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Teaching
Students experience a number of areas of astrophysics from a choice of options taken to an advanced level, at which current research can be appreciated in some depth.
For full details of the course, follow the link to Part III/MASt | Institute of Astronomy (cam.ac.uk) (whose course content and arrangements are identical to the MASt course but are taken by students already enrolled at the University of Cambridge); note that the courses on offer vary somewhat from year to year.
| One to one supervision | Each student is assigned a supervisor for their individual research project. The projects are specific to each student, i.e. every student is doing something different from the other students. Project supervisors meet their students individually. Supervisions for the project are one-on-one with at least eight hours of contact time. |
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| Seminars & classes | Students can attend any of the numerous seminars given in the Institute of Astronomy, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, and the Department of Physics. However, these are not formally part of the course work. |
| Lectures | Students normally offer the equivalent of four courses, each of 24 lectures, for examination, but typically attend the equivalent of six or more such courses. The typical lecture load is nine lectures per week in Michaelmas and Lent terms. In addition, there are large-group (typically six to 12 students) example classes organised by the course lecturers. |
| Small group teaching | Supervisions and Examples Classes in Part III are given either by the lecturer, a PhD student, or a post-doctoral researcher. Lecturers are expected to provide some form of learning support, but the form it takes will be dictated by both the Department and the individual lecturer and the sessions will be diverse in style, in recognition of students’ advanced independent learning abilities and the complexity and variety of the material in the courses.
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| Journal clubs | Weekly during term.
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| Literature Reviews | A literature review is a component of every project. |
| Posters and Presentations | There will be a series of sessions for Part II and Part III/MASt students, which are designed to build confidence in giving presentations and will also allow socialising between the two year groups. Students will receive friendly advice on preparing and giving scientific talks. Practice oral presentations, consisting of a 20-minute talk followed by up to 10 minutes of questions, to an audience of Part III Astrophysics students, Project supervisors and the Part III Course Coordinator will take place during Lent Term. This practice presentation is not formally assessed but offers the opportunity to become familiar with the format of the presentation, to be assessed by the Part III Examiners in the Easter Term.
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Feedback
For the projects, students receive regular feedback from their supervisor and sometimes from the course co-ordinator through termly written supervision reports.
Assessment
Thesis / Dissertation
N/A
Essays
Project report of not more than 30 pages (with guidelines for minimum font size). The project mark contributes approximately one third of the total mark and comprises of a written report (85%) and a formal oral presentation (15%) to the Part III/MASt Examiners.
Written examination
Students complete written examinations for a number of courses that normally total 12 units (a three-hour examination for a course of 24 lectures is equal to three units).
Other
Examined oral presentation for the project.