General Regulations for the First and Second Public Examination

Part 1 General

• 1.1. These regulations apply to the following degrees of the University:

• 1.2. In these regulations where the context admits:

  • (1) the expression ‘statutory residence’ means residence at any place authorised by the Regulations for Residence in the University (‘the Residence Regulations’);

  • (2) references to divisions and faculty boards shall include a reference to the Committee for the Ruskin School of Art; and

  • (3) ‘college’ means any college, society, or Permanent Private Hall or any other institution designated by Council by regulation as being permitted to present candidates for matriculation.

• 1.3. Any member of the University may be admitted to a degree to which these regulations apply if they:

  • (1) have kept statutory residence for the period prescribed in these regulations for the degree in question; and

  • (2) have employed themself in study and hearing lectures and have (unless exempt) passed the First and Second Public Examinations in accordance with the requirements laid down by regulation.

Part 2 Residence

• 2.1. A member reading for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts or of Fine Art must unless regulation 2.2 below applies keep nine terms of statutory residence.

• 2.2. A member who has taken Honour Moderations in Classics as the First Public Examination must keep twelve terms of statutory residence.

• 2.3. A member reading for any of the Master's degrees referred to in regulation 1.1 above must keep twelve terms of statutory residence.

• 2.4. The Proctors may, for any reason judged by them to be sufficient and on such conditions as they think fit, excuse a member reading for a degree to which these regulations apply from up to three terms of statutory residence.

• 2.5.

  • (1) If any member is dissatisfied with a decision by the Proctors under regulation 2.4 above, they or their college, may within fourteen days of the date of the decision appeal in writing to the Chair of the Education Committee of Council.

  • (2) The appeal shall be adjudged expeditiously by the Chair or their nominee.

• 2.6. Applications for dispensation under regulation 2.4 above must be made through the applicant's college.

• 2.7. A member who is granted dispensation from statutory residence under regulation 2.4 above must nevertheless, unless expressly exempted, pay in respect of any term for which they are excused residence any university fee which would have been payable if they had actually resided.

• 2.8. Council may permit time spent outside Oxford, as part of an academic programme approved by it, to be counted towards residence for the purposes of these regulations.

Part 3 First Public Examination

• 3.1. The First Public Examination shall include Honour Moderations, Moderations, and Preliminary Examinations in the subjects respectively listed in Table 2, Table 3, and Table 4

• 3.2. The examinations shall be conducted by Moderators under the supervision of the divisional and faculty boards assigned to each subject respectively in Table 2, Table 3, and Table 4

• 3.3. The boards shall from time to time make and publish Special Regulations respecting the examinations under their supervision and shall publish lists of subjects and (where appropriate) of books which may be offered for examination, maintaining as far as possible a distinction between the subjects and any books prescribed in the First and Second Public Examinations respectively.

• 3.4. Special Regulations made and lists drawn up by boards under regulation 3.3 above shall not have effect until:

  • (1) they have been approved by or on behalf of the Education Committee of Council;

  • (2) in the case of regulations made and lists drawn up by faculty boards or other bodies within the Humanities and Social Sciences Divisions, they have also first been approved by the Humanities Board or the Social Sciences Board as appropriate;

  • (3) they have then been duly published, and if necessary approved by Congregation, in accordance with the procedure laid down in sections 15-20 of Statute VI.

• Method of examining

• 3.5. Subject to regulation 3.6 below the examinations shall be conducted in writing.

• 3.6. A board may specify by Special Regulation that an examination shall be partly aural, oral, practical, or visual.

• Admission to the First Public Examination

• 3.7. No person who is not a student member of the University may be admitted to the First Public Examination.

• 3.8. Candidates may be admitted to Honour Moderations at any time not earlier than the third term from matriculation, but no candidate who has exceeded the sixth term from matriculation inclusively, or the eighth term in the case of candidates for Honour Moderations in Classics, shall be capable of obtaining Honours.

• 3.9. Candidates may be admitted to each of the Moderations listed in Table 5, not earlier than the term from matriculation specified in each case.

• 3.10.

  • (1) Candidates shall not be admitted to any of the Preliminary Examinations which has the same title as any Honour Moderations or Moderations, and which is one of those marked with an asterisk in Table 4, unless they have either failed the examination for the Honour Moderations or Moderations with the same title or, subject to the consent of the Proctors, have been prevented by illness or other urgent and reasonable cause from taking that examination.

  • (2) If any member of the University is dissatisfied with a decision by the Proctors under paragraph (1) above, they or their college, may within fourteen days of the date of the decision appeal in writing to the Chair of the Education Committee of Council.

  • (3) The appeal shall be adjudged expeditiously by the Chair or their nominee.

• 3.11. Candidates may be admitted to each of the Preliminary Examinations listed in Table 6, not earlier than the term from matriculation specified in each case.

