Hi Pineapple,

Congrats on submitting. I too have just put my thesis in and am being viva'd in November. I am being re-examined as I had a poor examiner selected for my previous viva who focused on his own work angle (completely test-tube and theory based), and struggled with my very practical and human based study, therefore we never got round to talking about my work and all his questions were focused on the lit review. This time I have a MUCH better selected examiner, so hopefully all will be better. The only advice I can give is to leave your thesis alone for a bit so that you read it fresh, and then only go back to it about a month before viva. Read it a fresh. If there are typo's note these all down and take them with you as a page of erratum correction. That way if these have bugged the examiners it will completely diffuse this and they will not therefore be drawn into commenting on these, as you have already made it clear that you are aware of these and will correct. Then remember to try and enjoy the viva. Take a pen and paper in with you. As they ask a question note down the key words, then take a breath to construct your answer and then answer, making sure you answer what they actually asked (henced why jotting a note is completely accepted). The examiner will be nervous too, so concentrate on what they ask, not on their tone of voice or body language. There is a very good 10 tips on the times higher website that you may find useful called 'Take the heat out of trial by fire'.

Enjoy your Christmas and then calmly prepare.:-)