< Previous page ^ Table of Contents Next page >

Report of the Faculty Board of Biology on the regulations for Part IA and Part IB of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos

The FACULTY BOARD OF BIOLOGY beg leave to report to the University as follows:

Introduction and background

1. In this Report the Faculty Board of Biology propose a revision of the first- and second-year courses and examinations that form part of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos. On the advice of the Faculty Board of Biology, the Faculty Boards of Clinical Medicine and Clinical Veterinary Medicine have also proposed certain consequential amendments of the regulations for the Second M.B. Examination and the Second Vet.M.B. Examination respectively; these have been approved by the General Board, subject to the approval of the recommendations of this Report, and are included as Appendix A and Appendix B below.

2. The University of Cambridge is an important centre of medical and veterinary education. The Faculty Board of Biology is responsible for the teaching and assessment provided by the University for the first two years of medical and veterinary courses. A total of 280 medical students and 70 veterinary students began their courses in October 1999. The University has recently been invited to provide twenty additional places for medical students, all of whom will already be graduates; these students will not be candidates for the B.A. Degree or for the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos, though they will attend many of the courses mentioned in the following paragraphs. However, the present Report is not concerned with arrangements for these future students; the Faculty Board of Biology are currently working with the Faculty Board of Clinical Medicine on proposals for examination arrangements for this new 'Graduate Course', which will be presented to the University in due course.

3. In December 1993 the Education Committee of the General Medical Council (GMC) published Tomorrow's Doctors: Recommendations on Undergraduate Medical Education (http://www.gmc-uk.org/med_ed/meded_frameset.htm). The principal recom-mendations made in Tomorrow's Doctors are set out in Appendix C to this Report. A number of themes emerged from Tomorrow's Doctors, many of which had already been exercising the minds of those concerned with medical education in Cambridge. Uppermost was the problem of factual overload, which, the GMC reminds us, was a concern of T.H. Huxley in 1876 when he wrote: 'The burden we place on the medical student is far too heavy, and it takes some doing to keep from breaking his intellectual back. A system of medical education that is actually calculated to obstruct the acquisition of sound knowledge and to heavily favour the crammer and the grinder is a disgrace.' The problem, then, has been in existence for more than a century, and yet, to quote Tomorrow's Doctors, 'Notwithstanding these repeated exhortations, there remains gross overcrowding in most undergraduate curricula, acknowledged by teachers and deplored by students. The scarcely tolerable burden of information that is imposed taxes the memory but not the intellect. The emphasis is on the passive acquisition of knowledge, much of it to become outdated or for-gotten, rather than discovery through curiosity and experiment. The result is a regrettable tendency to under-provide those components in the course that are truly educational, that pertain to the proper function of a university and that are the hallmark of scholarship.'

4. Tomorrow's Doctors went further than earlier GMC statements in seeking to identify some of the causes of this overload, and drew particular attention to a problem which arises from the profusion of different disciplines and specialities jostling for the attention of the medical student: 'The perception of what newly qualified doctors should know ... has not altered significantly in the eyes of ... their teachers and examiners. There is a persisting drive towards an unrealistic degree of completeness in the curriculum, reinforced no doubt by the understandable reluctance of quasi-autonomous Departments to surrender what they see as their entitlement to teaching time and by the laudable and sometimes excessive enthusiasm of teachers for their own subject.'

5. Tomorrow's Doctors went on to suggest how some of the perceived problems might be remedied, and placed emphasis on the need rigorously to define core knowledge: 'We move towards a curriculum which is no longer all-embracing, but containing a core which is more rigorously defined than has been customary. Present-day undergraduate courses have their boundaries but they are not explicit. They vary from school to school and they are defined in terms of general objectives and largely uncoded agreements of examiners as to what a student should be expected to know at the time of the examinations. The Education Committee takes the view that until an attempt is made to circumscribe the requirements of the course in respect of factual quantum the unconfined overload of the curriculum will prevail and will continue to deny students the educational opportunities to which they are entitled.'

6. Having set out the need to define a core curriculum, Tomorrow's Doctors suggested a method for developing it: 'If a core is to be defined, it requires the joint involvement of both basic scientists and clinicians and mutual agreement on the essential components of the course. Furthermore, their deliberations should be moderated by representatives of disciplines not primarily concerned with the subject under consideration and also by those who will be involved with later training at the postgraduate stage.'

7. There were many other issues raised in Tomorrow's Doctors, including:

8. The GMC is charged by statute with responsibility for 'promoting high standards of medical education and co-ordinating all stages of medical education.' However it conducts its discussions with universities about medical education in a spirit of co-operation, rather than coercion. In particular, the GMC recognizes the desirability of diversity in medical education ('… there is no intention to destroy the diversity and flexibility which are characteristic of our medical schools'), and the many distinctive features of what is provided at Cambridge are fully appreciated. It is recognized that Cambridge should seek to provide a pattern of medical education appropriate to local circumstances; particular features of Cambridge that affect this include:

9. Although, as will be clear from the preceding paragraphs, much of the impetus for change has arisen in the context of medical education, the Faculty Board recognize that there is also a need for comparable changes in the education of veterinary students. In the course of preparing the proposals contained in this Report, it has been accepted that veterinary students need, at an early stage in their education, to receive instruction which will enable them to experience safely, and to benefit from, the farm practice which they are required to undertake before the start of the clinical part of the course; topics which need to be covered include safety in animal handling and an introduction to the agricultural industry and its economic basis. The planning of this and other components of the teaching for veterinary students has taken account of the formal requirements placed on UK Veterinary Schools by UK and EU legislation, and has taken note of the advice issued by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. The Board are satisfied that their proposals are consistent with this advice, and also with the recommendations of the Report of the Working Party on Veterinary Undergraduate Education (the 'Lucke Report'), which are reproduced in Appendix D. That report cites, and broadly supports, the recommendations of the 1989 'Pew Report', which was produced in North America; the latter report was described as 'a detailed, highly informative and far-reaching document that had significant proposals concerning the future of veterinary education that could not be ignored'. A summary of the recommendations of the Pew Report are also included in Appendix D. Further discussion of the particular needs of veterinary students will be found in paragraphs 20 and 21 below.

The process of consultation and change

10. Shortly after the publication of Tomorrow's Doctors, the two Faculty Boards responsible (Clinical Medicine and Biology 'B') asked an Interfaculty Committee on the Teaching of Medicine to consider its implications. A valuable outcome of these early deliberations was the creation of a pilot course called 'Preparing for Patients', which provided an opportunity to explore the practicalities of exposing volunteer medical students to the experience of contact with patients during their first three years. This has proved valuable in developing learning opportunities which will be made available for all medical students under the proposed new arrangements.

11. In April 1996, the Faculties of Biology 'A' and Biology 'B' were merged, and a new Faculty Board of Biology was established. One of its first acts was to establish a Preclinical Medical and Veterinary Curriculum Committee. This Committee began a comprehensive review of medical education during the first two years in Cambridge, with the recommendations of Tomorrow's Doctors very much in mind.

12. After an initial round of consultation with Departments, a suggested framework of new course structures emerged. For each new course, an interdisciplinary panel was established. Most of these were chaired by people who were not members of the Department likely to be primarily responsible for delivering the course, and the membership of each panel normally included people with experience in clinical medicine and clinical veterinary medicine (including some who had recently qualified), as well as people from a wide range of Departments in the Faculty of Biology. The aim was to subject proposals for the content of the 'core curriculum' to critical non-specialist scrutiny, in order to temper the enthusiasm of the specialists (see paragraph 4 above) with the overall need to reduce the factual overload. A set of proposals has emerged in which the aims and objectives of each course have been defined.

Proposed changes in teaching arrangements

13. The Board do not propose to set out in detail in this Report all the changes in the teaching arrangements associated with the new assessment procedures. They can, however, state that, while trying to retain the acknowledged strengths of what is done at present, the new teaching arrangements include the following features:

The relationship between curriculum and assessment

14. During the first two years of their time in Cambridge, medical and veterinary students are, in effect, studying for two types of degree. Like all other undergraduates, they take Tripos examinations, a combination of which enables them, after three years, to graduate B.A. But, in addition, their Tripos examinations serve to provide them with exemption from most of the subjects of the professional examinations (the Second M.B. Examination or the Second Veterinary M.B. Examination), which are the examinations required to enable them ultimately to graduate as medical practitioners or veterinary surgeons. The present arrangement is that an adequate performance in the relevant subject in a Tripos examination provides exemption from the corresponding subject in the professional examinations. This arrangement has worked reasonably well, but it has been clear for some time that the requirement that the Tripos examinations should serve as a means of providing exemption from the professional examinations has caused difficulties. The Tripos examinations have had two distinct functions uneasily combined within the same assessment structure: (1) the 'honours function' of allowing the best candidates to shine by demonstrating powers of analysis and integration in an examination which does not necessarily require a comprehensive knowledge of core facts, and (2) the 'professional function' of testing the ability of candidates in a limited, but important and clearly defined, area of knowledge and skills.

15. The present proposals change the relationship between the Tripos examinations and the professional examinations. These proposals start from the premise that professional competence is a sine qua non for a satisfactory performance in the Tripos. The Faculty Board therefore propose that the professional examination in each subject should become an integral component of the examination in the corresponding subject in the Tripos. The professional examinations, normally consisting of a written and a practical component (defined in the proposed regulations for each subject as Section I and Section II respectively), are envisaged as relatively straightforward, students being tested on their knowledge, understanding, and skills over a clearly defined range of subject matter. Candidates will be examined on material which has been agreed to be (and explicitly stated to be) necessary core knowledge, understanding, and skills; they will be required to answer all the questions set in this 'professional' part of the examination. It is envisaged that computer-marked questions, as well as, or instead of, 'short-note' questions, may be used; such questions are already widely used in postgraduate medical examinations. The overall effect of these changes will be to match the planned reduction in the load of factual knowledge to a reduction in the load imposed on both students and staff by the assessment process. In planning these new approaches to assessment, the Board have been assisted by discussions with 'assessment professionals' from the Local Examinations Syndicate. The Education Committee of the GMC is also currently giving much thought to assessment methodologies. The Board intend to heed good advice from any appropriate source in order to ensure that the various assessment methods which are used in future will be consistent with their educational objectives. An adequate performance in the professional part of the Tripos examination will also serve to provide a pass in the corresponding professional examination. If the student performs inadequately, he or she will be required to re-sit the professional examination. A consequence of this proposal will be that, when the Tripos examination includes part of the professional examination, the Senior Examiner and Examiners in each subject in Part IA or Part IB of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos will also serve in the same capacity for the corresponding Second M.B. and Second Vet.M.B. Examinations. Furthermore, the existing provision for the communication of Tripos marks to the Joint Exemptions Committee for the Second M.B. Examination and the Second Vet.M.B. Examination will no longer be needed. It is envisaged that a separate body of Examiners will be appointed for the 're-sit' examinations which will be held in July and September.

16. The Tripos examinations, however, will consist of more than merely the professional examinations described in the preceding paragraph because, as has been explained above, they also have an 'honours function'. In each subject, there will be an additional component of the Tripos examination; performance in this will contribute to the candidate's class in the Tripos, but will not affect the candidate's result in the professional examination. It is envisaged that this part of the examination (defined in the proposed regulations for each subject as Section III) will allow candidates adequate time to write a small number of essays chosen from a large selection. There will be no need, in this part of the examination, to aim for comprehensive coverage of the entire field of knowledge within a given subject; that function will have been achieved, to a well-defined level, by the professional component of the examination. The aim in Section III of the examination in each subject will be to allow the good candidate to demonstrate, with flair, a thorough understanding of more complex issues. The Board believe that the explicit separation of these two functions will enable each to be more effectively assessed.

