SPECIAL REGULATIONS FOR THE HONOUR SCHOOL OF NEUROSCIENCE

[1] A

1. [2] 1. The subject of the Honour School of Neuroscience shall be all aspects of the scientific study of the nervous system.
2. [3] 2. No candidate shall be admitted to examination in this school unless he or she has either passed or been exempted from the First Public Examination.
3. [4] 3. The examination in this school shall be under the supervision of the Medical Sciences Board, which shall make regulations concerning it.
4. [5] 4. The examination in Neuroscience shall consist of two parts: Part I and Part II.
5. [6] 5. No candidate shall be admitted to the Part II examination in this school unless he or she has passed the Part I examination in this school.
6. [7] 6. The examination for Part I will take place during Week 0 or 1 in Trinity Term of the candidate’s second year. The examination for Part II will take place during Trinity Term of the candidate’s third year.
7. [8] 7. For the Part I options provided by the Department of Experimental Psychology, and the Part II advanced options which are as specified for Part II of the Honour School of Experimental Psychology, candidates shall be examined by such of the Public Examiners in the Honour School of Experimental Psychology as may be required. For the written papers in Part II which are as specified for the Honour School of Medical Sciences, and the Research Project, candidates shall be examined by such of the Public Examiners in the Honour School of Medical Sciences as may be required.
8. [9] 8. In addition to the form of examination prescribed below, candidates may be examined viva voce in either part of the examination.
9. [10] 9. Candidates for Part II may offer themselves for examination in one or more of the Supplementary Subjects. The Supplementary Subjects available in any year will be notified to students annually during Trinity Term. Account shall be taken of a candidate’s results in any such subject in the candidate’s overall classification in the Honour School of Neuroscience. Candidates awarded a pass in a Supplementary Subject examination may not retake the same Supplementary Subject examination.

[11] B

[12] PART I

1. [13] 1. Candidates will attend lectures and practicals in options selected from a list published in the Medical Sciences Teaching Centre by the end of Week 8 of Hilary Term in the year preceding the examination. Each option will have a number of units ascribed to it. Candidates will be required to study options totalling ten units. The list published in the Medical Sciences Teaching Centre and the handbook for the course will specify how many units are assigned to each option, and which options are recommended to proceed to particular advanced options in Part II.
2. [14] 2. Two written papers will be set:
   1. [15] (i) Paper I will be a three-hour examination comprising a selection of questions requiring short answers. Candidates will be required to answer those questions relating to their chosen options.
   2. [16] (ii) Paper II will be a two-hour essay paper. Candidates will be required to answer questions from a selection relating to the different options that they have studied.
3. [17] 3. If, in Paper II of the Part I Examination, a candidate presents essentially the same information on more than one occasion, then credit will be given in only the first instance.
4. [18] 4. Candidates will be required to undertake practical work as specified in the course handbook which will constitute part of the examination. The Course Director, or a deputy, shall make available to the Examiners, at the end of Week 0 of Trinity Term in which the examinations are held, evidence showing the extent and the standard to which each candidate has completed the prescribed practical work. Practical work cannot normally be retaken. Candidates whose attendance or performance is deemed unsatisfactory will forfeit one quarter of the marks in the Part I examination, the outcome of which will be carried forward to the Part II Examination.

[19] PART II

1. [20] 1. Each candidate must offer timed written examination papers and a project report based on a research project.
2. [21] 2. Each candidate must offer 4 written papers: Paper 1A, Neuroscience, and Paper 2 as specified for the Honour School of Medical Sciences; two advanced options as specified for the Honour School of Experimental Psychology Part II.
3. [22] 3. The Research Project [23] The research project will normally be carried out in the Trinity Term of the candidate’s second year and the Michaelmas Term of the candidate’s third year.
   1. [24] (i) Form, Subject and Approval of the Project [25] The project shall consist of original experiments done by the candidate alone or in collaboration with others (where such collaboration is, for instance, needed to produce results in the time available). [26] A list of potential supervisors and their research interests shall be published no later than the end of Week 6 of Hilary Term in the academic year preceding the examination. Candidates should normally discuss their intended project with the potential supervisor and their tutor before submitting a project outline to the course administrator no later than noon, Friday of Week 0 of Trinity Term of the academic year preceding the examination. Decision on the application shall be made by the Course Director, or a deputy, and communicated to candidates by Friday of Week 1 of the same term.
   2. [27] (ii) Submission of the Project Report [28] The length and format of the Project Report based on the project shall be according to guidelines published by the Medical Sciences Board in Week 6 of Hilary Term of the academic year preceding the year of examination. Material in a candidate's Project Report must not be duplicated in any answer given in a written examination paper. Project Reports previously submitted for the Honour School of Neuroscience may be resubmitted. No Project Report will be accepted if it has already been submitted, wholly or substantially, for another Honour School or degree of this University, or for a degree of any other institution. [29] Project Reports (three copies) must be sent to the Chairman of Examiners, Honour School of Neuroscience, Examination Schools, High Street, Oxford, [Until 1 October 2013: not later that noon on the Friday of Week 1 of Hilary Term] [From 1 October 2013: not later than noon on the Friday of Week 8 of Hilary Term] in the academic year in which the candidate intends to take the examination. The copies shall be accompanied (in a separate sealed envelope) by a certificate signed by each candidate indicating that the research project is the candidate’s own work and that the supervisor has commented on at least one draft of the Project Report. In the case of laboratory-based work that has been produced in collaboration, the certificate shall indicate the extent of the candidate’s own contribution. Each candidate will be required to submit a draft of their Project Report to their supervisor no later than two weeks before the specified deadline for submission to Schools. [30] In exceptional cases, where through unforeseen circumstances a laboratory-based project produces no useable results (i.e. not even negative or ambiguous results), the candidate may apply through his or her college to the Course Director, or a deputy, for permission to submit a concise review of the scientific context and the aims of the work that was attempted in place of the normal Project Report. Such an application must be accompanied by supporting evidence from the supervisor of the project. The concise review to be submitted in such circumstances should be comparable in length to the Report of a successful laboratory-based project and will be presented orally to the examiners and be examined viva voce in the usual way for a research project. The examiners will be advised that substantive results could not be produced. [31] In all cases, the examiners shall obtain and consider a written report from each supervisor indicating the extent of the input made by the candidate to the outcome of the project and also any unforeseen difficulties associated with the project (e.g. unexpected technical issues or problems in the availability of materials, equipment, or literature or other published data).
   3. [32] (iii) Oral Assessment of Project-based Written Work [33] In addition, each candidate shall make a brief oral presentation of their project to a group of two examiners (or examiners and assessors appointed to ensure an adequate representation of expertise), after which, the candidate shall be examined viva voce on the project. The form of the presentation to the examiners shall be specified in guidelines published by the Medical Sciences Board.
4. [34] 4. If, in the Part II Examination, a candidate presents essentially the same information on more than one occasion, then credit will be given in only the first instance.
5. [35] 5. The weighting of marks for the five exercises required of each candidate shall be 25 per cent for the Project Report based on the research project and 55 per cent in total for the four written papers. Marks carried forward from the Part I examination will account for the remaining 20 per cent for the candidate’s overall result for the Honour School of Neuroscience.