Choices, Choices

Choice of Course

If you think you might be interested in ASNC, you should try to come to our Departmental Open Day, where you will be able to listen to the senior members talking (briefly and enthusiastically) about their respective subject-areas. You will also have an opportunity to meet some current undergraduates, and to examine first-hand some of the Anglo-Saxon manuscripts in a college library.

Choice of Papers

You need to make sure that the available choice of papers will suit your own interests. In Cambridge parlance, a ‘paper’ means a course of study leading to an examination paper. Please click here for lists of the papers in the ASNC Tripos: Part I and Part II (including the ‘borrowed’ papers). Introductory reading lists for each paper are available from the Current Undergraduate Students pages.

For the purposes of Part I (your first two years), you will make an initial selection of six papers, from a range of 15; it is possible in your second year to submit a dissertation (an extended essay of about 30 pages, written in your own time on a subject of your own choice) in place of one paper. You will be examined on four of the six papers at the end of your first year (the Preliminary Examination), and on all six (or five, if you are submitting a dissertation in place of one) at the end of your second year (the Part I examination).

For the purposes of Part II (your third year), you have to choose four papers from a range of 15, and submit a dissertation. You will be examined on the four papers, and on your dissertation, at the end of your third year.