17. The Faculty Board gave serious consideration to the possibility of reverting to a single undivided Part I of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos, with marks gained in first-year examinations being added to those gained in second-year examinations, to give a single class-list to be published at the end of the second year. One of the reasons for favouring this step was a desire to avoid premature public categorization of undergraduates after only a single year of their course. The Board agreed, however, that on balance the arguments for retaining the separation between Parts IA and IB were persuasive, but in keeping with their concern to avoid premature over-categorization they agreed that in future the Second Class in Part IA should be undivided (as is currently the case in Part IA of the Natural Sciences Tripos). There is, however, no intention to reduce the amount of information provided in confidence to candidates, by the release of marks to their Colleges, about their performance in Part IA; the Board recognize that such feedback to candidates about their performance in all examinations is an important part of the learning process.

18. In a separate development, the Faculty Board have recently proposed that, from 1 October 2000, the subject Physiology in Part IA of the Natural Sciences Tripos should be replaced by the new subject Physiology of Organisms; the material covered in this new subject (which will include the physiology of plants) will overlap only partially with the material to be included in any subject in Part IA of the revised Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos, so that special arrangements for students who transfer from the Natural Sciences Tripos to the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos, similar to those currently set out in Regulation 17(a) for the latter examination, will no longer be appropriate. Students will, however, continue to be able to transfer from the Natural Sciences Tripos to Part IA of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos as either medical or veterinary students, provided that places within the medical and veterinary quotas can be made available to them.

19. In paragraph 13 above the Board have summarized some of the changes that they intend to make in their teaching arrangements. One development calls for particular comment. The Board intend to provide timetabled opportunities for all medical students, starting from their first year in Cambridge, to make personal contact with patients both in General Practitioners' surgeries and in patients' own homes. Associated with these experiences will be timetabled occasions during which students will be prepared for the visits, and will also have the opportunity to reflect on them after they have happened. This programme of activity will continue throughout the first three years, and, in the first two years, will be the subject of two formal assessments (Preparing for Patients A and Preparing for Patients B) within the framework of the Second M.B. Examination. It is not intended that these assessments should be onerous, but that they should consist of a brief but adequate written record of the experiences of patient contact, together with some written reflections thereon. Theoretical underpinning of this practical experience will be provided by a separate course in Medical Sociology; this material will be taught largely through the use of a computer-assisted learning programme, and Medical Sociology will form a subject of the Second M.B. Examination.

Curriculum and assessment arrangements for veterinary students

20. The various panels which have been considering teaching have included members with clinical veterinary experience. The approach has been to provide common teaching for medical and veterinary students to the extent that this can be achieved without compromising the quality of either medical or veterinary education. As a result, veterinary students will be taught and examined alongside medical students in virtually all parts of many courses, including, for example, Homeostasis, Molecules in Medical Science, and Biology of Disease. In other courses, there will be substantial shared components, but there will also be times when the needs of the two groups are so different that separate teaching arrangements will be made (e.g. the two separately-named courses on Neurobiology with Animal Behaviour and Neurobiology with Human Behaviour). Finally, there will be courses in which the two groups of students will be completely separate. A course on Agriculture and Husbandry will be provided for veterinary students in the first year; this will be examined in the Second Vet.M.B. Examination. While the medical students are engaged in Preparing for Patients, veterinary students will be involved in a separate set of courses entitled Preparing for the Veterinary Profession; these courses will be assessed in a manner similar to that which is to be adopted for the medical courses on Preparing for Patients.

21. After careful consideration of the material that must be regarded as 'core knowledge' for veterinary students, the Board have concluded that the scope allowed for the exercise of choice by veterinary students in their second undergraduate year must be less than that allowed to medical students. The wide range of animal species with which veterinary students must gain familiarity means that it is impossible to cover all the necessary ground in the first-year course on Veterinary Anatomy and Physiology; a compulsory course on Comparative Vertebrate Biology (to include coverage of birds and laboratory animal species) will therefore be a necessary component of the second-year teaching for veterinary students and this will consequently form an additional subject of the Second Vet.M.B. Examination.

The new Special Options

22. The Special Options being introduced into Part IB represent an innovation which is in line with the recommendations of Tomorrow's Doctors. In attempting to reduce factual overload, a good deal of interesting and important material currently offered in courses for Parts IA and IB has necessarily been jettisoned. The aim in introducing the Special Options has been to make available, on a selective basis, teaching of some of this material which has been dropped from the core courses. It is envisaged that the teaching of the 'core' material in the second year will be completed shortly after the division of the Lent Term. At that stage, each student will take two Special Options, one selected from each of two lists. In allocating students to Special Options, a procedure will be used which will seek to produce a fair compromise between giving weight to individual preferences and ensuring that the group taking each Option is of a manageable size. It is, of course, the case that all undergraduates reading for medical or veterinary degrees already have, in their third year, opportunities for special study of a wide range of selected topics in depth, in Part II of the Natural Sciences Tripos, in Part II of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos, or in other Tripos courses. Nevertheless, the Board believe that the introduction of some optional material into the second year will serve as a useful bridge between 'core' courses and third-year courses, representing a progression from the learning style adopted in the early part of the course to the more exploratory self-directed approach that is expected in the later stages of the undergraduate course. For reasons explained in the preceding paragraph, the Board have accepted that one of the courses offered among the Special Options will in fact be compulsory for veterinary students.

23. The Board have decided against listing all the various Special Options within the proposed new regulations for the Tripos. It is likely that, in the light of experience, the range of available Options may change from time to time, and the Board therefore propose that they should have power to announce the Options that will be available for any given year by the division of the Easter Term of the preceding year. The Board propose that the number of Special Options to be offered in any year should be not less than twelve and not more than sixteen. Since the teaching associated with the Special Options will not begin until well into the Lent Term, the Board are confident that such an arrangement will work well. The Board have not yet finalized the list of Special Options that will be available for the first time for teaching and examining in 2001-02, but those currently under discussion include:

Addiction
Environmental Physiology: Responses to Perturbation
Control of Pain
Developmental Biology for Medicine
Experimental Psychology
Infectious Disease
The Biochemistry of Obesity, Diabetes, and Cardiovascular Disease
Molecular Intervention and Disease: Chemotherapy and Genotherapy
Sensorimotor Neurobiology
Toxicology
Tumour Biology
Veterinary Pharmacology
Comparative Vertebrate Biology (this subject will be compulsory for veterinary students; see paragraph 22 above)

The Board have considered the means by which students will be allocated to particular Special Options. While it would be desirable in an ideal world that every student should be permitted to take his or her chosen Options, there will inevitably be a limit on the number of students who can be accepted for any given course. A method will be adopted, after full discussion and consultation, which will maximize the element of choice within the unavoidable constraints.

The basis of classification in the Tripos will take into account only the aggregate of marks

24. Under the present arrangements, Examiners are empowered to arrange the class-list by taking into account not only the aggregate of marks obtained by candidates but also the standard that they attain in each subject. This has led to some uncertainty about the credit that should be given to marks gained in subjects to which only a small number of marks is allocated. The Board therefore propose that the Examiners should in future arrange the class-lists for Parts IA and IB simply on the basis of the aggregate of marks obtained.

Subjects to be assessed outside the Tripos

25. Most of the changes in the curriculum which the Board have been developing will require appropriate provisions for assessment in both the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos and the Second M.B. Examination or the Second Vet.M.B. Examination. However, the Board, with the concurrence of the Faculty Boards of Clinical Medicine and Clinical Veterinary Medicine, consider that some of the learning which is planned for first- and second-year medical and veterinary students (particularly that more closely concerned with later professional practice rather than biomedical science) would more appropriately be examined only in the Second M.B. (or Second Vet.M.B.) Examination, as is currently the case with, for example, the course taken by medical students in Population Sciences.

Changes in the Second M.B. and Second Vet.M.B. Examinations

26. The present proposals envisage a link even more intimate than that which currently exists between the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos and the Second M.B. and Second Vet.M.B. Examinations. As a result, the Faculty Board of Biology believe that advantages would result from formally transferring to them responsibility for those examinations, which are currently under the control of the Faculty Boards of Clinical Medicine and Clinical Veterinary Medicine respectively; however, such a transfer would require the agreement of all concerned, which is not yet forthcoming, nor is a transfer necessary for the functioning of the proposed new arrangements. The Faculty Board of Biology look to the newly-reconstituted Medical Education Committee and Veterinary Education Committee to take an appropriate overview of the full span of medical and veterinary education, and it may well be that formal responsibility for the Second M.B. and Second Vet.M.B. Examinations will in due course be passed to those Committees. For the present, however, the clinical Faculty Boards are the bodies who must propose any changes in the Second M.B. and Second Vet.M.B. Examinations.

27. The Faculty Board of Biology have therefore proposed to the Faculty Board of Clinical Medicine a range of amendments of the regulations for the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, particularly in respect of arrangements for the Second M.B. Examination. These proposals have been accepted by the Faculty Board of Clinical Medicine and approved by the General Board, and are set out in Appendix A to this Report. In keeping with the proposed new relationship between the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos and many of the subjects of the Second M.B. Examination, it will no longer be necessary to require (see the present Regulation 10) that a candidate for the Second M.B. Examination should have obtained honours in an Honours Examination. (The Board wish to make it clear that they have no intention of recommending any change in the present Regulation 14(c), which prescribes that before taking any Part of the Final M.B. Examination a student must 'have obtained a degree deemed appropriate by the Faculty Board [of Clinical Medicine]'.) It is also proposed, in the light of changes in the teaching of anatomy, that medical students should be required only to attend approved courses of instruction in that subject (as in other subjects), thus removing the requirement that they should 'produce evidence of having satisfactorily dissected the appropriate parts of the human body'.

28. The Board have also proposed to the Faculty Board of Clinical Veterinary Medicine a range of amendments of the regulations for the degree of Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine, in respect of arrangements for the Second Vet.M.B. Examination. These proposals have been accepted by the Faculty Board of Clinical Veterinary Medicine and approved by the General Board, and are set out in Appendix B to this Report.

29. The role of the Joint Exemptions Committee for the Second M.B. Examination and the Second Vet.M.B. Examination will be simplified by the present proposals. Medical and veterinary students will no longer gain exemption from subjects of the Second M.B. Examination or the Second Vet.M.B. Examination by reaching an appropriate standard in the corresponding subject in the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos, because the subjects of the Second M.B. Examination and the Second Vet.M.B. Examination will be components of the Tripos examination. It will, however, be necessary for the Committee to continue in existence in order to consider the granting of exemption from subjects of the Second M.B. Examination and the Second Vet.M.B. Examination to students who have taken appropriate courses and examinations in the Natural Sciences Tripos, or at other universities. Changes in teaching and examination arrangements within the Natural Sciences Tripos and the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos which have been, or are soon to be, introduced will necessitate a substantial revision of Schedule C (see Statutes and Ordinances, p. 422) which defines the relationship between Tripos subjects and Second M.B. subjects; comparable changes will also be required in the corresponding Schedule (see Statutes and Ordinances, p. 477) which relates to the Second Vet.M.B. Examination.