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• Regulations under which a candidate may be examined

• 3.12. A person admitted as a candidate for the First Public Examination within three terms of the term in which they were originally due to be examined for the First Public Examination, shall be entitled to be examined in accordance with the regulations pertaining to the original examination, if they so wish.

• 3.13. A person admitted as a candidate for the First Public Examination four or more terms after the term in which they were originally due to be examined for the First Public Examination shall normally be examined in accordance with the current regulations.

• Passing the First Public Examination

  3.14. A candidate shall be deemed to have passed the First Public Examination if they have satisfied the Examiners in any one of the parts of the examination as set out in Table 2, Table 3, and Table 4

  3.15. Any person who has satisfied the Examiners in Part I of the First Examination for the Degree of Bachelor of Medicine shall be deemed to have passed the First Public Examination.

• 3.16.

  • (1) A candidate who fails to satisfy the examiners in their initial examination for the First Public Examination shall be permitted to re-enter for the examination on one further occasion in accordance with the special regulations governing re-sits in the programme concerned. This resit attempt shall normally be taken at the next opportunity, but may be deferred once, i.e. it must be taken at one of the next two opportunities. Candidates shall be required to resit the same papers for which they were examined at the first attempt.

    (2) A further exceptional opportunity to re-sit the examination shall require application to and approval on behalf of the Education Committee. If granted, this exceptional resit attempt shall normally be taken at the next opportunity, but may be deferred once, i.e. it must be taken at one of the next two opportunities. Candidates shall be required to resit the same papers for which they were examined at the previous attempts.

    (3) A candidate who passes the First Public Examination whether at the first attempt or after re-sitting the examination shall be deemed to have reached the University's threshold standard for embarking on the Final Honour School.

Part 4 Second Public Examination

• 4.1. The Second Public Examination shall, except in the case of the Degree of Bachelor of Fine Art, consist of a Final Examination in the Honour Schools in each of the subjects listed in Table 7.

• 4.2. The examinations shall be conducted by the Public Examiners under the supervision of the divisional or faculty boards assigned to each school in Table 7.

• 4.3. The Second Public Examination for the Degree of Bachelor of Fine Art shall consist of a Final Honour School under the supervision of the Committee for the Ruskin School of Art.

• 4.4. The boards shall from time to time make and publish Special Regulations respecting the examinations under their supervision and shall publish lists of subjects and (where appropriate) of books which may be offered for examination.

• 4.5. Special Regulations made and lists drawn up by boards under regulation 4.5 above shall not have effect until:

  • (1) they have been approved by or on behalf of the Education Committee of Council;

  • (2) in the case of regulations made and lists drawn up by faculty boards or other bodies within the Humanities and Social Sciences Divisions, they have also first been approved by the Humanities Board or the Social Sciences Board as appropriate;

  • (3) they have then been duly published, and if necessary approved by Congregation, in accordance with the procedure laid down in sections 15-20 of Statute VI.

• Method of examining

• 4.6. Every candidate in a Second Public Examination shall be examined in writing; and any candidate who seeks Honours may be examined viva voce where Special Regulations made by the divisional board, board of a faculty, or other body responsible for an examination (or jointly by the relevant bodies where an examination is a joint responsibility) expressly provide.

• 4.7. A board may specify by Special Regulation that an examination shall be partly aural, oral, practical, or visual.

• Admission to the Second Public Examination

• 4.8. No person who is not a student member of the University may be admitted to the Second Public Examination.

• 4.9. No person may be admitted to the Second Public Examination unless they have passed or been exempted from the First Public Examination.

• 4.10. No person may be admitted as a candidate in any Final Honour School unless they:

  • (1) have satisfied the conditions, if any, which are required by regulations (including Special Regulations) relating to the School in which they are a candidate; and

  • (2) will by the end of the term in which the final assessment is undertaken have kept statutory residence for the number of terms which, under Part 2 or 5 of these regulations or the Regulations for Senior Student Status, is appropriate to their status and to the School in which they are a candidate.

• Maximum time allowed for Honours

• 4.11. No person may be admitted as a candidate in any Final Honour School after the lapse of fifteen terms from the term of matriculation inclusively, except in the following cases:

  • (1) A candidate who has obtained Honours in some other Final Honour School may be admitted not more than nine terms after the date on which they first obtained Honours in a Final Honour School.

  • (2) A candidate who has obtained Honours (or has satisfied the Moderators under the Regulations for the Conduct of Examinations) in Honour Moderations may be admitted as a candidate in Part II of the examination in Chemistry or in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry or in Materials Science up to the end of the twenty-first term.

