Information for Part II students wishing to continue to Part III

This information was prepared in October 2010.

  1. Admissions: Part III admissions decisions for continuing Part III students are made by the Faculty Board by a process outlined at the bottom of this page. The effect of this process is as follows. Permission is automatic if you obtain a First in Part II Mathematics. If you do not obtain a First in Part II Mathematics you may ask the college to apply on your behalf for permission to continue. The committee set up to make decisions will consider your past examination performance, the recommendation from your College, your own letter and any other relevant material to decide if you have ‘First Class potential’ at Part III level.

    Note that your degree aim will be BA+MMath. You must not graduate at the end of Part II. Applications to the Student Loans Company should be for ‘Maths 4 Years’ with UCAS code G100, Campus B, qualification MMath. Note further that advice like that just given may be out of date or wrong for other reasons. It is your responsibility in cooperation with your College to jump through the right hoops. If problems do arise you should consult your College (but, if contacted by your College, we will do our best to help).

  2. Dates: Part III begins on the first week of Michaelmas Full Term, with registration and an induction meeting.

  3. Terms: Part III is timetabled within undergraduate terms but vacations are important for consolidating understanding of lecture material and for writing essay (see later). Many students stay in Cambridge for part of the vacations to use library facilities.

  4. Location: All Part III activities take place at CMS, where there is a large room for the exclusive use of Part III students (with books, computers, coffee-making facilities etc). The Betty and Gordon Moore science library is on-site.

  5. Help and advice: You will have more direct contact with the Departments in Part III than in Part II, and you will be allocated a subject contact in the Departments with whom you will be required to meet from time to time. But your College Director of Studies and College Tutor will play broadly the same role as when you were undergraduates. In Part III there are relatively few undergraduate-style supervisions. It is therefore essential that if you experience difficulties and drop behind you consult one of your academic advisors promptly.

  6. The course: The course structure is as follows. Lecture courses are either 16 lectures (2 units) or 24 lectures (3 units). Each course has an examination paper, taken in June. You are allowed to submit up to 19 units of examination credit. 3 units of this may be an extended essay written some time between the end of Michaelmas Term and the deadline for submission, which is early in Easter Term. (If you submit an essay then you are limited to 16 units of written examination.) The essay is not compulsory, but the great majority of Part III students choose to write essays; the work is generally an enjoyable change and a valuable training for research. Most students take more lecture courses than are required for the examination and then decide later which they will choose for the examination. (This choice is made early in Easter Term.)

  7. Choosing courses: A list of the courses expected to be available in the next academic year will be distributed at the meeting. Further changes to this list will be avoided if possible, but may be essential. Course descriptions are available on the web.

    These are currently the descriptions for the current year's courses, but will be updated by mid-July. In October each Part III student will receive a booklet containing finalised course descriptions.

    There is no requirement that students must restrict their choice of courses to those given by one Department. Most students take courses from one or two subject areas, but some take a wide variety. Courses may be selected freely from those available, within the constraints of the lecture timetable (which is arranged carefully to avoid clashes between related courses). The examination timetable corresponds to the lecture timetable, i.e. courses that are lectured at the same time are examined at the same time. It is not therefore possible for students to sit examination papers in two courses that were lectured at the same time.

  8. Conclusion: Part III is hard work. It is extremely important to keep up with the lectures, and this requires a lot of time outside of the lectures themselves. But you will learn a lot of interesting mathematics!

Statement by the Faculty Board

The following statement relates to Part III of the Mathematical Tripos starting in October 2011. Under University Regulations, Cambridge students who wish to take Part III of the Mathematical Tripos must have the permission of the Faculty Board of Mathematics. The Faculty Board has decided that the criterion for permission to be granted is that the student should have demonstrated First Class performance, or clear potential for First Class performance, in advanced mathematics.

The Faculty Board announces accordingly that it will automatically grant permission to any student who obtains a First in Part II of the Mathematical Tripos. Students who are not granted permission automatically, but who nevertheless wish to proceed to Part III should ask their College to apply for permission on their behalf. (Colleges may set their own deadlines but, in the absence of such a deadline, we suggest that students should make their request to the College by noon on the Monday following the day on which the results of Part II of the Mathematical Tripos are announced in the Senate House.) The student should supply the College with a letter outlining the courses (or type of courses) they wish to take in Part III, explaining how these courses fit in with their goals and with their undergraduate course selection. The application from the College should include both this letter and a letter from the student's Director of Studies (or equivalent person) that details the student's ranking in previous parts of the Tripos, and comments on the student's abilities and demonstrated potential for First Class performance in Part III. Where appropriate, the College should also draw attention to any material circumstances that have adversely affected the student's previous performance in the Tripos. The application from the College should be sent to the Secretary of the Faculty Board of Mathematics to reach the Secretary by noon on the Thursday two weeks after the results have been announced in the Senate House (ie noon on 7th July in 2011).

Students and Colleges are reminded that, if a student graduates with a BA after three years study, they cease to be eligible for the MMath. A student who is unsuccessful in their application for permission to take Part III can graduate at a later congregation or in absentio.

The Faculty Board will appoint an Admissions Committee to discuss the applications against the criterion for admission and make decisions on its behalf. The Faculty Board will instruct the Committee that decisions are to be made on a case-by-case basis and that, though the committee may consider past experience, it is not to be bound by precedent. The Faculty Board will also instruct the Committee that it should require a very strong case to made for a student who has studied the Mathematical Tripos and did not rank in the top 40% by merit mark in both the Part 1B and Part II Tripos Examinations if that student is to be granted permission to proceed to Part III.

If, exceptionally, a student cannot be dealt with by these procedures (for example, if an application arrives too late from the College to be considered by the meeting of the Admissions Committee) they will be dealt with by two members of the Committee acting in consultation.

Part III Course Director
2010-10-11