30. The Board have given thought to the number and the timing of the 're-sits' which are available for students who do not pass subjects of the Second M.B. Examination or the Second Vet.M.B. Examination at the first sitting. A total of three attempts is currently allowed, and the Board have agreed to recommend that this provision should be retained. A range of views have been expressed within the Faculty about the most appropriate timing of the examinations; a matter for common complaint has been the relatively short interval between the first opportunity to take the examination (i.e. within the Tripos) and the first available 're-sit', and in view of this the Board believe that it would be right to delay by one week the start of the July 're-sit' examinations.

31. A further consequence of the changed relationship between the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos and the professional examinations is that those who serve as Examiners for particular subjects in the Tripos will also serve as Examiners for the corresponding subject in the Second M.B. Examination and the Second Vet.M.B. Examination, at least for the first sitting of the Second M.B. Examination in any academical year. The Faculty Board of Biology have therefore suggested, and the Faculty Boards of Clinical Medicine and Clinical Veterinary Medicine have for their part agreed to propose, changes in the arrangements for the appointment of Examiners for the Second M.B. Examination and the Second Vet.M.B. Examination.

32. Under the present regulations the Regius Professor of Physic acts as Chairman of Examiners for the Second M.B. Examination, and is furthermore appointed as an Examiner for every subject of the examination. By contrast, the Second Vet.M.B. Examination has no Chairman, and there is no equivalent provision for the Dean of the Veterinary School to serve as an Examiner in all subjects of the Second Vet.M.B. Examination. In practice, responsibility for each subject, both in the Second M.B. Examination and in the Second Vet.M.B. Examination, rests with the Senior Examiner for the subject, advised and assisted by an External Examiner and other Examiners. A candidate's performance in one subject of the Second M.B. Examination or the Second Vet.M.B. Examination has no influence on his or her result in any other subject, so that there is no role for a Chairman comparable to that performed by the Chairman of Examiners in a Tripos examination. The Board therefore consider that it is no longer appropriate for the Regius Professor of Physic to be given a formal role in the Second M.B. Examination; the Regius Professor and the Faculty Board of Clinical Medicine concur in this view. The Board wish to emphasize, however, that there will be no diminution of the involvement of the two clinical Faculty Boards in the conduct of the professional examinations. Formal responsibility for those examinations will continue to rest with the clinical Faculty Boards, while formal responsibility for the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos rests with the Faculty Board of Biology. The Board's Preclinical Medical and Veterinary Curriculum Committee (see paragraph 11 above) includes representatives of both the clinical Faculties, and clinicians serve on the individual panels which will oversee the delivery and the assessment of all the courses leading to the examinations described in this Report.

33. It is envisaged that the examinations for many subjects of the Second M.B. Examination and the Second Vet.M.B. Examination will in future rely less on essays and more on short-answer questions, some of which may be computer-marked. Experience of a similar change in other Medical Schools indicates that under such circumstances mark distributions will differ from those in traditional essay-based examinations; Examiners will need to take this into account. It is not the practice in the University to publish in regulations details of examination classification procedures, since the final decision in such matters necessarily rests with the Examiners. Nevertheless it seems appropriate here to signal the likelihood of a change in present procedures.

Transitional arrangements

34. The new course and the new examinations will apply to all medical and veterinary students embarking on the course for Part IA of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos in October 2000; those who at that date are already on course, having taken Part IA in the summer of 2000 under the existing regulations, will also take Part IB under the existing regulations, and will, if necessary, take appropriate subjects of the Second M.B. Examination or the Second Vet.M.B. Examination if they fail to obtain exemption from them. The Board have considered the position of candidates who may be allowed, for good reason, to degrade for one year, and may thus find themselves required to take Part IB under the new regulations after having taken Part IA under the present regulations. The Board propose that the detailed academic records of all such candidates should be considered by the Joint Exemptions Committee, in order to ensure that they will have completed courses and examinations adequate to prepare them for later clinical work.

Consultation with other bodies

35. The proposals contained in this Report have the support of the Medical Education Committee, the Veterinary Education Committee, the Faculty Board of Clinical Medicine, the Faculty Board of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, the Council of the School of the Biological Sciences, and the Senior Tutors' Committee.

Supplementary regulations

36. The Faculty Board have approved new supplementary regulations for the subjects of Part IA and Part IB; these are set out in the Annex to this Report.

Recommendations

37. The Faculty Board recommend:

I. That the regulations for the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 321) be amended as follows:

With effect from 1 October 2000:

Regulation 13.

By deleting in the second sentence the words 'of Part IA and'.

Part Ia

Regulations 15-19.

By amending the regulations so as to read:

15. In Part IA the examination shall consist of the following subjects:

Homeostasis (HOM)

Molecules in Medical Science (MIMS)

Functional Architecture of the Body (FAB)

Veterinary Anatomy and Physiology (VAP)

16. The examination in each subject shall consist of either two written papers or one written paper and a practical examination, covering three sections numbered I-III, as specified below. In addition, the examination in Homeostasis shall include the submission of note-books containing records of practical work.

(a) The examination in Homeostasis shall consist of:

(i) one written paper of three hours, which shall contain compulsory short-answer questions (Section I) and practical questions (Section II);1 candidates will be allowed one hour to complete Section I;
(ii) one written paper of two hours (Section III);
(iii) the submission of note-books containing records of practical work; such note-books shall be presented for the inspection of the Examiners not later than the division of the Easter Term, and shall bear the signatures of the teachers under whose direction the work was performed.

(b) The examination in Molecules in Medical Science shall consist of:

(i) one written paper of three hours, which shall contain compulsory short-answer questions (Section I) and practical questions (Section II);1 candidates will be allowed one hour to complete Section I;
(ii) one written paper of two hours (Section III).

(c) The examinations in Functional Architecture of the Body and in Veterinary Anatomy and Physiology shall each consist of:

(i) one written paper of three hours, which shall contain compulsory short-answer questions (Section I)1 and essay questions (Section III); candidates will be allowed one hour to complete Section I;
(ii) a practical examination of two hours (Section II).1

17. In each subject the examination shall carry the same maximum marks; the maximum marks allocated to Sections I and II together shall be equal to the maximum marks allocated to the remaining parts of the examination in that subject.

18. Every candidate shall offer the subjects Homeostasis and Molecules in Medical Science, and either Functional Architecture of the Body or Veterinary Anatomy and Physiology.

19. The names of the candidates who obtain honours in Part IA shall be arranged in three classes. The names in each class shall be arranged in alphabetical order.

With effect from 1 October 2001:

Regulation 13.

By deleting the second sentence.

Regulations 20-31.

By renumbering Regulations 25-31 as 27-33, and by replacing Regulations 20-24 by the following Regulations 20-26:

Part Ib

20. In Part IB the examination shall consist of the following subjects:

Group A

Biology of Disease (BOD)

Scientific, Social, and Ethical Aspects of Reproduction and Populations (SSEARP)

Veterinary Reproductive Biology (VRB)

Neurobiology with Human Behaviour (NHB)

Neurobiology with Animal Behaviour (NAB)

Mechanisms of Drug Action (MODA)

Group B

Special Options

21. The examination in each subject of Group A shall consist of either two written papers or one written paper and a practical examination, covering three sections numbered I-III, as specified below.

(a) The examinations in Biology of Disease and in Mechanisms of Drug Action shall each consist of:

(i) one written paper of three hours, which shall contain compulsory short-answer questions (Section I)2 and essay questions (Section III); candidates will be allowed one hour to complete Section I;
(ii) a practical examination of two hours (Section II).2

(b) The examinations in Scientific, Social, and Ethical Aspects of Reproduction and Populations and in Veterinary Reproductive Biology shall each consist of:

(i) one written paper of two-and-a-half hours, which shall contain compulsory short-answer questions (Section I) and essay questions (Section III);2 candidates will be allowed one hour to complete Section I;
(ii) a practical examination of one hour (Section II).

(c) The examinations in Neurobiology with Human Behaviour and in Neurobiology with Animal Behaviour shall each consist of:

(i) one written paper of three hours, which shall contain compulsory short-answer questions (Section I) and practical questions (Section II);2 candidates will be allowed one hour to complete Section I;
(ii) one written paper of two hours (Section III), which shall contain essay questions.

22. The examination in the Special Options shall consist of a single paper of three hours, containing questions on not fewer than twelve and not more than sixteen Special Options. The Special Options shall be divided into two lists, I and II, to which equal marks will be allotted; every candidate shall answer questions on two Special Options, one chosen from each list. List I will include the Special Option Comparative Vertebrate Biology (CVB). The examination in CVB will be divided into two parts to which equal marks will be allotted; the first part, which shall also serve as a Second Vet.M.B. Examination will consist of compulsory short answer questions; candidates will be allowed forty-five minutes to complete this part. In the second part candidates will be required to write an essay.

23. The maximum marks allocated to each subject shall be in the following proportions:

Group A

Biology of Disease 10

Scientific, Social, and Ethical Aspects of Reproduction and Populations 8

Veterinary Reproductive Biology 8

Neurobiology with Human Behaviour 10

Neurobiology with Animal Behaviour 10

Mechanisms of Drug Action 10

Group B

Special Options 10

In each subject of Group A the maximum marks allocated to Sections I and II together shall be equal to the maximum marks allocated to Section III.

24. Public notice of Special Options, which shall always include as one Option the subject Comparative Vertebrate Biology, shall be given by the Faculty Board not later than the division of the Easter Term of the year next preceding the examination concerned, provided that the Board shall have the power of subsequently issuing amendments if they have due reason for doing so and if they are satisfied that no student's preparation for the examination is adversely affected. The Faculty Board shall have power:

(a) in giving notice of Special Options, to announce restrictions on the number of candidates who may be permitted to offer a particular Special Option;
(b) if a particular Special Option is over-subscribed, to allocate candidates to other Special Options, using a procedure which takes account of their expressed preferences as far as is practicable.

25. Every candidate shall offer the written papers and practical examinations for the subjects of Part IB in accordance with one of the following schemes:

Scheme A: Biology of Disease; Scientific, Social, and Ethical Aspects of Reproduction and Populations; Neurobiology with Human Behaviour; Mechanisms of Drug Action; Special Options.
Scheme B: Biology of Disease; Veterinary Reproductive Biology; Neurobiology with Animal Behaviour; Mechanisms of Drug Action; Special Options which shall include Comparative Vertebrate Biology.

26. The names of the candidates who obtain honours in Part IB shall be arranged in three classes, of which the second shall be divided into two divisions. The names in the first and third classes, and in each division of the second class, shall be arranged in alphabetical order.

II. That the regulations for dates of examinations and publication of class-lists (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 210) be amended as follows:

With effect from 1 October 2000:

By deleting the footnote attached to the entry 'Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos, Part IA'.

15 November 1999

A. L. R. FINDLAY, Chairman D. M. GLOVER D. MACDONALD
C. M. C. ALLEN J. GRANDAGE N. J. MACKINTOSH
T. L. BLUNDELL W. A. HARRIS P. A. MCNAUGHTON
M. BURROWS S. B. HLADKY P. E. REYNOLDS
R. DYBALL N. HOLMES JANE SIMPSON
B. J. EVERITT ANDREW R. JEFFERIES ALISON SMITH
W. A. FOSTER R A. LASKEY R. C. THOMAS
A. E. FRIDAY R. A. LEIGH ANDREW H. WYLLIE

ANNEX

The Faculty Board of Biology have approved the following supplementary regulations for the subjects of Part IA and Part IB, replacing the existing supplementary regulations:

Part Ia

Functional Architecture of the Body (FAB)

Section I will consist of compulsory short-answer questions on tissue anatomy, aspects of organogenesis, the topographical, functional, and applied anatomy of the human body. Section II will consist of a practical examination and will cover similar aspects. In Section III, candidates will be required to write essays.

