Corrections after the oral exam

After the oral exam, I was asked to wait outside the meeting room for almost 15 minutes. I could say that it was one of the most scariest moments of my life. My close friends at UC, kak Manja, Saba, Abang Dino, Muhammad and Saima were waiting for the results as well. Muhammad brought some chocolate to cheer me up, but I didn't feel like eating anything.

After 15 minutes, Prof. Tim invited me to the meeting room again to announce the result. When he announced, "congratulations! You have passed your PhD with minor corrections", I felt like I was not there. I could not say anything. I praised to Allah for his mercy. I really wished my husband was there with me. I felt like crying because I could not finish this PhD without his support.

Everyone congratulated me for passing the exam. I thought after the oral exam, everything was over, but minor corrections really made me unhappy. Prof. Tim asked me how long do I need to submit the revised version of the thesis. I said, it's up to you!. I really had nothing to say. I believed my mind was not there.

Prof. Tim asked, is it possible to submit within 3 months? I said, yes, of course.

It had been 2 months after the oral exam, I still did not do anything. I had no mood. My husband again asked me, how's the thesis. I just ignored his question. Actually, I was asked to justify why the number of sample I used in my experiments was enough. To justify the reason, I had to run my experiments again. As I was staying in Malaysia, of course it was hard to run the program using my prev machine in New Zealand. I really had no idea how I was going to give the reasons. I tried to contact my supervisor, but he was away in Japan. So I thought, it's better not to interrupt him and just do nothing until I was ready!

When it was almost two and half months, I really had no choice except to install my program on a new server at my university dept in Malaysia. Alhamdulillah, I managed to run the program and I obtained the expected results. Within a week, I managed to write down everything and sent my revised thesis for the professional proofreading. I could not believe, within 10 days, everything was settled. I sent the revised thesis to my supervisor, but he was not feeling well, so he could not check the thesis. Lastly, when it was almost the due date, I submitted the thesis to my examiner - Prof. Eades to check. Of course I gave the summary of corrections that I had made plus which one was the newly inserted pages etc. Within 2 days, I received a response from Prof. Eades that everything was good and he had sent a message to the PG office that he excepted the amendments that I had made. What a relief!

I learn something from this experiences Never, never and never underestimate your strengths. You should try first asap before it's too late. Avoid procrastinating as you might miss many opportunity ahead.