You are viewing: 2023/24 version

Honour School of Computer Science and Philosophy

A

In the following, ‘the Course Handbook’ refers to the Computer ScienceUndergraduate Course Handbook and any supplements to this published by the joint supervisory committee, which is available on the departmental website at www.cs.ox.ac.uk/teaching/csp.

  • 1. All candidates shall be examined in Computer Science and in Philosophy.

  • 2. No candidate shall be admitted to the examination in this School unless they have either passed or been exempted from the First Public Examination.

  • 3. The examinations in this school shall be under the joint supervision of the Divisional Board of Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences and the Board of the Faculty of Philosophy, which shall appoint a joint supervisory committee to make regulations concerning it, subject in all cases to the preceding clauses of this subsection.

  • 4.

    • (a) The examination in Computer Science and Philosophy shall consist of three parts (A, B, C) for the four-year course, and of two parts (A, B) for the three-year course.

    • (b) Parts A, B, and C shall be taken at times not less than three, six, and nine terms, respectively, after passing or being exempted from the First Public Examination.

  • 5. The Examiners shall classify the combined results for parts A and B, and publish the degree classification after the candidates have taken the examinations in Part B, and in respect of candidates taking the four-year course shall separately classify and publish results in Part C.

  • 6.

    • (a) Part A shall be taken on one occasion only. No candidate shall enter for Part B until they have completed Part A of the examination.

    • (b) In order to proceed to Part C, a candidate must achieve upper second class Honours or higher in Parts A and B together.

    • (c) A candidate who obtains only a pass or fails to satisfy the Examiners in Parts A and B may retake Part B on at most one subsequent occasion; a candidate who fails to satisfy the Examiners in Part C may retake Part C on at most one subsequent occasion. Part B shall be taken on one occasion only by candidates continuing to Part C.

  • 7. A candidate adjudged worthy of Honours on both Parts A and B together, and on Part C may supplicate for the degree of Master of Computer Science and Philosophy provided that the candidate has fulfilled all the conditions for admission to a degree of the University.

  • 8. A candidate in the final year of the four-year course, adjudged worthy of Honours in both Parts A and B together, but who does not enter Part C, or who fails to obtain Honours in Part C, is permitted to supplicate for the Honours degree of Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science and Philosophy with the classification obtained in Parts A and B together; provided that no such candidate may later enter or re-enter the Part C year or supplicate for the degree of Master of Computer Science and Philosophy; and provided in each case that the candidate has fulfilled all the conditions for admission to a degree of the University.

B

  • 1. All candidates will be assessed as to their practical ability in Computer Science under the following provisions:

    • (a) The Head of the Department of Computer Science, or a deputy, shall make available to the Examiners evidence showing the extent to which each candidate has pursued an adequate course of practical work. Only that work completed and marked by noon on Friday of the fifth week of the Trinity Term in which the candidate takes the examination shall be included in these records.

    • (b) Candidates for each part of the examination shall submit their reports of practical exercises completed during their course of study as described in their Course Handbook, by the date given in their Course Handbook.

    • (c) The Examiners shall take the evidence (a) and the report (b) into account in assessing a candidate’s performance. Candidates whose overall performance on practical work is not satisfactory may be deemed to have failed the examination or may have their overall classification reduced.

  • 2. The use of calculators is generally not permitted but certain kinds may be allowed for certain papers. Specifications of which papers and which types of calculators are permitted for those exceptional papers will be announced by the Examiners in the Hilary Term preceding the examination.

Part A

In Part A of the examination, candidates shall be required to offer two core Computer Science subjects. The Course Handbook will specify the two subjects to be offered. In addition, candidates shall offer at least two and no more than four option subjects from schedules A1, A2 (CS&P). The manner of examining the subjects shall be the same as that prescribed for the same subject in the Honour School of Computer Science.

Schedules A1 and A2 may contain further sub-schedules which will be specified in the Course Handbook and restrictions may be placed on the maximum number of subjects from each sub-schedule which a candidate may offer; any such restrictions will be specified in the Course Handbook.

Part B

The examination for Part B shall consist of subjects in Computer Science and Philosophy. The subjects in Computer Science shall be chosen from Schedules, B1(CS&P) and, B2(CS&P), to be published on the website of the Department of Computer Science by the beginning of the Michaelmas Full Term in the academic year of the examination. Each Computer Science subject shall be examined by a written paper, by a mini-project, or both as specified in the Course Handbook. The subjects in Philosophy shall be subjects 101–116, 120, 122, 124, 125, 127-129, 137-139, 198 and 199 from the list given in Special Regulations for All Honour Schools Including Philosophy, and subject to the regulations therein. With the exception of 198 and 199, each subject in Philosophy shall be assessed by a 3-hour written examination. Subject 198, Special Subjects, may be examined by other methods and when this is the case, the method in question will be duly communicated to the relevant students. A Philosophy thesis shall be as specified in the Regulations for Philosophy in all Honour Schools including Philosophy (subject 199). No candidate shall offer an option subject in Part B that they havve already offered in Part A of the examination. 

Each candidate shall offer:

  • (a) between two and six Computer Science subjects, and

  • (b) five, four, or three Philosophy subjects, respectively,

subject to the following constraints:

  • (i) Each candidate shall offer no more than two subjects from Schedule B2(CS&P);

  • (ii) Each candidate shall offer at least two Philosophy subjects from 101, 102, 103, 104, 108, 122, 124, 125, and 127.

  • (iii) The total number of Computer Science option subjects offered by a candidate across Parts A and B of the examination shall be either four, six or eight, if the candidate chooses to offer five, four or three Philosophy subjects, respectively.

Part C

In Part C each candidate shall offer a total of between 24 and 26 units chosen in any combination from the lists of taught courses for Computer Science and for Philosophy, a Computer Science project or a Philosophy thesis subject to the following constraints:

  • • No candidate may take more than six Computer Science taught subjects;

  • • No candidate may offer both a Computer Science project and a Philosophy thesis.

The taught subjects in Computer Science shall be published in a schedule, C1(CS&P), on the website of the Department of Computer Science by the beginning of the Michaelmas Full Term in the academic year of the examination concerned. Each option subject shall be examined as stated in the Course Handbook and shall count as three units. 

The exact method of submission for each mini-project will be specified in the Course Handbook.

Each taught Philosophy subject shall be one of the subjects 101–120, 122, 124, 125, 127-129, 137-139 and 198 from the list given in Special Regulations for All Honour Schools Including Philosophy, and subject to the regulations therein. With the exception of 198, each such subject shall be assessed by a 3-hour written examination together with an essay of at most 5,000 words, conforming to the rules given in the Course Handbook. Subject 198, Special Subjects, may be examined by other methods and when this is the case, the method in question will be duly communicated to the relevant students. Each such subject shall count as eight units. No candidate shall offer any taught subject that they have already offered in Part A or Part B of the examination. A Computer Science project shall be as specified for the Honour School of Computer Science, and shall count as nine units. A Philosophy thesis shall be as specified in the Regulations for Philosophy in all Honour Schools including Philosophy (subject 199) except that the thesis shall not exceed 20,000 words, and shall count as eight units.