Cambridge 2011 Freshers Chat Thread

Christ's, for German and ab initio Russian. And thee?

Got in for natural sciences at Corpus Christi.



I got a pack of stuff from my college today, including a reading list (which was already on their website) and some maths questions and a form asking for exact results in all my modules.

Another ab initio Russianist It's the best language

Hiii, Physical or Biological?
I'm doing Physical NatSci.

Just to know, is your reading list significantly different to the one on the NatSci Website?
(I'm only asking because post will take about 2 weeks to reach me -_- )

Which options are you interested in taking this year?




Hii No problem Excited?

Christ's, for German and ab initio Russian. And thee?

Your mate's wrong. Essentially.

Exams are done in this way. Everyone is given a candidate number, on paper. They can't tell anyone (or any tutors) their number. The examiner will only see the number and not the name.

The exam is set by 1-2 academics and is then marked by 3-4 of them. Every paper is double-marked. This is because, although it is anonymous, some tutors will be able to recognise handwriting or maybe even ideas (for example, my land law supervisor probably set our paper this year. He's seen my handwriting before and I have a fairly distinctive style. He might not remember it was mine but it's possible he'd realise it was one of his supervisees. My EU supervisor was probably an examiner and I actually told him the week before the exam that if a certain point came up, I'd give a certain answer just for fun. That point, coincidentally, *did* come up and I gave the answer I told him I would). However, the double-marking ensures that someone who doesn't know you will also mark the paper and thus eliminate bias. For example, I didn't know any other land law academics (or rather, they don't know me. OK, one knows me as the girl she caught talking and giggling in a lecture but that's it) and I did know another EU supervisor who could have taken a guess, feasibly, as I was one of 8 2nd years doing the paper (compared to 220 3rd years). But that's the best she could have done.

If you are a borderline candidate your paper will be triple-marked. For example, I got 70 for my contract paper. This means 3 examiners marked my paper to check if I really was at a 1st standard rather than a 2.1.

Some subjects triple-mark anyway, just to be sure. They are also triple-marked if there is a large disrepancy between the first two examiners.

The law exam system is done in a painstaking manner to make sure there's no chance of favouritism or dodgy marking.

NatSci at Jesus


Wooo

I know I'm so keen, but anyone know when we find out who our college parents are ?

Wow man I'm jealous. All I got today was a financial information document. Hopefully get some more interesting stuff soon.

Hiii, Physical or Biological?
I'm doing Physical NatSci.

Just to know, is your reading list significantly different to the one on the NatSci Website?
(I'm only asking because post will take about 2 weeks to reach me -_- )

Which options are you interested in taking this year?

I got in to corpus christi too

In your letter did you get a sheet about cambridge parties or something to go to before going to uni

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeey fellow Christ person...!

But of course you are now, in my eyes, awesome. Which college?

I'm at Emma, but I'm about to start my fourth year I spent my year abroad in Moscow. So if you have any questions about Russian fire them my way

And a hellooooooooo to you too What subject?

Got in for natural sciences at Corpus Christi.



I got a pack of stuff from my college today, including a reading list (which was already on their website) and some maths questions and a form asking for exact results in all my modules.

Law for me, I take it you're doing languages. Are you an international/home student....?

You excited much...? I can't wait to start in October...