STOP AT 3.

In most cases or I'd rather put courses, the Ph.D term is 4 years for the full-timers and around 6 years for the part-timers (Correct me if i'm wrong, part-timers). For the full-time students with scholarship, the funding usually subjects to the candidature period.

On average, the full timers would finish their thesis somewhere around 3-4.5 years. Some, were unlucky, had to finish it in 5-6 years.

We usually plan our programs on the first startes of our research. The programs include attending the research workshops, statistic classes, 'how to use EndNote' course, read 'He is not into you' book (for preparation) so on and so forth. Some, like me, went a bit far by suggesting my supervisor to participate in '1 to 1 expectation' survey. The survey was supplied by a unit called "academic skill unit" and it contained a number of questions pertaining to your expectation and your supervisor's expectation. I guess some students got their supervisor to participate, but in my case, my supervisor said "what is this..no..no..we dont have to waste our time on this".

Anyway, I noticed that not many PhD students plan to finish their thesis a year ealier than the end date. It's either they didnt tell me or they underlook the importance of planning their thesis for 3 years. By planning I mean, send in the complete first draft in the third year. Yes, with the table of contents, list of figures, references and footnote. As if you were to do the final submission.

Why is it so important to make sure you finish your first draft early ? Simple, in case of any major mistakes (like mine), you will have another 1 spare year. And in most cases, you can correct the mistakes in 6-8 months.

Another reason is, to familiarize yourself with unexpected tiny little things that can take up months to solve it. For example, checking typo. Dont rely on Mr. Words's spelling check please.

Another example is, updating your references. You can check the seniors who didnt keep & update their references systematically will tell you that they have ended up wasting 2-3 months recollecting the references.

The page margin & setup, they look 'cute & small' but they can make you pull out your hair. You change the margin in page 10 only ended up cutting your table in page 17, 23 and 45 into half!

The advantages of finish early vary. The main one is we dont have to put up with the dwindling motivation anymore (phew..at last). We dont have to think about the scholarship money that is drying in the bank account. And, well..we are doing our supervisors & the faculty the favour who think that they need new faces.

Oh yes, we too do not have to wear the tshirt that wrote "I'LL EAT YOU IF U ASK ME WHEN WILL I SUBMIT"

And, so those are some of the reasons why I advice the new students to try finish one year ealier and I refer it to a 'buffer time'. For other reasons, you can figure it out yourself.

Okay, one might think "I want to analyze many things, I dont care if it takes me up to 5 years of my Ph.D" Wohoo ! Stop, Have a Hammer time! My advice is, dont be too ambitious. You are just doing a PhD and not a research for a Noble Prize (yet). One of the purposes of doing Ph.D is to put yourself on the same level as other academicians. So, dont spend too much time on a Ph.D. And of course, after you submit your thesis, you can have all the time you want to do another research or continue what you did during your PhD.

Or..simply, get a life !