what is expected of you and why before you start.

I really didn't think they should be different. I'd get it sorted out.
Normally the internal is there just to keep the external in line and the the worse corrections/requests are from the external!

thanks for the responses - it was really good to hear that other people think it's strange too. i'm contacting the department tomorrow to talk about it - wish me luck!