Homeostasis (HOM)

Section I will contain computer-marked and short-answer questions on nerve and neuromuscular transmission, muscle, autonomic nervous system, cardiovascular system, respiration, kidney, salt and water balance, digestion, absorption, and temperature regulation. Section II will contain questions on the practical work in experimental physiology and histology. Section III will contain essay questions. Candidates will also be required to submit note-books containing records of practical work (see Regulation 16(a)(iii)).

Molecules in Medical Science (MIMS)

The examination will test knowledge and understanding of the material contained in the MIMS course. Section I will consist of short-answer questions on the lecture material. Section II will consist of questions on practical aspects, including interpretation and handling of data. Section III will contain essay questions and will consist of three subsections, A, B, and C, each containing a choice of questions. Candidates will be required to answer one question from each subsection. Subsection A will relate principally to the lectures given in the Michaelmas Term, subsection B principally to the lectures given in the Lent and Easter Terms, and subsection C to the entire course of lectures and practicals. The nature of the questions in Section III will be to test integrated understanding rather than detailed factual knowledge.

Veterinary Anatomy and Physiology (VAP)

Section I will consist of computer-marked and short-answer questions on the anatomy of domestic mammals and on the structure and function of the gastrointestinal systems of herbivorous mammals. Section II will consist of questions on associated practical work. In Section III, candidates will be required to write two or three essays chosen from not fewer than eight.

Part Ib

Biology of Disease (BOD)

The examination in BOD will be treated from the standpoint of abnormal biology. It will include the variations that may occur in the structure and functions of living cells, tissues, and organs, together with the biology of parasites, bacteria, and viruses. Section I will consist of compulsory short-answer questions on the lecture material. In Section III, candidates will be required to write two essays. Section II will consist of a two-hour practical examination which will include laboratory work and questions on practical aspects and problem solving.

Mechanisms of Drug Action (MODA)

Sections I and III of the examination in MODA will require knowledge of the actions of drugs on whole organisms and mammalian systems, and also of the mode of drug action at the cellular, sub-cellular, and molecular levels. Section I will include compulsory short-answer questions and Section III will include essay questions. Section II will consist of a practical examination and will include questions on data handling and problem solving; laboratory work will not be involved. Questions that require an elementary knowledge of statistical procedures may be included in all three sections of the examination.

Neurobiology with Human Behaviour (NHB)

The examination in NHB will require knowledge of the structure and functions of the central nervous system and the special sense organs, neuroanatomy, experimental psychology and some of its applications to medicine. Particular topics will include neuropharmacology; learning and memory; perception and information processing; intelligence and development; emotion and its physiological basis; and social psychology. Section I will include or consist entirely of compulsory short-answer questions. In Section III, candidates will be required to write two essays. In Section II, candidates will be examined on practical aspects of neuroanatomy and in experimental neurophysiology; questions may be included which require an elementary knowledge of statistical procedures.

Neurobiology with Animal Behaviour (NAB)

The examination in NAB will require knowledge of the structure and functions of the central nervous system, the special sense organs, neuropharmacology and animal behaviour, with particular reference to domestic animals. Section I will include or consist entirely of compulsory short-answer questions. In Section III, candidates will be required to write two essays. In Section II, candidates will be examined on practical aspects of neuroanatomy and in experimental neurophysiology; questions may be included which require an elementary knowledge of statistical procedures.

Scientific, Social, and Ethical Aspects of Reproduction and Populations (SSEARP)

Section I will consist of compulsory short-answer questions and Section II will consist of practical questions. Section III will consist of a written paper that will contain essay questions on reproductive biology and the social and ethical aspects of reproduction and the effects of reproductive activity on populations.

Veterinary Reproductive Biology (VRB)

Section I of the examination will consist of computer-marked and short-answer questions on the structure and function of the reproductive systems of mammals, with particular reference to domestic mammals. Section II will consist of questions on associated practical work and may include a data-handling exercise. In Section III, candidates will be required to write two or three essays chosen from not fewer than eight.

Special Options

One three-hour paper will be set, consisting of two sections. Section I will contain questions on Special Options in List 1, and Section II will contain questions on Special Options in List 2. Veterinary students will be required to include Comparative Vertebrate Biology as one of the Options chosen.

APPENDIX A

Subject to the approval of the recommendations of this Report, the General Board, on the recommendation of the Faculty Board of Clinical Medicine, have amended the regulations for the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 415) as follows:

NEW REGULATIONS

Regulation 1 of the New Regulations has been amended by replacing the words 'on or after 1 September 1997' by the words 'at any time between 1 September 1997 and 31 December 2002'.

REVISED REGULATIONS

The following revised regulations have been approved:

1. These regulations, which shall be known as the Revised Regulations for the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, shall apply to

(a) those students who begin their clinical course on or after 1 September 2003,
and
(b) those students who begin their clinical course on or after 1 September 2002, having undertaken not more than two years of preclinical medical study in the University.3

2. On completing the requisite number of terms,4 a student who has passed in Parts I and II and in both sections of Part III of the Final M.B. Examination as prescribed in these regulations shall be qualified to supplicate for the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery. The short titles of these degrees shall be M.B., B.Chir.

3. In these regulations unless the context shall require otherwise:

(a) the term Faculty Board shall mean the Faculty Board of Clinical Medicine;
(b) the term Regius Professor shall mean the Regius Professor of Physic and the term Dean shall mean the Clinical Dean of the School of Clinical Medicine;
(c) the term instruction shall mean instruction given in the University or elsewhere and may include practical instruction;
(d) the term approved course shall mean a course approved for the purpose of these regulations by the Faculty Board of Clinical Medicine;
(e) the term year of preclinical medical study shall mean any year of study of not less than three academical terms during which a student has attended any of the approved courses specified in Schedule B to these regulations;
(f) the term approved courses of clinical instruction shall mean courses or attachments in the subjects specified below which are held in the University or in such hospital, general medical practice, or other institution associated with the University as the Faculty Board may approve for the purpose of these regulations, and which have been approved by the Faculty Board as courses appropriate to a Part of the Final M.B. Examination:
For Part I: pathology and epidemiology.
For Part II: obstetrics and gynaecology.
For Part III: medicine, surgery, paediatrics, psychiatry, clinical pharmacology and therapeutics, the care of the elderly, radiology, anaesthetics, general practice, community medicine, ethics, and legal medicine.
(g) the term year of clinical study shall mean a period of twelve consecutive months (including not more than six weeks' vacation) during which a student has attended full-time approved courses of clinical instruction as defined in Regulation 3(f); for the purpose of this subsection a consecutive period of such attendance which is less than twelve months (including vacation) shall be reckoned as the appropriate fraction of a year of clinical study;
(h) the term evidence shall mean:
(i) during the period of preclinical medical study defined in Regulation 3(e), evidence signed by a University officer in the subject concerned or, in the case of study in another university, by a responsible officer of the university concerned;
(ii) during the period of clinical study defined in Regulation 3(g), evidence signed by the Dean or another officer authorized by the Dean;
(i) the term satisfactory attendance shall mean attendance which satisfies the Faculty Board;
(j) the term satisfactory performance shall mean performance which satisfies the Dean or another officer or officers authorized by the Dean;
(k) the term M.B./Ph.D. Programme student shall mean a student who, having been approved by the Faculty Board for admission to a course combining research and clinical instruction in the University, has subsequently been admitted as a Graduate Student by the Board of Graduate Studies.

4. There shall be a Second Examination and a Final Examination for the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, referred to in these regulations as the Second M.B. Examination and the Final M.B. Examination.

5. The Faculty Board, after consulting other bodies concerned, shall have power to issue from time to time supplementary regulations defining or limiting all or any of the Parts, subjects, papers, or sections of the Second M.B. Examination or the Final M.B. Examination. Due care shall be taken that sufficient notice is given of any alteration of such supplementary regulations.

6. Where a candidate for any of the examinations prescribed in these regulations is required by them to produce evidence of instruction or of any other matter, the candidate's entry shall not be considered to have been made earlier than the day on which the Registrary receives that evidence or the last part of it to be submitted.

7. No student shall be a candidate for any subject of the Second M.B. Examination unless he or she has previously satisfied the University's premedical requirements. The premedical requirements, which shall be determined by the Faculty Board, shall be specified in Schedule A to these regulations; the Faculty Board shall have power to amend that Schedule from time to time as they think fit.

8. The Faculty Board shall have power to grant exemption from all or part of the premedical requirements to a student who is deemed by the Board to have attained a satisfactory standard in an examination or examinations approved by the Board for this purpose in an appropriate subject or subjects.

9. The subjects of the Second M.B. Examination shall be as follows:

Biology of Disease (BOD)

Functional Architecture of the Body (FAB)

Mechanisms of Drug Action (MODA)

Molecules in Medical Science (MIMS)

Homeostasis (HOM)

Scientific, Social, and Ethical Aspects of Reproduction and Populations (SSEARP)

Neurobiology with Human Behaviour (NHB)

Preparing for Patients A (PFPA)

Preparing for Patients B (PFPB)

Medical Sociology (MSOC)

(a) The examinations in BOD, FAB, HOM, MIMS, NHB, and MODA shall each consist of a written paper of one hour, which shall contain compulsory short-answer questions (Section I), and a practical examination of two hours (Section II).

(b) The examination in SSEARP shall consist of a written paper of one hour, which shall contain compulsory short-answer questions (Section I), and a practical examination of one hour (Section II).

(c) The examination in MSOC shall consist of a written paper of one hour.

(d) The examinations in PFPA and PFPB shall each consist of the submission of records of such course-work done by candidates as shall be specified from time to time by the Faculty Board of Clinical Medicine after consultation with the Faculty Board of Biology.

10. The Second M.B. Examination shall be held as follows:

(a) The examinations in BOD, FAB, MODA, MIMS, HOM, SSEARP, and NHB shall be held three times a year, as follows:

(i) in the Easter Term, on the dates prescribed for Part IA and Part IB of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos;5
(ii) in July, beginning on the fourth Monday after the last day of Full Easter Term;
(iii) in September, beginning on the Monday before the first day of the Michaelmas Term.

(b) The examination in MSOC shall be held twice a year, on the Monday after the last day of Full Lent Term and on the third Monday after the last day of Full Easter Term.

(c) Records of course-work for PFPA and PFPB shall be submitted, in accordance with detailed arrangements approved by the Faculty Board, as follows:

(i) for PFPA, not later then the first Monday of Full Easter Term in the year in which the candidate takes Part IA of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos;
(ii) for PFPB, not later then the first Monday of Full Easter Term in the year in which the candidate takes Part IB of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos.

A candidate whose submission for PFPA or PFPB fails to satisfy the Examiners shall be required to submit a revised report not later than 31 August next following.

11. A candidate for the Second M.B. Examination shall be required to have diligently attended approved courses of instruction appropriate to the subject or subjects to be offered in the examination. The Second M.B. Examination may be taken by an unmatriculated student who has satisfied this requirement and who is certified on behalf of a College to the Registrary to be a bona fide candidate for admission to the College.

