Hey all!

Just thought I would write a bit about my viva- I know it helped me to read about previous students' viva experiences and there are a few people here coming up to submission!

It took two hours. My examiners didn't give me much of a clue at the start about what the outcome was likely to be, as I know they sometimes do. They said that they enjoyed reading it, asked me to talk about the thesis for a few minutes, and then got stuck into the questions. The external examiner led the questions, but frequently invited the internal to ask questions that she had as well. It was probably 60% of questions from the external and 40% from the internal. They pretty much went in the order of the thesis, flicking through it as they went. They didn't ask many of the questions I had anticipated...they basically asked me things that weren't in the thesis and didn't really ask me to repeat anything that was already clear from what I had written. I suppose that makes sense, but I had expected the usual standard questions that most people seem to get! Most questions were quite broad- they didn't pick at many very specific things in the thesis. The questions from the internal examiner were really tough. On reflection, they were things that might be quite obvious to ask if you didn't know much about the topic (which wasn't remotely close to her speciality), but things that you either don't think about or just take for granted when you're immersed in your own research topic. Questions from the external were a bit more predictable, and were mostly things that I had already given some thought to. Even so, there was an awful lot of thinking on the spot. Some questions were a bit provocative, whereby they would make a statement that they disagreed with some aspect of my work (a bit rudely in the case of the external) and then they would just wait for a response. Basically, it was really hard going, and pretty stressful.

They sent me out after 2 hours, and called me back in about 10-15 minutes later. They congratulated me but didn't tell me the extent of the corrections, so when they started reading them out I had absolutely no idea how long the list was going to be, and whether it was minor/major etc. I was delighted when they stopped so quickly!

Points for people coming up to viva:
1) It is very difficult to revise for. I only had 6 days, but I couldn't have done anything more even if I'd had 6 months.
2) Keep as calm as possible and do not panic if you think it's going badly- it probably isn't!
3) Don't rise to the bait if provoked, and if they've made a good point then there's no harm in admitting that maybe you could have given that more thought/explained things better in the thesis etc. I did that a few times and it was fine.
4) Don't worry about typos etc- they didn't even notice most of mine, and they didn't mention the ones they did notice in the viva- they just added them to the list of corrections.

Hope that helps a bit!
KB

It does KB and I'm delighted for you. You've worked really hard and especially of late and it's paid off with a few minor corrections and a new job in a new department. Great to see and I wish you all the very best!

Reading your account KB, I would say that mine was very much the same experience, only difference was that my external was very particular and persistant rather than my internal.

Post viva, I wanted to leave asap to have some time alone to reflect. My mind went over the viva so many times in the following days, chastising myself for not doing well on this or that, and trying to see if I could have known more with my viva prep. To be honest the prep could not have foreseen alot of the Qs. I was also quite numb for some days, you want to celebrate a pass but you know there is further work to do, very strange emotional time!!

Hey Dunni, me too- glad to hear it's normal! I still feel a bit anxious and wound up even though it's all over, and keep replaying bits of it in my head thinking about what else I could have said. It's pointless- the changes were minimal and weren't related to anything I said in the viva, they're just a few things that need clarifying a bit in the thesis regardless of my answers to the viva questions- but I can't help going it again and again. Of course I'm delighted, but I don't feel like I thought I would. I guess I just need to unwind! KB

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Keenbean,

Again congratulations.

I agree with most of what you say except for revision.

It may be my rather bizarre viva day (events surrounding the viva were bizarre more than the viva itself) turned out as more of a straightforward chat as it may have been clear from the off that my level of preparation for it was was very high. My supervisor literally frightened the life out of me post-submission and I didn't throttle down post-submission as a result. Both my supervisor and predecessor told me to revise subject areas I would be expected to know, in my case analytical techniques, general materials engineering and how characterisation equipment worked for example. In plain English, there was a lot of material to cover.

In the end, the external examiner didn't touch on some of the peripheral areas, however, despite alot of intervention on the part of my supervisor I was comfortably able to cope with anything thrown at me. I believe if I hadn't prepared properly, then some of the conversations may have gone over my head and that would not have looked good.

That said, I have a shocking short term memory therefore in my case the two and half months up to viva allowed me to lock alot of the facts in my head. :-)

I guess it may depend on person and subject area and given anyone going through a PhD has been working intensively on that subject for three or more years, then many will feel extensive revision may not be needed. It maybe I went over the top, though in retrospect it was not a chance I was willing to take.

