Reporter 12/11/97: Regulations for Examinations: Notice by the General Board - Natural Sciences Tripos, Part II, Geological Sciences

Natural Sciences Tripos, Part II, Geological Sciences

The regulation for the subject Geological Sciences in Part II of the Natural Sciences Tripos has been amended as set out below. The purpose of these amendments is (a) to clarify the arrangements for the examination and to make minor adjustments in the examination requirements, and (b) to replace the practical examination in the subject area Mineral Sciences by continuously assessed practical work. The Faculty Board of Earth Sciences and Geography and the Committee for the Natural Sciences Tripos are satisfied that no candidate's preparation for the examination in 1998 is adversely affected by these changes. The regulations for the Natural Sciences Tripos (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 358) have been amended, with immediate effect, as follows:

Regulation 32.

By amending the paragraph relating to Geological Sciences so as to read:

Geological Sciences. The examination shall comprise two alternative options, (A) and (B).

(i) Each candidate shall offer three written papers of three hours each, and shall take a practical examination associated with each of the papers offered, except in the subject area Mineral Sciences, in which no practical examinations are set.

(ii) Not later than the second day of Full Lent Term each candidate shall submit to the Examiners a report of a research project (which shall normally involve field mapping) of not more than 5,000 words, excluding footnotes, on a subject which may be either proposed by the candidate and approved by the Head of the Department of Earth Sciences or chosen by the candidate from a list of approved subjects announced by the Head of the Department. Each candidate shall, not later than 30 June in the year next preceding the examination, either obtain the approval of the Head of the Department for the subject proposed or notify the Head of the Department of the subject chosen from the list.

(iii) Not later than the first Thursday of the Full Easter Term in which the examination is to be held each candidate shall submit to the Examiners a number of essays. The Head of the Department shall announce, not later than the first day of Full Lent Term, the number, length, and titles of the essays to be submitted.

(iv) On the first day of the written examination each candidate shall submit to the Examiners records of practical classwork. The Examiners shall be provided by the Head of the Department with assessments of this classwork; in assigning marks for the examination the Examiners shall take account of the assessments in Mineral Sciences, and may take account of the assessments in other subjects.

The Examiners shall have power

(a)	if they consider that a research report or an essay is not sufficiently legible, to require that it be resubmitted in typescript;
(b)	at their discretion to examine a candidate viva voce.

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