12. There shall be a Joint Exemptions Committee for the Second M.B. Examination and the Second Veterinary M.B. Examination, which shall consist of:

(a) the Regius Professor (or a deputy appointed by the Regius Professor) as Chairman;
(b) the Clinical Dean;
(c) one person appointed by the Faculty Board of Clinical Medicine;
(d) the Director of Medical and Veterinary Education in the Faculty of Biology;
(e) two representatives of the Department of Anatomy;
(f) two representatives of the Department of Physiology;
(g) one representative of each of the Departments of Biochemistry, Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Community Medicine, Experimental Psychology, Genetics, Pathology, and Pharmacology.

Representatives of Departments in classes (e)-(g) shall be nominated by the Head of the Department and appointed in the Michaelmas Term each year by the Faculty Board of Clinical Medicine, with the concurrence of the Faculty Board of Clinical Veterinary Medicine in the case of veterinary representatives in classes (e) and (f). The Secretary of the Faculty Board (or a deputy) shall act as Secretary of the Committee.

13. (a) The Joint Exemptions Committee shall have power to grant exemption from any subject or subjects of the Second M.B. Examination to a student who has satisfied the conditions of Regulation 11 and who is deemed by the Committee to have attained a satisfactory standard, as prescribed by the Faculty Board, in the appropriate subject or subjects of the Natural Sciences Tripos, or in corresponding subjects taken in an examination for a degree with honours of a university other than Cambridge; provided that for the purpose of granting exemption to a candidate for admission as a clinical student from a university other than Cambridge the Committee may in exceptional circumstances deem a degree other than an honours degree an appropriate qualification. The subjects of the Natural Sciences Tripos which the Faculty Board have agreed to recognize for this purpose, together with the corresponding exemptions, shall be listed in Schedule C to these regulations; the Faculty Board shall have power to amend that Schedule from time to time as they think fit.

(b) The Joint Exemptions Committee, on information supplied to them by the Examiners for the Natural Sciences Tripos, shall inform the Registrary as early as possible of the names of those candidates who in the examinations for that Tripos have attained in the various subjects the standard prescribed by the Faculty Board of Clinical Medicine for exemption from the Second M.B. Examination. The Registrary shall thereupon post a list of the names outside the Senate-House.

14. A candidate who is unsuccessful in the examination in any subject of the Second M.B. Examination shall be eligible for re-examination, provided that

(a) except by special permission of the Faculty Board granted in exceptional circumstances

(i) a student who fails to satisfy the Examiners in any subject other than MSOC shall not be a candidate for re-examination in that subject later than five months after his or her first attempt in that subject;
(ii) a student who fails to satisfy the Examiners in MSOC shall not be a candidate for re-examination in that subject later than thirteen months after his or her first attempt in that subject;
(iii) no student shall be a candidate in any subject on more than three occasions in total;

(b) for the purposes of provisos (a)(i), (ii), and (iii), a student who has offered, in any Part of the Natural Sciences Tripos, any subject that can lead to exemption from a subject of the Second M.B. Examination shall be deemed thereby to have been a candidate for the corresponding subject of the Second M.B. Examination.

15. The Final M.B. Examination shall consist of three Parts, Parts I, II, and III; Part III shall be divided into two sections. Parts I and II shall be held in the Lent Term and in June and December, and Part III shall be held in June and December, in accordance with the timetable that shall be published by the Board of Examinations, after consultation with the Faculty Board, before the division of the Easter Term each year for the calendar year next following.

16. The Parts and sections of the Final M.B. Examination shall consist of the following written papers and practical, clinical, and viva voce examinations:

Part I, Pathology: a written paper of three hours, a practical examination, and a viva voce examination.

Part II, Obstetrics and Gynaecology: a written paper of three hours, a clinical examination in Obstetrics, and a viva voce examination. In order to satisfy the Examiners a student shall produce evidence of a satisfactory performance in the pelvic examination of gynaecological patients.

Part III, Section (a), Medicine: three written papers, Papers 1, 2, and 3, of three hours each (Paper 3 being primarily concerned with clinical pharmacology and therapeutics), a clinical examination, and two viva voce examinations (one of which shall be in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics).

Part III, Section (b), Surgery: two written papers, one of two hours and one of one hour, a clinical examination, and a viva voce examination.

Candidature for the Final M.B. Examination shall be subject to the restrictions and conditions specified in Regulations 17-21 below.

17. Before taking any Part of the Final M.B. Examination a student shall

(a) produce evidence of having satisfactorily completed three years of preclinical medical study; and
(b) have completed the Second M.B. Examination by having passed in, or been granted exemption from, all the subjects thereof, and
(c) have obtained a degree deemed appropriate by the Faculty Board, which shall be a degree of this University if the student has undertaken preclinical medical study in the University, and which may otherwise be a degree of a university other than Cambridge.

18. A student who proposes to be a candidate for any Part of the Final M.B. Examination shall produce evidence of having satisfactorily attended the approved courses of clinical instruction appropriate to that Part. Except by permission of the Faculty Board in exceptional circumstances, and subject to any conditions determined by them, a course of clinical instruction shall not count towards the requirements of the Final M.B. Examination:

(a) if it began more than one month before the student's completion of the Second M.B. Examination, or more than eight years after the student first took any subject in that Examination or an examination leading to exemption from any subject;
or (b) if it began before the student obtained the degree required under Regulation 17(c) above.

19. The Parts of the Final M.B. Examination may be taken either together or separately, provided that

(a) subject to the provisions of Regulation 21 below, a student shall not be a candidate for the first time for Part I until at least fourteen months, or for Part II until at least sixteen months, have elapsed since the beginning of the student's course of clinical study;
(b) a student shall not be required to take Part I before taking Part II;
(c) a student who is a candidate for the first time for Part III shall offer both sections;
(d) subject to the provisions of Regulation 21 below, a student shall not be a candidate for the first time for Part III unless
(i) he or she has completed three years of preclinical medical study in the University or elsewhere, and two years and two months of clinical study in the University,
and unless
(ii) the student either has previously passed in Part I or in exceptional circumstances has been granted permission by the Faculty Board to be a candidate for Parts I and III on the same occasion;
(e) subject to the further provisions of Regulation 21 below, and except by special permission of the Faculty Board in exceptional circumstances, no student shall be a candidate for the first time for Part I or Part II later than three years after beginning his or her course of clinical study and no student shall be a candidate for the first time for Part III later than five years after beginning his or her course of clinical study;
(f) subject to the provisions of subsection (d) above, and subject also to the availability of the relevant examinations (see Regulation 15), a student who is a candidate for the first time for any Part may on the same occasion be a candidate for re-examination under Regulation 21 in any Part previously taken unsuccessfully.

20. The following provisions shall apply to M.B./Ph.D. Programme students:

(a) such a student shall not be a candidate for the first time for Part I or for Part II until at least fourteen months have elapsed since the beginning of the student's course of clinical study;
(b) such a student shall not be a candidate for the first time for Part III unless he or she has completed three years of preclinical medical study in the University or elsewhere, and one year and eight months of clinical study in the University together with such other part-time clinical study as may be prescribed by the Faculty Board;
(c) except by special permission of the Faculty Board in exceptional circumstances, such a student shall not be a candidate for the first time for Part III later than eight years after beginning his or her course of clinical study.

21. If at the first attempt a student fails to satisfy the Examiners in a Part or Parts or in a section of Part III he or she shall be eligible for re-examination in the relevant Part or Parts or section, taking them separately or together, provided that

(a) a candidate for re-examination in Part III
(i) shall already have passed in Part I unless in exceptional circumstances he or she is granted permission by the Faculty Board to be a candidate on the same occasion for Parts I and III or for Part I and a section of Part III;
(ii) shall offer both sections of Part III unless he or she has already satisfied the Examiners in one section;
(b) a candidate shall not be re-examined in any Part or in either section of Part III later than two years after his or her first candidature for that Part or that section, except by special permission of the Faculty Board in exceptional circumstances;
(c) if a candidate fails to satisfy the Examiners in any Part or in either section of Part III on two occasions subsequent to his or her first candidature for that Part or that section, he or she shall not be re-examined in that Part or that section again except by special permission of the Faculty Board in exceptional circumstances.

22. For grave cause a student may be required by the Faculty Board to defer taking a Part of the Final Examination until he or she has received the permission of the Faculty Board to do so.

23. The arrangements for the appointment of Examiners shall be as follows:

(a) The Faculty Board shall nominate for each subject of the Second M.B. Examination a Senior Examiner and such number of other Examiners as are required to conduct the examination; provided that for sittings of subjects of the Second M.B. Examination held under Regulation 10(a)(i)6 the Examiners shall be the Examiners appointed for those subjects in the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos.

(b) The Regius Professor shall be an Examiner and Chairman of Examiners for all Parts of the Final M.B. Examination, provided that, on the nomination of the Regius Professor, any Professor who is medically qualified, or any Doctor of Medicine who is a member of the Regent House, may be appointed to deputize for the Regius Professor for the purpose of this regulation. In addition, the Faculty Board shall nominate for Part I and Part II, and for each Section of Part III of the Final M.B. Examination, a Senior Examiner and such number of other Examiners as the Faculty Board may deem sufficient. Such Examiners shall be appointed to serve for the calendar year next following their appointment.

24. The Faculty Board shall appoint for each calendar year such number of persons as they may deem sufficient to act as Collectors and Assistant Collectors of Cases, provided that the persons so appointed shall be not less than three in number and shall include one obstetrician and gynaecologist, one physician, and one surgeon. The Collectors and Assistant Collectors of Cases shall invite such patients and shall make such arrangements as may be required for the clinical and oral examinations in Part II and in Part III of the Final M.B. Examination.

25. The Examiners in each subject or section of each examination shall observe the following requirements:

(a) they shall be jointly responsible for all the questions set in the written paper and the practical examination (if any) of that subject or section;
(b) no candidate shall be judged to have failed in any subject or section unless his or her work has been assessed by at least two Examiners;
(c) two Examiners in each subject or section shall both be present at, and shall participate in, the oral examination or the clinical examination of each candidate in that subject or section, and both shall be responsible for the marks allotted.

26. Separate class-lists shall be published for each subject of the Second M.B. Examination and for each Part of the Final M.B. Examination. The names of successful candidates in the several lists shall be arranged in alphabetical order. The list for Part III of the Final M.B. Examination shall indicate the sections of the examination in which the candidate has passed. On the occasion of a candidate's first attempt at any Part of the Final M.B. Examination, but not on any subsequent occasion, special merit may be recognized by a mark of distinction in Part I or Part II, or in either section of Part III provided that the candidate has satisfied the Examiners in the other section.

27. Each Senior Examiner shall communicate to the Registrary the marks of all the candidates for the Part, or section of a Part, or subject, of the examination with which he or she is concerned. The Registrary shall communicate to Tutors or other designated College officers, for transmission to their pupils, the marks of their pupils and such other information as may be considered advisable.7

Temporary Regulations

28. Notwithstanding the provisions of Regulation 14, a student who was a candidate for any subject of the second M.B. Examination before 30 September 1996 shall be eligible, if unsuccessful either in such a subject or in any other subject of the Second M.B. Examination, for re-examination under the regulations that were in force on that date.