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Hey Mackem! Yeah, I think every experience is different. I wasn't trying to promote a lack of preparation- I worked very hard in the time that I had and of course so soon after submission I knew my material inside out. The examiners said that I gave excellent and very well though out answers to their questions, although at the time it didn't feel like it! If my viva had been 3 months later I would have had to spend a lot of time going over things again to remind myself. But for me, the questions that the internal threw at me were extremely challenging, and completely unpredictable even for the most prepared person. I had a practice viva with my sup and she gave me some very tough questions, but even she hadn't picked out the ones that the internal came up with. I think there are some differences as well according to subject area. Sometimes in Psychology there is no right or wrong answer, just many shades of grey, and this can promote a lot of debate. My topic is quite controversial and conceptually very demanding, and many of the questions focused on this aspect of my project. Had the topic been less demanding in this sense then the viva would have been much more straightforward! I really do think that it is the examiners who create the viva experience, be it a pleasant one or not! Best, KB

Congratulations, Dr. KB!! All you hard work and meticulous effort has been paid off and I am extremely happy for you!! (up)

======= Date Modified 14 Aug 2011 18:32:40 =======
I agreed with Keenbean's revision comment, even for people who don't have their viva 8 days after submission! This may just apply to my field (history), but I found there was very little useful revision I could do. Lecturers were also telling me there was little I could do to prepare.

The core thing was to reread my thesis. I did that, thoroughly, and summarised it. And I prepared my answers to the 5 broad questions that I identified from reading Tinkler & Jackson, which between them covered most "general" questions that are asked at vivas.

I could not have predicted the other questions my examiners would ask at my viva. It would also have been a waste of effort to even try. The important thing was that I was able to think on the spot, and give coherent answers to them on the day. That's something you can learn either from a mock viva (I didn't have one - didn't want one), or from presenting your work in the years beforehand.

I know that in some fields revision can help more. But I do feel that in mine very little revision was required, and would have been quite counter-productive. This also worked out well because I had only a handful (5?) of good hours a week to work on my PhD, both pre-submission and pre-viva, and it was vital that any revision had to be manageable.

I haven't had my viva but I can tell you I will not be having a mock viva, even if offered one as I think it would do me more harm than good. I will take other guidance from my supervisors about questions etc. I will try to know my thesis inside out but believe this much of this is being done now with the write up and I will be guided by the five main examination areas when planning.

Not to butt into Keenbean's thread but I'm just interested in why you guys are saying you didn't or wouldn't want a mock viva.

I understand that you can get an idea of the types of questions you might be asked by simply chatting with your sup or with other lecturers, but I would have thought that a mock viva would prepare you for the environment of the viva in terms of procedure and your expected performance. I get what people are saying about thinking on your feet but surely the big questions (the big 5 that Bilbo always refers to) can be expected, can be prepared and therefore should be performed to get a bit of feedback. Of course the actual questions are not going to be the same and there will be many unexpected ones, but I just can't see the great problems that having a mock viva might cause.

Congratulations :-)

I didn't have a mock viva because the experience would probably have terrified me! It was more than enough for me to get through the real thing.

I chatted informally to my supervisor and another academic about how a viva might go. And I prepared myself by reading Tinkler & Jackson, and following their advice.

But I think in my case a mock viva would have been quite counter-productive.

Oh and I don't think performing questions is necessarily a good thing. I'd prefer to be more off the cuff, more instinctive, rather than coming across potentially as rehearsed and delivering my spiel.

======= Date Modified 14 Aug 2011 23:59:39 =======
I think a mock viva is a personal decision- what is helpful for some people may be off-putting for others. I didn't actually have one planned, but a supervision meeting turned into one as we had discussed everything else we needed to. It was both useful and scary at the same time for me. As for the 'big five', of course I prepared very thoroughly for these questions, which I assumed would come up. In fact, we spent less than about 10 minutes in total dealing with these questions, and most of them weren't even asked, I guess because I had already covered them in my discussion section. But I know most people do get asked these questions, so it's definitely a good idea to prepare for them. Most of the time in my viva was spent talking about conceptual issues, due to the nature of my project. If I had had more time to prepare for my viva, I would have definitely used that time to do more prep, but my honest opinion is that more prep would not have made any difference to my performance in the viva. The changes I have to make were not affected by the answers I gave- they are just four very minor factual points (one sentence each) that I should have included in the thesis but overlooked for whatever reason. However, everyone's revision strategy is different and people should do whatever makes them feel comfortable and confident. For me, the main thing was to think clearly on the day and hold my nerve. Best, KB

======= Date Modified 15 Aug 2011 09:07:09 =======