2025-26 Part B Examination in Mathematics

 

Students are assessed on the equivalent of 8 units.

 

 

Each mathematics paper will examine one unit. Most mathematics units will be assessed by a closed book exam. These will consist of three questions, each worth 25 marks. You may submit answers to as many questions as you wish, but only the best two answers will count towards the final mark for the paper. 

In all papers the questions set should, as a whole, be fairly spread across the syllabus.

Questions will be broadly similar in style to previous Part B questions with an easy start examining material explicitly covered in the course, followed by a part which tests understanding. Each question will be set so that a sound student can produce a complete answer within 35- 40 minutes.

Each question should be divided into two to four parts and an indication of the raw marks available for each part of each question should be given on the question paper.

 

This is a two unit course and is assessed by written project, oral presentation and peer review.  The weightings for these three components are 75%, 15%, 10%, respectively.  For the written projects the weighting will be further divided between general explanation and discussion of the problem (50% of available marks) and mathematical calculations and commentary (50% of available marks).

 

 

Please see the Mathematics and Statistics Part B examination conventions at https://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/bammath-mathematics-and-statistics-student-resources.

 

 

Please see the Mathematics and Computer Science Part B examination conventions at http://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/teaching/examconventions/mcs.html.

 

 

This is a two-unit course. The written examination will be of two hours duration. The exam will have two sections: A (Extracts) with six questions and B (Essays) with three questions.  Candidates will be expected to attempt two questions from Section A and one from Section B.  The reading course mini-project will consist of an essay of 3000 words; essay topics set by the examiners will be released to the candidates in Week 7 of Hilary Term. 

 

The assessment will use the following weighting principles: 

 

1. A USM will be reported for the written paper and for the mini-project.  The written paper and mini-project will each be given a weight of one unit when calculating a candidate’s weighted overall average for Part B.
2. For the project, marks will be awarded for mathematical content, historical content, and presentation.
3. The extracts questions in Section A of the written paper will attract marks for treatment of context, content and significance.
4. The Section B essay will be marked using the same categories as the project.

Extended essays have a weighting of two units.  The word limit for BOE essays is 7500 words. 

 

USM marks will be assigned to extended essays with the same meaning as regards class boundaries as in the mathematics papers.  In arriving at these marks, the relative weights attached to content, and style and presentation  will be  75\% and 25\%, respectively.  

 

Please see the regulations for Philosophy in all Honour Schools including Philosophy at https://examregs.admin.ox.ac.uk/