  • (3) A candidate in any of the following Final Honour School examinations may be admitted up to the end of the eighteenth term:

    • (a) any Final Honour School, if the candidate has obtained Honours (or has satisfied the Moderators under the Regulations for the Conduct of Examinations) in Honour Moderations in either the fifth or sixth term, or the eighth term in the case of Honour Moderations in Classics, from matriculation;

    • (b) the second part of any Final Honour School which is divided into two parts, except the Honour School of Biology (three-year), the Honour School of Cell and Systems Biology (three-year), the Honour School of Experimental Psychology (three-year), the Honour School of Geology, the Honour School of Neuroscience (three-year), the Honour School of Physics (three-year course), and the Honour School of Psychology, Philosophy and Linguistics (three-year);

    •  (c) the third part of any Final Honour School which is divided into three parts;

    • (d) the Honour School of Classics and Modern Languages, English and Modern Languages, European and Middle Eastern Languages, Jurisprudence, Modern Languages, Modern Languages and Linguistics, History and Modern Languages, or Philosophy and Modern Languages, if the candidate is certified by their college to have spent an academic year of approved residence in an appropriate country or appropriate countries;

    • (e) the examination in Chinese or Japanese, or, if the candidate is certified to have spent an academic year abroad on a course approved by the Board of the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, the examination in Arabic, or Hebrew, or Persian, or Turkish, in the Honour Schools in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies.

  • (4) A person whose position is not covered in any of paragraphs 4.11 (1)-(3) may be admitted as a candidate in a Final Honour School for which there is at least one other candidate, subject to the approval of the Education Committee.

• 4.12. The candidate's college shall be required to notify the University of any change in the candidate's status between entry and the date of the examination.

• 4.13. No person whose name has been recorded as achieving a classified result by the Public Examiners (other than a candidate who has been declared to have deserved Honours under the Regulations for the Conduct of Examinations) shall be admitted again as a candidate in the same Final Honour School, but this regulation shall not affect the regulations concerning the Final Honour Schools of Modern Languages and in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies which enable candidates under certain conditions to offer themselves again in the same School. A person who does not achieve a classified result at the first attempt may be admitted again as a candidate in the same Final Honour School on one further occasion. This resit attempt shall normally be taken at the next opportunity, but may be deferred once, i.e. it must be taken at one of the next two opportunities. Candidates shall be required to resit the same papers for which they were examined at the first attempt.

• 4.14.

  • (1) No person whose name has been placed in any Results List by the Public Examiners (with the exceptions in regulations 4.12 and 4.13 above) shall be admitted as a candidate in a second Final Honour School having papers in common with the first, except with the permission of the Proctors.

  • (2) If any member of the University is dissatisfied with a decision by the Proctors under paragraph (1) above, they or their college, may within fourteen days of the date of the decision appeal in writing to the Chair of the Education Committee of Council.

  • (3) The appeal shall be adjudged expeditiously by the Chair or their nominee.

• Regulations under which a candidate may be examined

• 4.15. A person admitted as a candidate in any Final Honour School within six terms of the term in which they were originally due to be examined shall be entitled to be examined in accordance with the regulations pertaining to the original examination, if they so wish.

• 4.16. A person admitted as a candidate in any Final Honour School seven or more terms after the term in which they were originally due to be examined shall normally be examined in accordance with the current regulations.

• Passing the Second Public Examination

• 4.17. Candidates shall be deemed to have passed the Second Public Examination if they either have obtained Honours, or satisfied the examiners, in any one of the Honour Schools listed in Table 6, and Table 7, or in the Final Examination in Fine Art.

Part 5 Foundation Course at the Department for Continuing Education

• 5.1. Any member of the University who has successfully completed the course for a Foundation Certificate at the Department for Continuing Education (whether or not they were a member when they did so) may apply for admission to the Degree of Bachelor of Arts if they have:

  • (1) kept statutory residence in accordance with regulations 5.2 and 5.3 below; and

  • (2) passed the Second Public Examination.

• 5.2. A person who has successfully completed the course for the Foundation Certificate in English Literature may be admitted as a candidate in the Final Honour School of English Language and Literature if by the end of the term in which the examination is held they have kept statutory residence for six terms.

• 5.3. A person who has successfully completed the course for any Foundation Certificate may not be admitted as a candidate in any Final Honour School more than twelve terms inclusively from the term of matriculation.

Part 6 Degrees Awarded on passing the Second Public Examination

• 6.1. The Degree of Bachelor of Arts shall be awarded to members of the University who have obtained Honours, or have satisfied the examiners but have not obtained Honours, in any Final Honour School other than the School of Fine Art or the Schools listed in Table 8 below, subject to these regulations and to the Special Regulations for the Second Public Examination concerned.

• 6.2. The Degree of Bachelor of Fine Art shall be awarded to members of the University who have obtained Honours, or who have satisfied the examiners, in the Final Honour School for that degree, subject to these regulations and to the Special Regulations for that School.

• 6.3. The Master's Degrees to which these regulations apply shall be awarded to members of the University who have obtained Honours in the Second Public Examination in the relevant Final Honour Schools, as set out in Table 8 below, subject also to the conditions laid down in the Special Regulations for each School.