29. Notwithstanding the provisions of the foregoing regulations,

(a) a student who was a candidate for any subject of the Second M.B. Examination before 30 September 2000 shall be eligible, if unsuccessful either in such a subject or in any other subject of the Second M.B. Examination, for re-examination under the regulations that were in force at the time when he or she was first a candidate for such a subject;
(b) the Joint Exemptions Committee shall have power to determine what exemptions shall be granted to a student who obtained honours in any Part of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos or the Natural Sciences Tripos before 30 September 2000 and had not by that date either passed or gained exemption from all the subjects of the Second M.B. Examination.

SCHEDULES A AND B

These Schedules for Premedical Requirements and Preclinical Medical Study are unchanged (see Statutes and Ordinances, p. 420)

SCHEDULE C

Exemption from subjects of the Second M.B. Examination

A student shall be entitled to exemption from a subject of the Second M.B. Examination if he or she is deemed by the Joint Exemptions Committee to have attained a satisfactory standard, as prescribed by the Faculty Board of Clinical Medicine, in one of the corresponding subjects of the Natural Sciences Tripos, as shown in the following table:

Subjects in Second M.B. Examination   Subjects in Tripos Examinations
Molecules in Medical Science   Natural Sciences Tripos, Part IB, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology;
or Natural Sciences Tripos, Part II (General), Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
Biology of Disease   Natural Sciences Tripos, Part IB, Pathology;
or Natural Sciences Tripos, Part II (General), Pathology.
Mechanisms of Drug Action   Natural Sciences Tripos, Part IB, Pharmacology;
or Natural Sciences Tripos, Part II (General), Pharmacology.

SUPPLEMENTARY REGULATIONS

Second M.B. Examination

Biology of Disease (BOD)

The examination in BOD will be treated from the standpoint of abnormal biology. It will include the variations that may occur in the structure and functions of living cells, tissues, and organs, together with the biology of parasites, bacteria, and viruses. Section I will consist of compulsory short-answer questions on the lecture material. Section II will consist of a two-hour practical examination which will include laboratory work and questions on practical aspects and problem solving.

Functional Architecture of the Body (FAB)

Section I will consist of compulsory short-answer questions on tissue anatomy, aspects of organogenesis, the topographical, functional, and applied anatomy of the human body. Section II will consist of a practical examination and will cover similar aspects.

Homeostasis (HOM)

Section I will consist of computer-marked and short-answer questions on nerve and neuromuscular transmission, muscle, autonomic nervous system, cardiovascular system, respiration, kidney, salt and water balance, digestion, absorption, and temperature regulation. Section II will consist of questions on the practical work in experimental physiology and histology.

Mechanisms of Drug Action (MODA)

Section I, which will include or consist entirely of short-answer questions, will require knowledge of the actions of drugs on whole organisms and mammalian systems, and also of the mode of drug action at the cellular, sub-cellular, and molecular levels. Section II will consist of a practical examination, which will include questions on data handling and problem solving; laboratory work will not be involved. Questions that require an elementary knowledge of statistical procedures may be included in both sections of the examination.

Medical Sociology (MSOC)

The written paper will require knowledge of medical sociology.

Molecules in Medical Science (MIMS)

The examination will test knowledge and understanding of the material contained in the MIMS course. Section I will consist of short-answer questions on the lecture. Section II will consist of questions on practical aspects, including interpretation and handling of data.

Neurobiology with Human Behaviour (NHB)

The examination in NHB will require knowledge of the structure and functions of the central nervous system and the special sense organs, neuroanatomy, experimental psychology and some of its applications to medicine. Particular topics will include neuropharmacology; learning and memory; perception and information processing; intelligence and development; emotion and its physiological basis; and social psychology. Section I will include or consist entirely of compulsory short-answer questions. In Section II, candidates will be examined on practical aspects of neuroanatomy and in experimental neurophysiology; questions may be included which require an elementary knowledge of statistical procedures.

Preparing For Patients A (PFPA)

Each candidate shall submit to the Examiners a written report based on experiential learning in the clinical situation during the academical year during which the candidate is sitting Part IA of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos.

Preparing For Patients B (PFPB)

Each candidate shall submit to the Examiners a written report based on experiential learning in the clinical situation during the academical year during which the candidate is sitting Part IB of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos.

Scientific, Social, and Ethical Aspects of Reproduction and Populations (SSEARP)

Section I will consist of compulsory short-answer questions and Section II will consist of practical questions.

APPENDIX B

Subject to the approval of the recommendations of this Report, the General Board, on the recommendation of the Faculty Board of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, have amended the regulations for the degree of Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 473) as follows:

By inserting at the head of the regulations the sub-title OLD REGULATIONS.

By attaching the following footnote to the sub-title:

These regulations apply to candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine who begin their course of clinical study in 2002 or an earlier year.

REVISED REGULATIONS

The following revised regulations have been approved:

1. These regulations, which shall be known as the Revised Regulations for the degree of Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine, shall apply to

(a) those students who begin their clinical course on or after 1 September 2003,
and
(b) those students who begin their clinical course on or after 1 September 2002, having undertaken not more than two years of preclinical medical study in the University.8

2. There shall be a Second Examination and a Final Examination for the degree of Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine, referred to in these regulations as the Second Vet.M.B. Examination and the Final Veterinary Examination.

3. A student who has kept nine terms and passed Part III of the Final Veterinary Examination shall be qualified to proceed to the degree of Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine, the short title of which shall be Vet.M.B.

4. The Faculty Board of Clinical Veterinary Medicine shall be empowered, after consultation with the Faculty Board of Biology, to delegate to the Veterinary Education Committee from time to time all or any of the Faculty Board's powers and duties under these regulations. In these regulations unless the context shall require otherwise:

(a) the term Faculty Board shall mean the Faculty Board of Clinical Veterinary Medicine;
(b) the terms prescribed standard and prescribed course shall mean respectively standard prescribed by the Faculty Board of Clinical Veterinary Medicine and course prescribed by the Faculty Board of Clinical Veterinary Medicine;
(c) the term course of instruction shall mean course of instruction given in the University or elsewhere and may include practical instruction.

5. Where these regulations require a candidate for any of the examinations prescribed therein to produce evidence of instruction or of any other matter

(a) the candidate's entry for the examination shall not be considered to have been made earlier than the day on which the Registrary receives that evidence or the last part of it;
(b) the Faculty Board of Clinical Veterinary Medicine shall have power to require that evidence of having attended a course of instruction shall be evidence of having attended a prescribed course.

6. The Faculty Board, after consulting other bodies concerned, shall have power to define or limit by supplementary regulations all or any of the subjects of the Second Veterinary M.B. Examination and all or any of the Parts or sections of a Part of the Final Veterinary Examination.

7. The subjects of the Second Vet.M.B. Examination shall be as follows:

Agriculture and Husbandry (AGH)

Biology of Disease (BOD)

Comparative Vertebrate Biology (CVB)

Veterinary Anatomy and Physiology (VAP)

Mechanisms of Drug Action (MODA)

Molecules in Medical Science (MIMS)

Homeostasis (HOM)

Neurobiology with Animal Behaviour (NAB)

Preparing for the Veterinary Profession A (PFVPA)

Preparing for the Veterinary Profession B (PFVPB)

Veterinary Reproductive Biology (VRB)

(a) The examinations in BOD, VAP, HOM, MIMS, MODA, and NAB shall each consist of a written paper of one hour, which shall contain compulsory short-answer questions (Section I), and a practical examination of two hours (Section II).

(b) The examination in VRB shall consist of a written paper of one hour, which shall contain compulsory short-answer questions (Section I), and a practical examination of one hour (Section II).

(c) The examination in AGH shall consist of a written paper of one hour, which shall contain compulsory short-answer questions.

(d) The examination in CVB shall each consist of a written paper of forty-five minutes, which shall contain compulsory short-answer questions.

(e) The examinations in PFVPA and PFVPB shall each consist of the submission of records of such course-work done by candidates as shall be specified from time to time by the Faculty Board of Clinical Veterinary Medicine after consultation with the Faculty Board of Biology.

8. The Second Vet.M.B. Examination shall be held as follows:

(a) The examinations in BOD, VAP, MODA, MIMS, HOM, NAB, and VRB shall be held three times a year, as follows:

(i) in the Easter Term, on the dates prescribed for Part IA and Part IB of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos;9
(ii) in July, beginning on the fourth Monday after the last day of Full Easter Term;
(iii) in September, beginning on the Monday before the first day of the Michaelmas Term.

(b) Records of course-work for PFVPA and PFVPB shall be submitted, in accordance with detailed arrangements approved by the Faculty Board, as follows:

(i) for PFVPA, not later then the first Monday of Full Easter Term in the year in which the candidate takes Part IA of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos;
(ii) for PFVPB, not later then the first Monday of Full Easter Term in the year in which the candidate takes Part IB of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos;

A candidate whose submission for PFVPA or PFVPB fails to satisfy the Examiners shall be required to submit a revised report not later than 31 August next following.

(c) The examination in AGH shall be held twice a year, at the end of Full Lent Term and on the third Monday after the last day of Full Easter Term.

9. A candidate for the Second Vet.M.B. Examination shall be required to have diligently attended approved courses of instruction appropriate to the subject or subjects to be offered in the examination. The Second Vet.M.B. Examination may be taken by an unmatriculated student who has satisfied this requirement and who is certified on behalf of a College to the Registrary to be a bona fide candidate for admission to the College.

10. There shall be a Joint Exemptions Committee for the Second M.B. Examination and the Second Vet.M.B. Examination, which shall consist of:

(a) the Regius Professor of Physic (or a deputy appointed by the Regius Professor) as Chairman;
(b) the Clinical Dean;
(c) one person appointed by the Faculty Board of Clinical Medicine;
(d) the Director of Medical and Veterinary Education in the Faculty of Biology;
(e) two representatives of the Department of Anatomy;
(f) two representatives of the Department of Physiology;
(g) one representative of each of the Departments of Biochemistry, Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Community Medicine, Experimental Psychology, Genetics, Pathology, and Pharmacology.

Representatives of Departments in classes (e)-(g) shall be nominated by the Head of the Department and appointed in the Michaelmas Term each year by the Faculty Board of Clinical Medicine, with the concurrence of the Faculty Board of Clinical Veterinary Medicine in the case of veterinary representatives in classes (e) and (f). The Secretary of the Faculty Board (or a deputy) shall act as Secretary of the Committee.

11. (a) The Joint Exemptions Committee shall have power to grant exemption from any subject or subjects of the Second Vet.M.B. Examination to a student who has satisfied the conditions of Regulation 9 and who is deemed by the Committee to have attained a satisfactory standard, as prescribed by the Faculty Board, in the appropriate subject or subjects of the Natural Sciences Tripos, or in corresponding subjects taken in an examination for a degree with honours of a university other than Cambridge; provided that for the purpose of granting exemption to a candidate for admission as a clinical student from a university other than Cambridge the Committee may in exceptional circumstances deem a degree other than an honours degree an appropriate qualification. The subjects of the Natural Sciences Tripos which the Faculty Board have agreed to recognize for this purpose, together with the corresponding exemptions, shall be listed in the Schedule to these regulations; the Faculty Board shall have power to amend that Schedule from time to time as they think fit.

