Oxford University Final Honours Schools 2007

Mathematics and Philosophy Part A

First Notice to Candidates

• Full particulars of the syllabus and the examination are contained in the Examination Decrees and Regulations together with the Supplement (Part A synopses) to the Handbook for the Undergraduate Mathematics Courses.
• You will receive a second notice later with information about the examination timetable and practical arrangements in the Schools, including information about examination numbers, handing in of scripts, and so on. I am expecting the examination to be held on Thursday and Friday of week 9 in Trinity Term, June 21st and 22nd 2007, but these dates should be regarded as provisional at this stage.
• A note about examination conventions relating to marking of papers in Part A is attached. Your marks will be reported to you in the University's standard format which consists of a mark in the range 0-100 for each paper.
• The examiners are planning to hold their final meeting on Friday 6th July 2006, and hope to distribute results to Colleges soon afterwards.

C Martin Edwards
Chairman of Examiners
Mathematical Institute
November 2006

Part A Mathematics and Philosophy: Marking of Papers

Standardized Marks

The University wishes all examiners to adopt a uniform system of reporting marks. This means that each candidate will receive a numerical mark on each paper in the range 0-100, such that

• a First Class performance (on that paper) is indicated by a mark of 70 to 100;
• an Upper Second Class performance (on that paper) is indicated by a mark of 60 to 69;
• a Lower Second Class performance (on that paper) is indicated by a mark of 50 to 59;
• a Third Class performance (on that paper) is indicated by a mark of 40 to 49;
• a Pass performance (on that paper) is indicated by a mark of 30 to 39;
• a performance at the level of a Fail (on that paper) is indicated by a mark of 0 to 29.

In order to arrive at such University standardized marks (or USMs) for each paper, the examiners will mark and assess papers in the way described below.

Papers in Part A

There are three papers in Part A, all of 2 hours and 15 minutes. In the order in which they will be taken, these are AC1(P), AC2(P), and AO3(P). Questions on AC1(P) are shorter and will be marked out of 10, while questions on AC2(P) and AO3(P) are longer and will be marked out of 25. There will be 6 questions on paper AC1(P) and candidates should attempt them all. There will be 6 questions on paper AC2(P) and candidates may hand in answers to at most 4, from which the best 3 answers will be counted towards the mark for this paper. There will be 8 questions on paper AO3(P), 1 for each 8 lecture course and 2 for each 16 lecture course, and candidates should hand in answers to at most 4, from which the best 3 answers will be counted towards the mark for this paper. You do not need to memorise these details. They will be repeated on the individual examination papers.

Marking of Papers

Mark schemes for questions out of 10 will aim to ensure that the following qualitative criteria hold:

9-10 marks: a completely or almost completely correct answer, showing good understanding of the concepts and skill in carrying through arguments and calculations; minor slips or omissions only.

5-8 marks: a good though not complete answer, showing understanding of the concepts and competence in handling the arguments and calculations.

Mark schemes for questions out of 25 will aim to ensure that the following qualitative criteria hold:

20-25 marks: a completely or almost completely correct answer, showing excellent understanding of the concepts and skill in carrying through the arguments and/or calculations; minor slips or omissions only.

13-19 marks: a good though not complete answer, showing understanding of the concepts and competence in handling the arguments and/or calculations. In this range, an answer might consist of an excellent answer to a substantial part of the question, or a good answer to the whole question which nevertheless shows some flaws in calculation or in understanding or in both.

USMs

At the end of the Part A examination, a candidate will be awarded a University Standardised Mark (USM) for each of the three papers. The Examiners will recalibrate the raw marks to arrive at USMs reported to candidates. In arriving at this recalibration, the examiners will principally take into account the sum of the marks for each question, subject to the rules above on numbers of questions answered, and the performance of the candidates in Part A Mathematics on the corresponding papers. The examiners aim to ensure that all papers and all subjects within a paper are fairly and equally rewarded, but if in any case a paper, or a subject within a paper, appears to have been problematical, then the examiners may take account of this in calculating USMs.

The USMs will be carried forward for consideration when classification is made.