Examination enrolments (exam entries)

In this section

For enquires contact the Head of Exams, Assessment and Mitigating Circumstances or Exams and Assessment Lead at the Student Registry.

For enquires regarding pleas of incuria for Tripos examinations, contact the Head of Education Quality & Policy at the Education Quality and Policy Office.

Undergraduate examination enrolment

Undergraduate examination enrolment takes place between 1 October to 8 November, with the majority of undergraduates making their examination entries using CamSIS. The student's Director of Studies is responsible for checking and validating their entry although students are still encouraged to fully discuss their choice of examination papers fully with their Director of Studies. Entries may be made directly by Directors of Studies and by College Tutorial Offices. Candidates are required to certify that their entries are correct.

After 8 November any changes to examination entries must be made via College Tutorial Offices submitting electronic amendment forms to the Student Registry.

The Student Registry issues First Lists of candidates in accordance with its published timetables. Colleges are responsible for checking the entries. For Easter Term exams, students validate their exam entry via CamSIS. This is the last opportunity for changes to be made. Candidates are required to verify the information displayed (or to notify the tutorial office of changes). Other than exceptional circumstances (such as withdrawal or illness) corrections to examination entries will not be accepted after the last day of Full Lent Term.

Entries must comply with the requirements of the examinations concerned, unless specifically authorised otherwise usually by the Examination Access and Mitigation Committee. That authorisation is the means of clarifying the status of the candidate (for example a not for honours or exchange student may not necessarily be taking the complete suite of papers required of Honours students). Candidates who wish to take particular papers for professional exemption purposes will usually be allowed to do so, but not if they have graduated and gone down, and not if they have previously offered the papers or the examination in which they occur.

The Council does not have authority to permit a candidate to take a combination of examination papers that contravenes the relevant Tripos or Award Regulations. If a candidate has been preparing for a combination of papers not permitted by the Regulations, the General Board is empowered to approve irregular combinations of papers but will only do so in the following circumstances:

  • where a candidate has been entered for an illegal combination of papers where changing to the correct combination would cause serious difficulties for the student, in which case the Tutor will need to submit a plea of incuria to the Education Section.
  • where there are extenuating circumstances, such as when a candidate degraded and the Regulations governing the combination of subjects have changed by the time of their return.

Note: this device is intended for genuine cases and should not be used where a student simply wishes to take a combination of papers that contravenes the relevant Tripos regulations. This will not be permitted by the Education Committee of the General Board.

Timetabling and entries for Second MB and Second Vet MB Examinations

Candidates are entitled to two attempts at the Second MB examinations; those who fail twice are automatically withdrawn from the Medical Register and are not able to continue with their medical studies. There is limited provision to allow more than two attempts if a student has extenuating circumstances in which case the College must apply on the student's behalf to the Faculty Board of Clinical Medicine for additional Second MB attempts(or Faculty Board of Veterinary Medicine in the case of Second Vet MB attempts).

Any candidate failing a component of any subject(s) in the Medical/Veterinary Sciences Tripos Parts IA and IB and Second MB examination for the first time will be automatically entered for the next Second MB/Vet MB examination in September. If this timing is not appropriate, for example in the case of on-going medical problems, the College may seek a deferrment. As there are time limits on these retake examinations, special permission may be required from the Faculty Board of Clinical Medicine (or Faculty Board of Veterinary Medicine in the case of vet students.)

Further information is available on the Faculty Board of Biology website.

Examination Entries for MPhils

Examination entries are required for all MPhil modules; this includes written exams, dissertations and coursework. Degree Committees are requested to enter their student’s examination choice direct to CamSIS.

Entries for University examinations are governed by regulation, with set deadlines for each stage. Further information regarding the closing date for examination entries can be found on the Student Regisry's Examinations website via the above link.

Any corrections to an already submitted examination entry are to be sent to the Student Registry by the Department and not the College.