(b) The Joint Exemptions Committee, on information supplied to them by the Examiners for the Natural Sciences Tripos, shall inform the Registrary as early as possible of the names of those candidates who in the examinations for that Tripos have attained in the various subjects the standard prescribed by the Faculty Board of Clinical Veterinary Medicine for exemption from the Second Vet.M.B. Examination. The Registrary shall thereupon post a list of the names outside the Senate-House.

12. A candidate who is unsuccessful in the examination in any subject of the Second Vet.M.B. Examination shall be eligible for re-examination, provided that

(a) except by special permission of the Faculty Board granted in exceptional circumstances
(i) a student who fails to satisfy the Examiners in any subject other than AGH shall not be a candidate for re-examination in that subject later than five months after his or her first attempt in that subject;
(ii) a student who fails to satisfy the Examiners in AGH shall not be a candidate for re-examination in that subject later than thirteen months after his or her first attempt in that subject;
(iii) no student shall be a candidate in any subject on more than three occasions in total;
(b) for the purposes of provisos (a)(i), (ii), and (iii), a student who has offered, in any Part of the Natural Sciences Tripos, any subject that can lead to exemption from a subject of the Second M.B. Examination shall be deemed thereby to have been a candidate for the corresponding subject of the Second M.B. Examination.

13. The Final Veterinary Examination shall consist of three Parts. Except by permission of the Faculty Board of Clinical Veterinary Medicine in exceptional circumstances, no student shall be a candidate for the first time for any Part later than four years after the beginning of his or her course of clinical study.

14. The examinations for Part I of the Final Veterinary Examination shall be held on dates determined by the Faculty Board, and shall consist of written papers and practical examinations, as prescribed by the Faculty Board from time to time. The subjects of examination shall be specified by supplementary regulation.

15. Before taking the examination in any subject of Part I, a student must have completed the Second Veterinary M.B. Examination by having passed or been granted exemption from the subjects thereof.

Subject to the provisions of Regulation 20(b) and (c), candidates who fail to satisfy the Examiners in any subject of Part I may present themselves for re-examination, under arrangements approved by the Faculty Board.

16. Two sittings of Part II of the Final Veterinary Examination shall be held each year, beginning on the third Wednesday of Full Easter Term and on the Monday that is or next precedes the first day of the Michaelmas Term. The examination shall consist of four written papers, as follows, and a practical examination.

Paper 1. Animal health, animal breeding, and nutrition.
Paper 2. Multi-system infectious diseases.
Paper 3. Parasitic diseases.
Paper 4. Basic clinical pharmacology, toxicology, and systems pathology.

17. No student may be a candidate for Part II until at least eighteen months have elapsed after the beginning of his or her course of clinical study. A candidate must have passed Part I and must have

(a) produced evidence of having, since attaining the age of sixteen years, satisfactorily carried out on a farm or farms work with the larger farm animals during at least twelve weeks (which need not be consecutive);
(b) produced certificates of diligent attendance at courses of instruction in the following subjects:
(i) the diseases of poultry, including legislation concerned with their control;
(ii) the aetiology, epidemiology, pathology, and prophylaxis of infectious diseases of domestic animals;
(iii) helminthology, protozoology, and entomology, relevant to parasitic disease of domestic animals, and the prevention and treatment of such disease;
(iv) the husbandry, nutrition, and practical breeding of domestic animals in relation to health, welfare, and production; pastoral botany; genetics; veterinary hygiene;
(v) clinical veterinary pharmacology and toxicology;
(vi) animal management and elementary clinical methods;
(vii) pathology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and therapeutics;
(viii) reproduction, infertility, and obstetrics;
(ix) veterinary public health, including practical instruction in the inspection and control of meat and milk;
(x) state veterinary medicine and jurisprudence;
(c) satisfactorily completed the clinical tests which form part of the courses specified in this regulation.

A candidate for Part II shall take all four papers and the practical examination at the same sitting. Subject to the provisions of Regulation 20(b) and (c), candidates who fail to satisfy the Examiners may present themselves for re-examination, taking all four papers and the practical examination at the same sitting.

18. Part III of the Final Veterinary Examination shall be held twice a year beginning on the Monday that next precedes the last day of Full Easter Term and on the Monday that is or next precedes the first day of the Michaelmas Term. Part III shall be divided into two sections as follows:

(i) veterinary medicine;
(ii) animal surgery.

The Examiners shall take into account such course-work done by candidates, including practical work, as shall from time to time be determined by the Faculty Board of Clinical Veterinary Medicine. For this purpose the Head of the Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine shall present to the Examiners a detailed assessment of the performance of each candidate in this course-work. The Examiners shall take the assessments into account in assigning marks for the examination; the maximum percentage of the total marks that may be awarded for course-work shall be determined from time to time by the Faculty Board.

A candidate attempting Part III for the first time shall take both sections together. Candidates who fail to satisfy the Examiners in either or both sections may present themselves for re-examination, subject to the provisions of Regulation 20(b) and (c), and subject also to the requirement that a candidate who has failed in both sections shall be re-examined in the two sections together at the same sitting. The Examiners shall not permit such a candidate to pass in one section only unless on the same occasion he or she attains a prescribed standard in the other section.

19. No student may be a candidate for Part III until at least thirty-two months have elapsed after the beginning of his or her course of clinical study. A candidate must have passed Part II and

(a) must have produced evidence of having
(i) subsequently attended further courses of instruction in clinical veterinary medicine as concerned in particular with the various species of domestic animals, including satisfactory completion of the clinical tests which form part of these courses;
(ii) attended a course of instruction in applied anatomy, surgical pathology, operative technique, anaesthesia, general and regional surgery, including satisfactory completion of the clinical tests which form part of the course;
(iii) attended a course of instruction in jurisprudence;
(iv) satisfactorily carried out work in the Clinical Pathology Laboratories and the Post Mortem Room of the Veterinary Hospital;
(b) must have
(i) studied an elective subject chosen by the candidate from a list of subjects announced from time to time by the Head of the Department, and
(ii) submitted a dissertation of not more than 2,500 words on the subject chosen, and attained a satisfactory standard therein;
(c) must have had, since the beginning of his or her course of clinical study, at least twenty-six weeks' practical experience of veterinary work approved for this purpose by the Faculty Board of Clinical Veterinary Medicine; for this purpose each candidate shall be required to submit for the inspection of the Examiners, not later than the first day of the examination, a case-book containing records, attested by the veterinary surgeons concerned, of cases attended during the candidate's practical experience of veterinary work.

20. Except by permission of the Faculty Board in exceptional circumstances, and subject to any conditions determined by them,

(a) no certificate or other evidence produced under Regulation 17(b) shall be accepted if it relates to a course of instruction that began either (i) before the candidate's completion of the Second Veterinary M.B. Examination, or (ii) before the beginning of the candidate's course of clinical study, or (iii) more than eight years after the candidate first took any subject of the Second Veterinary M.B. Examination or an examination leading to exemption from such a subject;
(b) no student shall be re-examined in any Part, or in any subject, paper, or section of a Part, later than two years after his or her first candidature for that Part, subject, paper, or section;
(c) no student shall be a candidate for any Part, or for any subject, paper, or section of a Part on more than three occasions.

21. The arrangements for the appointment of Examiners for the Second Vet.M.B. Examination shall be as follows:

(a) For BOD, HOM, MIMS and MODA the Examiners shall be the Examiners appointed for those subjects in the Second M.B. Examination.

(b) For each of the subjects AGH, CVB, AB, PFVPA, PFVPB, VAP, and VRB the Faculty Board shall nominate a Senior Examiner and such number of other Examiners as are required to conduct the examination; provided that for sittings of subjects of the Second Vet.M.B. Examination held under Regulation 8(a)(i)10 the Examiners shall be the Examiners appointed for those subjects in the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos.

22. The Faculty Board of Clinical Veterinary Medicine shall nominate in each calendar year such number of Examiners for each Part of the Final Veterinary Examination as the General Board on the recommendation of the Faculty Board may determine. The Faculty Board shall also have power to nominate one or more Assessors to assist the Examiners in any Part of the Examination. If required to do so, Assessors shall propose questions in the subject or subjects assigned to them, shall look over the answers of candidates to those questions, shall set and conduct practical, clinical, and oral examinations, and shall report as required to the Examiners. An Assessor may be summoned, for the purpose of consultation and advice, to meetings of the relevant body of Examiners, but shall not be entitled to vote.

23. The Examiners and Assessors shall observe the following provisions:

(a) the Examiners and Assessors in each subject, paper, or section shall be jointly responsible for all the questions set in that subject, paper, or section in the several examinations in which they take part;
(b) at least two Examiners or Assessors shall read the papers and test the practical work of each candidate;
(c) at least two Examiners or Assessors shall be present at, and shall participate in, the viva voce examination of any candidate;
(d) in Part I, in Part II, and in each section of Part III, at least two Examiners shall be present at the meeting at which the list of successful candidates is drawn up.

24. Separate class-lists shall be published for each subject of the Second Veterinary M.B. Examination, and for each Part of the Final Veterinary Examination. The names of successful candidates in the several lists shall be arranged in alphabetical order. The lists for Part I and for Part III of the Final Veterinary Examination shall indicate the sections of the examination in which the candidate has passed. In each section of Part I, in Part II, and in each section of Part III, of the Final Veterinary Examination, a mark of distinction may be affixed to the names of candidates whose work is of special merit.

25. The Senior Examiner for each subject of the Second Veterinary M.B. Examination and the Chairman of Examiners for each Part of the Final Veterinary Examination shall communicate the marks of all the candidates to the Registrary, and shall communicate to Tutors or other designated College officers, for transmission to their pupils, the marks of their pupils and such other information as may be considered advisable.11

26. A candidate for the Vet.M.B. Degree shall pay the appropriate University Composition Fee for each term of clinical study for the degree. This fee covers admission and readmission to the Veterinary Examinations and admission to the Vet.M.B. Degree.

Temporary Regulation

27. Notwithstanding the provisions of the foregoing regulations,

(a) a student who was a candidate for any subject of the Second Vet.M.B. Examination before 30 September 2000 shall be eligible, if unsuccessful either in such a subject or in any other subject of the Second Vet.M.B. Examination, for re-examination under the regulations that were in force at the time when he or she was first a candidate for such a subject;
(b) the Joint Exemptions Committee shall have power to determine what exemptions shall be granted to a student who obtained honours in any Part of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos or the Natural Sciences Tripos before 30 September 2000 and had not by that date either passed or gained exemption from all the subjects of the Second Vet.M.B. Examination.

SCHEDULE

Exemption from subjects of the Second Veterinary M.B. Examination

Students shall be entitled to exemption from a subject of the Second Vet.M.B. Examination if they are deemed by the Joint Exemptions Committee to have attained a satisfactory standard, as prescribed by the Faculty Board of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, in one of the corresponding subjects of the Natural Sciences Tripos, as shown in the following table:

Subjects in Second Vet.M.B. Examination   Subjects in Tripos Examinations
Molecules in Medical Science   Natural Sciences Tripos, Part IB, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology;
or Natural Sciences Tripos, Part II (General), Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
Biology of Disease   Natural Sciences Tripos, Part IB, Pathology;
or Natural Sciences Tripos, Part II (General), Pathology.
Mechanisms of Drug Action   Natural Sciences Tripos, Part IB, Pharmacology;
or Natural Sciences Tripos, Part II (General), Pharmacology.

