ALLOWANCES TO CANDIDATES FOR EXAMINATIONS
[Please note, amendments to this section, effective from 14 December 2012, are detailed here]
1. The Council shall have power:
-
Candidature despite Ordinance.
(a)to admit to candidature for an examination or for a University Studentship, Scholarship, Exhibition,
Prize, or Medal, a person who is not qualified by Ordinance to be a candidate, and
-
(b)to determine that for the purposes of candidature for an examination or competition one or more terms may be
disregarded in reckoning the standing of a particular candidate.
2. No person who is not qualified by Ordinance, or under the foregoing regulation, or by special Grace,
shall be admitted to an examination leading to a degree, diploma, or certificate,
except with the approval of the Council who shall have power to determine the conditions
of such admission and the fee, if any, to be paid for such admission. The name of
a candidate admitted under this regulation to an Honours Examination shall, if he
or she satisfies the Examiners, be published in a separate list under the heading:
The following, who are not candidates for honours, have satisfied the Examiners.
3. The Council, on satisfactory evidence supplied by a candidate's Tutor that the candidate has been
hindered by illness or other grave cause in preparing for or taking any University
examination, except one for which candidates are required to be Graduate Students
or one leading to the M.B., B.Chir. Degrees, or the Vet.M.B. Degree, shall have power,
when they think fit.
- (a)If the candidate has been absent from the whole examination
-
to give leave to degrade,
(i)to give the candidate leave to degrade, including leave, where required, to take the same
examination;
-
or(ii)to make the candidate whichever of the following allowances they may consider appropriate:
- allow the candidate the examination;
- declare the candidate to have attained the honours standard;
- or(iii)if the candidate is a candidate for Part II, Part IIa or Part IIb of a Tripos, to declare the candidate to have deserved the Ordinary B.A. Degree.
- or(iv)to put the candidate in standing to proceed as a candidate for another examination,
where the candidate would not otherwise be of such standing.
- (b)If the candidate has been absent from part of the examination
-
to delegate decisions to Examiners,
(i)to authorize the Examiners to declare the candidate to have deserved honours or to have deserved
to have passed the examination, whichever is appropriate; provided that the Examiners
shall not make that declaration unless they judge the candidate to have performed
with credit in a substantial part of the examination and unless they either are unable
to include the candidate in the list of successful candidates or would otherwise have
to award the candidate a class that would in their opinion misrepresent his or her
abilities;
-
or(ii)to make the candidate whichever of the allowances specified in (a) they may consider appropriate.
- (c)If the candidate has attended the whole of the examination and has failed
- to make the candidate whichever of the allowances specified in (a) they may consider appropriate.
- (d)If the candidate has attended the whole or part of the examination and has obtained
honours by the inclusion of his or her name in one of the classes
- (i)to remove the candidate's name from the class concerned and to declare the candidate
to have deserved honours;
- or(ii)to authorize the Chairman of Examiners, or a deputy appointed by the Chairman from
among the Examiners, to move the candidate's name to a higher class, provided that
such an amendment shall not be made unless the Chairman of Examiners or deputy, after
consulting at least two other Examiners, is satisfied that the candidate has performed
at the standard of the higher class in all but a relatively small part of the examination.
- (e)If the candidate has attended part of the examination and has been declared to have
deserved honours in accordance with (b)(i)
to authorize the Chairman of Examiners, or a deputy appointed by the Chairman from
among the Examiners, to include the candidate's name in one of the classes, provided
that such an amendment shall not be made unless the Chairman of Examiners or deputy,
after consulting at least two other Examiners, is satisfied that the candidate has
performed at the standard of the class concerned in all but a relatively small part
of the examination.
4. When the Council allow a candidate an examination which is an Honours Examination, such a candidate
shall thereby have obtained honours therein.
5. The Council shall not, save in exceptional circumstances, normally make an allowance
to a candidate for the B.A. Degree of an examination under Regulation 3 on more than
one occasion, save that, for the purpose of this regulation, an allowance under Regulation
3(a)(i) shall not be regarded as such an allowance.
Publication of allowances.
6. The names of students to whom the Council make allowances under Regulation 3 (other than under sub-paragraph
(b)(i)) shall not be appended to the lists of successful candidates for the examinations
for which they were severally entered, but shall be published by the Registrary.
Deferment of essays, etc.
7. Where the regulations for an Honours Examination or for a Preliminary Examination provide for a candidate to submit by a specified
date a dissertation, thesis, or essay, either in addition to the written papers or
in substitution for one or more of them, the Chairman of Examiners or the Senior Examiner
may on the application of the candidate’s Tutor grant a brief extension to a specified
date by which the work shall be submitted. A dissertation, thesis, or essay submitted
later than the date specified by the Chairman of Examiners or the Senior Examiner,
or in the regulation concerned if no extension has been granted, shall not be accepted.
8. In the case of a candidate who has been declared to have deserved honours under Regulation
3(b)(i) or 3(d)(i), the following statement shall be appended to any certificate issued by the Registrary
relating to that examination:
This candidate, who was absent from part of the examination for good cause, performed
with credit in a substantial part of it. In accordance with the University's regulations
the authorities concerned are of the opinion that it would be unfair to classify the
candidate on the basis of the incomplete performance since they believe that this
would not adequately represent the candidate's attainment. They have accordingly agreed
to declare the candidate to have deserved honours in this examination.
Leave for Allowances to Candidates for Examinations: Notice
[Please note, amendments to this section, effective from 14 December 2012, are detailed here]
The Council has given notice (Reporter, 2010–11, p. 903) of the procedure required by it when dealing with applications
under these regulations:
- (i)No application is considered unless it is submitted by the candidate’s Tutor.
- (ii)An application must state under which regulation or regulations it is made.
- (iii)Leave to degrade under Regulation 1(b) or 3(a)(i) is normally granted in respect of the three terms of an academical year. Exceptionally
it may be granted in respect of the terms of more than one academical year.
- (iv)An application made on medical grounds must be supported by a certificate, preferably
given by a doctor practising in or near Cambridge or by a counsellor from the University
Counselling Service. The Council’s Standing Committee on Applications may determine
which type of certificate it requires in relation to applications under particular
regulations.
- (v)An application must include a detailed statement of reasons and be accompanied by
copies of all supervision reports.
- (vi)An application for exemption from an academic condition for taking a particular examination is not normally approved unless the
Faculty Board or similar body concerned have given their concurrence, and that concurrence
is indispensable in the case of examinations forming part of the requirements for
a professional qualification.
- (vii)The Council is not empowered to give permission for a candidate to offer a combination
of papers, whether within one examination or from more than one examination, which
is not provided for by Ordinance or by regulations made under Ordinance. Permission
to offer a non-standard combination of papers can be given only by the General Board;
such permission will not be granted unless the Faculty Board or other authority concerned
are in agreement.
- (viii)The Council shall authorize its Standing Committee on Applications to issue notes
on the procedures adopted by that Committee in its consideration, on behalf of the
Council, of applications for allowances under these regulations.