Statutes and Ordinances of the University of Cambridge
CHAPTER IV
pp. 430–432
PRELIMINARY EXAMINATIONS AND TRIPOS EXAMINATIONS

The provisions contained in this Chapter are Regulations of the General Board

In this section

TRIPOS EXAMINATIONS

PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCES TRIPOS

General

Three Parts.

1. The Psychological and Behavioural Sciences Tripos shall consist of three Parts: Part Ia, Part Ib, and Part II.3

2. No student shall be a candidate for more than one Part, or for any Part and also for another Honours Examination, in the same term.

3. No student shall be a candidate for any Part on more than one occasion.

4. No student shall offer any paper which he or she has previously offered in another University examination.

Examiners and Assessors.

5. There shall be three separate bodies of Examiners: one for Part Ia, one for Part Ib, and one for Part II. For each of the three bodies there shall be a Chair of Examiners, provided that the same person may be appointed Chair for two or more bodies. For each body there might also be one or more Assistant Chairs of Examiners. Chairs and Assistant Chairs of Examiners shall be appointed on the nomination of the Committee of Management of the Psychological and Behavioural Sciences Tripos; nominations shall be made not later than the last day of Full Easter Term in the calendar year next preceding that in which the examination is to be held. For each of the three bodies, the Committee of Management shall, in consultation with Faculty Boards or comparable authorities, nominate such number of Examiners as they shall deem sufficient to conduct the examination. An Examiner may be appointed to examine in more than one Part of the Tripos in any year.

6. The Chairs of Examiners shall communicate the marks of all candidates to the Registrary.

7. The Committee of Management shall have power to nominate one or more Assessors to examine in any of the subjects of the Tripos. Assessors shall be required to set the paper or papers in the subjects assigned to them and to present such written reports to the Examiners as may be required. Assessors may be summoned to meetings of the Examiners for the purpose of consultation and advice, but shall not be entitled to vote.

Class-lists.

8. There shall be a separate class-list for each Part of the Tripos. In each list the names of the successful candidates 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. In each class-list a mark of distinction shall be affixed to the names of those candidates placed in the first class whose work is of special merit.

9. Before the end of the Easter Term the Committee of Management shall give notice of the Optional Papers for the examinations to be held in the next academical year provided that the Committee 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 Committee shall have power when they give notice of Optional Papers to announce any consequential restriction on the combination of papers that a candidate may choose to offer.

Supplementary regulations.

10. The Committee of Management in consultation with a Faculty Board or comparable authority concerned shall have power to issue from time to time supplementary regulations or Notices defining or limiting all or any of the subjects of examination, and determining the scope, character, and conditions of the papers and the credit that shall be assigned to each, and to amend or withdraw such regulations and Notices; provided that due care is taken to give sufficient notice of any supplementary regulation or of any amendment of an existing supplementary regulation.

Part Ia

Standing of candidates.

11. A student may be a candidate for honours in Part Ia if he or she has kept one term, provided that three complete terms have not passed after his or her first term of residence.

Scheme of Examination.

12. The scheme of examination for Part Ia shall be as follows:

Section A

 PBS 1.

Introduction to psychology (also serves as a Paper for Section B of Part I of the Archaeology Tripos and of Section B of Part I of the Human, Social and Political Sciences Tripos, and as Paper 4 of the Education Tripos)

 PBS 2.

Psychological enquiry and methods

Section B

 Optional papers from the list published in accordance with Regulation 9.

13. A candidate for honours in Part Ia of the Tripos shall offer four written papers as follows:

  1. (a)the two papers in Section A, plus
  2. (b)two papers from Section B.

14. There shall be separate examinations of three hours’ duration set for each paper specified in Section A. Papers in Section B will be examined in accordance with the regulations set down by the Faculty or comparable authority concerned.

Part Ib3

Standing of Candidates.

15. A student who has obtained honours in Part Ia of the Tripos or in another Honours Examination, in the year next after so obtaining honours, provided that twelve complete terms have not passed after her or his first term of residence, may be a candidate for honours in Part Ib.1

Scheme of examination.

16. The scheme of examination for Part Ib shall be as follows:

 PBS 3.

Social and developmental psychology

 PBS 4.

Cognitive neuroscience and experimental psychology (lectures and practicals drawn from the subject Experimental Psychology in Part Ib of the Natural Sciences Tripos)

Two Optional Papers from the list published in accordance with Regulation 9.

17. A candidate for Part Ib shall offer four papers as follows:

  1. (a)PBS 3;
  2. (b)PBS 4;
  3. (c)two further papers chosen from the list of Optional Papers published in accordance with Regulation 9,

subject to Regulation 4, any candidate who has not previously completed Part Ia of the Tripos must, except with the permission of the Committee of Management, offer PBS 1 and PBS 2 as their Optional Papers if he or she has not previously offered these papers within another Tripos.

18. There shall be an examination of three hours’ duration set for Paper PBS 3. Paper PBS 4 will be examined by one examination of three hours’ duration and a second examination of one and half hours’ duration. Other papers will be examined in accordance with the regulations set down by the Faculty or comparable authority concerned.

Part II3

Standing of candidates.

19. The following may be candidates for honours in Part II:

  1. (a)A student who has obtained honours in Part Ib of the Tripos in the year next after having done so, provided that he or she has kept seven terms and no more than twelve complete terms have passed after her or his first term of residence;1
  1. (b)A student who takes the examination in the year next after obtaining honours in an Honours Examination other than Part Ia or Ib of the Psychological and Behavioural Sciences Tripos, provided that he or she has kept seven terms and no more than fifteen complete terms have passed after her or his first term of residence, and subject to the prior approval of the Committee of Management in consultation with a Faculty Board or comparable authority concerned.
Scheme of examination.

20. The scheme of examination for Part II shall be as follows:

 PBS 5.

Research dissertation as prescribed in Regulation 22.

Three further papers from the list approved by the Head of Department and published in accordance with Regulation 9.

21. A candidate for honours in Part II shall be required to offer PBS 5, the research dissertation, and three further papers, provided that no candidate shall offer more than two papers chosen from the list of Optional Papers published in accordance with Regulation 9.

Dissertations.

22. Candidates for Part II shall submit a research dissertation in an area of Psychology.

(a) The topic of the dissertation shall be a subject either proposed by the candidate and approved by the Committee of Management or chosen by the candidate from a list of approved subjects announced before the beginning of the Michaelmas Term. After the Committee of Management have approved a topic no substantial change may be made in it without the further approval of the Committee of Management.

(b) The research dissertation shall contain full references to any sources used in its composition, and shall be of not more than 7,000 words in length, including footnotes but excluding any tables, figures, captions, bibliography, and appendices.

(c) The research dissertation shall be submitted in electronic or printed form to the Secretary of the Committee of Management not later than the end of the second week of the Full Easter Term in which the examination is to be held. Each dissertation shall bear the candidate’s examination number but not the candidate’s name and shall be accompanied by (i) a brief synopsis on a separate sheet of paper of the contents of the dissertation, and (ii) a certificate signed by the candidate that it is her or his own original work, and that it does not contain material that has already been used to any substantial extent for a comparable purpose.

Temporary Regulation

23. The examinations for the Psychological and Behavioural Sciences Tripos shall be held for the first time under the naming of the Parts4 in these regulations as follows:

Part Ia in 2017

Part Ib in 2018

Part II in 2019

Footnotes

  1. 1. See also the regulations for Affiliated Students (p. 165).a b
  2. 2. See Temporary Regulation 23, p. 432.a b c
  3. 3. For the naming of Parts prior to these examinations, see Statutes and Ordinances, 2015, p. 396.a