SUPPLEMENTARY REGULATIONS

Second Veterinary M.B. Examination

Agriculture and Husbandry (AGH)

The written examination will require knowledge of agriculture and animal husbandry.

Biology of Disease (BOD)

The examination in BOD will be treated from the standpoint of abnormal biology. It will include the variations that may occur in the structure and functions of living cells, tissues, and organs, together with the biology of parasites, bacteria, and viruses. Section I will consist of compulsory short-answer questions on the lecture material. Section II will consist of a two-hour practical examination which will include laboratory work and questions on practical aspects and problem solving.

Comparative Vertebrate Biology (CVB)

The written examination will require knowledge of the structure and function of birds, fish, and certain species of laboratory animal.

Homeostasis (HOM)

Section I will consist of computer-marked and short-answer questions on nerve and neuromuscular transmission, muscle, autonomic nervous system, cardiovascular system, respiration, kidney, salt and water balance, digestion, absorption, and temperature regulation. Section II will consist of questions on the practical work in experimental physiology and histology.

Molecules in Medical Science (MIMS)

The examination will test knowledge and understanding of the material contained in the MIMS course. Section I will consist of short-answer questions on the lecture. Section II will consist of questions on practical aspects, including interpretation and handling of data.

Mechanisms of Drug Action (MODA)

Section I, which will include or consist entirely of short-answer questions, will require knowledge of the actions of drugs on whole organisms and mammalian systems, and also of the mode of drug action at the cellular, sub-cellular, and molecular levels. Section II will consist of a practical examination, which will include questions on data handling and problem solving; laboratory work will not be involved. Questions that require an elementary knowledge of statistical procedures may be included in both sections of the examination.

Neurobiology with Animal Behaviour (NAB)

The examination in NAB will require knowledge of the structure and functions of the central nervous system, the special sense organs, neuropharmacology and animal behaviour, with particular reference to domestic animals. Section I will include or consist entirely of compulsory short-answer questions. In Section II, candidates will be examined on practical aspects of neuroanatomy and in experimental neurophysiology; questions may be included which require an elementary knowledge of statistical procedures.

Preparing for the Veterinary Profession A (PFVPA)

Each candidate shall submit to the Examiners a written report based on the associated programme of learning during the academical year during which the candidate is sitting Part IA of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos.

Preparing for the Veterinary Profession B (PFVPB)

Each candidate shall submit to the Examiners a written report based on the associated programme of learning during the academical year during which the candidate is sitting Part IB of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos.

Veterinary Anatomy and Physiology (VAP)

Section I will consist of computer-marked and short-answer questions on the anatomy of domestic mammals and, on the structure and function of the gastrointestinal systems of herbivorous mammals. Section II will consist of questions on associated practical work.

Veterinary Reproductive Biology (VRB)

Section I of the examination will consist of computer-marked and short-answer questions on the structure and function of the reproductive systems of mammals, with particular reference to domestic mammals. Section II will consist of questions on associated practical work and may include a data-handling exercise.

APPENDIX C

In Tomorrow's Doctors: Recommendations on Undergraduate Medical Education (December 1993), the Education Committee of the General Medical Council made the following principal recommendations:

1. The burden of factual information imposed on students in undergraduate medical curricula should be substantially reduced.

2. Learning through curiosity, the exploration of knowledge, and the critical evaluation of evidence should be promoted and should ensure a capacity for self-education; the undergraduate course should be seen as the first stage in the continuum of medical education that extends throughout professional life.

3. Attitudes of mind and of behaviour that befit a doctor should be inculcated, and should imbue the new graduate with attributes appropriate to his/her future responsibilities to patients, colleagues and society in general.

4. The essential skills required by the graduate at the beginning of the pre-registration year must be acquired under supervision, and proficiency in these skills must be rigorously assessed.

5. A 'core curriculum' encompassing the essential knowledge and skills and the appropriate attitudes to be acquired at the time of graduation should be defined.

6. The 'core curriculum' should be augmented by a series of 'special study modules' which allow students to study in depth areas of particular interest to them, that provide them with insights into scientific method and the discipline of research, and that engender an approach to medicine that is questioning and self-critical.

7. The 'core curriculum' should be system-based, its component parts being the combined responsibility of basic scientists and clinicians integrating their contributions to a common purpose, thus eliminating the rigid pre-clinical/clinical divide and the exclusive Departmentally based course.

8. There should be emphasis throughout the course on communication skills and the other essentials of basic clinical method.

9. The theme of public health medicine should figure prominently in the curriculum, encompassing health promotion and illness prevention, assessment and targeting of population needs, and awareness of environmental and social factors in disease.

10. Clinical teaching should adapt to changing patterns in health care and should provide experience of primary care and of community medical services as well as of hospital based services.

11. Learning systems should be informed by modern educational theory and should draw on the wide range of technological resources available; medical schools should be prepared to share these resources to their mutual advantage.

12. Systems of assessment should be adapted to the new style curriculum, should encourage appropriate learning skills and should reduce emphasis on the uncritical acquisition of facts.

13. The design, implementation and continuing review of curricula demand the establishment of effective supervisory structures with interdisciplinary membership and adequate representation of junior staff and students.

14. The Education Committee of the General Medical Council should ensure the implementation of its recommendations through regular progress reports from medical schools, continuing dialogue on the basis of informal visits and, when necessary, by the exercise of the statutory powers given to it under the Medical Acts.

APPENDIX D

A working Party on Veterinary Undergraduate Education was established by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons under the Chairmanship of Dr J.N. Lucke. The Working Party published their Report ('the Lucke Report') in October 1991. That report cites, and broadly supports the 1989 Pew Report which arose in North America. The following is the list of recommendations contained in the Lucke Report and a summary of the recommendations of future directions for veterinary medicine from the Pew Report.

The Lucke Report list of recommendations

Resources for undergraduate veterinary education in the UK

The Royal College must seek to ensure proper funding for undergraduate education in the UK; must encourage the universities to make the most effective use of their resources on a UK (and European) rather than on an individual basis; and must seek new ways of utilizing the resources of the private sector, state veterinary service, and research and commercial institutions by closer integration.

The undergraduate curriculum

Changes in the Veterinary Training Directive should be discussed and implemented without delay. Such changes should recognize not only the developments in veterinary science and the needs of society but accept changing attitudes to education. The Directive should make clear that the priority for the veterinary profession is the health and welfare of animals in the Community as well as their impact on public health and the environment. The UK veterinary degree should remain the sole and sufficient qualification to practise as a veterinary surgeon in the UK.

Duration of the course

The five-year course resulting in a registrable qualification should be retained.

Features of a 'model curriculum'

Further encouragement should be given to the intercalation of degrees within the veterinary course. The subjects taken should be wide in scope.

It is also recommended that the Royal College should continue to press for funding of students to intercalate degrees because veterinary surgeons with this type of training are needed. It may be that, at a time of change from local to central funding, this might now be the opportunity to apply such pressure.

The Working Party was convinced of the advantages of a term-free, lecture-free final year and recommends that the schools should give serious consideration to the implementation of such a final year comprising clinical rotations, extra-mural rotations, and elective periods. Extra-mural rotations should be regarded as an integral part of the clinical course - comprising a final year of at least 48 weeks and earlier clinical years of at least forty-five weeks each. On this basis the Royal College should press for the funding of students in the three clinical years at the full-time rate that is applicable to medical students (page 14).

Electives

Each school should provide elective periods at least during the final year which are sufficiently long (at least twelve weeks) to allow study in depth or involvement in a project. The advantages of electives being taken outside the parent school should be recognized.

Staffing

The Royal College should seek, with the universities, to find ways of providing a career structure for teachers in veterinary schools which will stimulate basic and clinical research, allow high standards of clinical care and reward veterinarians with skill and dedication to undergraduate education.

Extra-mural rotations (EMR)

The term 'seeing practice' should be abandoned and replaced with extra-mural rotations. Extra-mural rotations should be an integral part of the degree course and provide structured use of the students' time, and a closer relationship between school and practice or other institution. An extra-mural rotation should only be accepted as part of the course if it is undertaken in a practice or other institution recognized for the purpose by the schools and the Royal College.

Teaching of regulatory medicine, public health, and food hygiene

The Royal College should seek appropriate support, including that of the Chief Veterinary Officer, to press for funding for this increased professional responsibility. The Royal College should carefully monitor the progress to high standards of the undergraduate course in regulatory medicine, public health, and food hygiene. If necessary, the Royal College should use its powers under the Veterinary Surgeons Act to make specific enquiry into these aspects of the course.

Undergraduate entry requirements

The selection of veterinary undergraduates should remain the responsibility of the university veterinary schools but it would be expected that the system in place would always be under review.

Pew Report 1989

1. Change the focus of the veterinary medical profession from animal disease to animal health in all its dimensions.

2. Abandon the unrealistic concept of the universal veterinarian who can minister to the health needs of all creatures great and small.

3. Restructure veterinary practice to better serve the needs of society and the veterinary profession in the future.

4. Make research a higher priority for individual veterinarians, the veterinary medical profession, and for veterinary medical colleges.

5. Establish a more rational system of funding for veterinary medical research.

6. Improve the quality of veterinary services delivered to all species of animals in response to the escalating expectations of the public as to the health care of all of the animals important to people.

7. Strengthen the general education of veterinarians.

8. Focus the professional education process and the practice of veterinary medicine on the ability to find and use information rather than the accumulation of facts.

9. Strengthen the basic biological science content of the veterinary medical curriculum.

10. Make the achievement of educational, experiential, and cultural, racial, and ethnic diversity among veterinarians a goal of veterinary education.

11. Re-orient clinical veterinary education to enable a student to elect in-depth instruction and clinical experience with a practice theme (class of animals or a single species), rather than require all students to obtain clinical experience with numerous species.

12. Change the emphasis in the veterinary curriculum from almost total concentration on clinical practice to include important public sector needs for veterinarians.

13. Move toward a national perspective or strategy of veterinary medical education.

1 In each subject of Part IA Sections I and II of the examination also serve as the examination in the corresponding subject of the Second M.B. Examination or the Second Vet.M.B. Examination.

2 In each subject of Part IB Sections I and II of the examination also serve as the examination in the corresponding subject of the Second M.B. Examination or the Second Vet.M.B. Examination.

3 i.e. having taken Part IA and Part IB of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos as Affiliated Students.

4 See Statute B, III, 5, and 9; terms kept or allowed before beginning the years of clinical study shall count for this purpose.

5 In this sitting of the Second M.B. Examination the papers set are Sections I and II of the papers set in the corresponding subjects of Part IA and Part IB of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos. See Regulations 16 and 21 for that Tripos.

6 i.e. when the papers of the Second M.B. Examination are the papers set for the corresponding subjects of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos.

7 See also the regulations for the disclosure of examination marks, p. 000.

8 i.e. having taken Part IA and Part IB of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos as Affiliated Students. See Regulation 3(e) of the Revised Regulations for the degrees of M.B., B.Chir.

9 In this sitting of the Second Vet.M.B. Examination the papers set are Sections I and II of the papers set in the corresponding subjects of Part IA and Part IB of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos. See Regulations 16 and 21 for that Tripos.

10 i.e. when the papers of the Second Vet.M.B. Examination are the papers set for the corresponding subjects of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos.

11 See also the regulations for the disclosure of examination marks, p. 000.


< Previous page ^ Table of Contents Next page >

Cambridge University Reporter, 15 December 1999
Copyright © 1999 The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge.