Dr_Crabby I had exactly the same issue with my supervisor, and you cannot only blame everything on yourself. All our research topics are too specific and there is no one else knowing what decision to make than our supervisor. Sometimes we had no choice but believe our supervisors. My supervisor is extremely busy everyday, and he often forgot what advice he gave me a couple of days ago. We had lots of arguments over his advice because most of them were contradicted. He still didn't suggest me to submit my thesis even if I sent him to read for couple of times and changed hundreds of times on his comments. I insisted to submit eventually and he had no right to stop. I am waiting for my viva and I also found lots of mistakes on my thesis. It is hard to define independent research for a PhD student because our supervisor will always more or less steer our wheel. I agree with Tudor_Queen, there is no correct or wrong in the research, it depends on how you defend your results and methodology, I'm sure there must be lots of alternatives to your methodology. As long as the knowledge of your thesis is not fundamentally wrong, it should be OK. Having different opinions is normal in academia, the viva is to test how you react and justify your research topic. No research results are flawless. Original work, clear motivation and objectives, analysis in wider areas of your topic, explaining basis as well as detailed questions, knowing the challenge and discussing future work. These should be the standards on justifying the thesis as doctorate. The viva is also very personal, not all examiners will ask nightmare questions, but do prepare for the worst because that is the pressure to make yourself through the viva.

Yeah, I also heard lots of similar stories, the viva itself is very personal, there is no transparency at all. I just wonder what impact will it make on the supervisor if his PhD student failed in the viva? Certainly it will not damage too much on the career of his supervisor, but I presume it should not be a good side for his reputation and future promotion. Will the supervisor put barriers in front of his student on purpose? I'm too confused. As far as I know, it's typical that academic researchers are lack of social skills, and some of their behaviours are not even like normal human beings. If they stick to the rules and follow everything in logics, I guess I need to prepare for the worst. My supervisor told me he found two people for the external examiners, they will be selected by the head of school. All of them are his former colleagues, I met one of them before, he is a friend of my supervisor. But my supervisor haven't kept in touch with the other guy for almost ten years because that guy stole his research and published a paper, but he still pick him as a candidate to be my external examiner, because his research area is quite similar with the topic of my thesis. That is the weirdest thing I have ever heard.

I also had lots of arguments with my supervisor, he does not suggest me to submit my thesis, and he said I will at best get major correction. He made it clear that he cannot stop me from doing that cause he had no control on this issue. I really don't understand why he said something like that one day before the submission date. I had no choice and I'm not going to quit or ask the university to give me a Master degree. I have to prepare for this viva, but I think the viva can be quite personal. I heard some examiners will go through each word and check your reference. I also heard some examiners got the thesis a couple of hours before the viva, they just attend the viva and do some improvisation. Given my current situation, I need to fully prepare for this viva. I'm just confused why some PhD students can easily pass their viva and their examiners were not demanding at all. Thanks for sharing your experience anyway!

Hi folks, I have submitted my PhD thesis a couple of weeks ago, the viva will come soon. I'm quite worried with the viva result. As you all know, it could be minor correction, major correction, or even MPhil. I checked some thesis from previous PhD students in our school, I found those theses don't have a universal level. I can spot lots of grammar mistakes, some of them even used screenshot as a figure in the thesis, but these students got a minor correction. I also heard lots of ridiculous stories about the viva. I'm so confused with the standards of PhD thesis. My supervisor will read through every word and pick up any misused comma in my thesis, but some of PhD students are very "lucky" and they seem to pass their viva easily. Their supervisors have a title of professor! Maybe I was only able to spot any shallow mistakes but couldn't see their analysis in depth? The regulation of my school requires two examiners, one internal examiner and one external examiner, two of them should be selected by main supervisor. Does the viva fully depend on the supervisor?

This is the final year of my extension, and I'm still struggling with the thesis. It's only completed by half until now, my supervisor told me he does not think I can make the PhD. He thought I'm not capable of doing independent research and I'm lack of creativity. To be honest I just don't enjoy it, the whole phd is a disaster. I tried my best and work long hours, but it just made me feel so bad when showing the results to my supervisor. He thought I didn't make any progress and didn't know how to explore those problems. I'm so stressful and frustrated. Maybe I'm not a research guy, not born like that. I've done 4 years and a half, now I still have six months time, but I don't know if I should continue. My supervisor will still help me if I decide to continue. I wasted more than four years time, am I going to waste more? I should have quit on my first year, but now everything is too late. I've already reached the maximum extension of the PhD in my university, and I have to submit the thesis by next February. Now the question is, should I stick to the deadline and see what happens, or quit the PhD now?

This is the final year of my extension, and I'm still struggling with the thesis. It's only completed by half until now, my supervisor told me he does not think I can make it. He thought I don't capable of doing independent research and I'm lack of creativity. To be honest I just don't enjoy it, the whole phd is a disaster. I tried my best and work long hours, but it just made me feel bad when showing the results to my supervisor. He thought I didn't make any progress and I didn't know how to explore those problems. I'm so stressful and frustrated. Maybe I'm not a research guy, not born like that. I've done 4 years and a half, now I still have six months time, but I don't know if I should continue. My supervisor will still help me if I decide to continue. I wasted more than four years time, am I going to waste more? I should have quit on my first year, but now everything is too late.