Happy first day of classes! Boy, does that feel good to say! That exclamation has been long overdue for me. MIT classes have been going on for almost a month now, so suffice it to say that Cambridge is "somewhat" behind, yet somehow we'll manage to have our final exams a month before MIT does. How that is going to happen, I will have to see. I have been warned though that the pace is very fast, which makes up for the fewer days. We also do not have as many vacations, save the long ones between terms. However, as I'll get into later, those vacations are not entirely "vacations" in the same sense as they are at MIT. While I have only been in classes for a day, there's actually a good amount I can say about Cambridge's academic system with respect to MIT, and I'll enumerate them here:
1) Cambridge is very focused on independent learning
At Cambridge, getting the answer to a question is only at most 50% of the work (except on exams of course!). The focus is more on learning how you got the answer so that you can gain a better and deeper understanding of the material you have learned and how it applies to the question at hand. This explanation tackles the learning part, so how does the independent part kick in? Well, Cambridge understands that people learn in different ways, so they allocate a lot of time throughout the day for you to learn at your own pace and method. How so? First, they only have a couple of lectures per class. These lectures are often somewhat fast-paced due to the limited time both for each lecture and for the class (or module) as a whole since each term is about two months long. In addition, supervisions (Cambridge "recitations") are not as frequent as the are at MIT (perhaps three or four supervisions for each module per term). You then have a lot of time to go over what you have learned and make sure you fully understand what was discussed in lecture and later covered in your examples papers (the Cambridge version of problem sets). I'll get into examples papers later in this post. Note that because these lectures are very fast-paced, the lecturer often does not have time to stop and answer questions that students might have. Those questions should generally be reserved for supervisions that you will have later in the term.
2) Supervisions are not recitations!
Recitations at MIT are quite guided in the sense that the onus is often on the recitation leader to supplement the lectures with subject material that either builds on what was taught in lecture, reviews what was taught in lecture, or challenges students to apply what they have learned in lecture via problem/practice sheets that are provided by the recitation leader. More often than not though, recitations, while encouraged, are for most classes not strictly required.
Supervisions, on the other hand, are quite vital throughout the school year, as they provide important feedback on how well you are understanding and grasping the material each term. This is because Cambridge does not have graded problem sets or exams throughout the term, so you have no "grades" per se to gauge how well you are doing in a particular module. Examples papers can help, but if you want to understand those papers, there are no office hours as there are at MIT. Supervisions are for all intensive purposes also scheduled office hours for you to ask questions about what you have learned in lecture or did not understand on the examples papers.
In addition, as you do not have constant exams or problem sets for grades, supervisions also form the basis of any feedback you may receive at the end of the term in a comprehensive report that you can view online. Note that these reports will also be shared with MIT (e.g. your CME coordinator, your advisor) so that they can have an idea of how well you are coping with Cambridge academically. Thus, there is incentive to attend and take these supervisions seriously, as MIT will get on your case if they find out that you are slacking off.
Finally, supervisions are not led by a "recitation leader" in the same sense as recitations are at MIT. While you will certainly be guided by someone who is more knowledgeable in the area than you are (e.g. a professor or a graduate student), the onus is on you to discuss the subject matter that you don't understand. You are the one who guides the supervision. Such control is possible because supervisions are extremely small compared to MIT recitations, with at most two or three students in a supervision compared to say 10 - 20 people in a recitation. Such a setup gives the supervision leader the chance to focus his/her energy on addressing the concerns/questions of a few people, which can be difficult for a TA/graduate student in a recitation or even office hours.
3) Examples papers are not problem sets!
While example papers and problem sets both serve a similar capacity in providing a means by which you can apply and practice the material you have learned in lecture, examples papers focus solely on developing understanding. They do not contribute anything to your final grade like problem sets, which as a whole often contribute a substantial part to the final grade. In addition, most examples papers come with answers. Some will even have work that shows how to get the answer. Unlike at MIT, the emphasis is not on getting the answer but understanding how to obtain the answer because it is the methods that you apply/utilize in a problem that can be transferable for future problems, whether on futures examples papers or on tripos exams. Thus, there is no point copying work because you won't gain any understanding from doing so, rendering the effort pointless.
4) Tripos are cumulative exams from the beginning of the year
MIT's style of constant examination via the problem sets and exams throughout the semester always culminates in a final exam that covers everything taught during the semester. However, once the semester is over, the class is finished with, and you don't have to "worry" about all the material taught it in anymore. And if other classes expect you to have knowledge of a pre-requisite class, more often than not they will try to do some review of it beforehand but will not test you specifically on those pre-requisites on their final exams. Final exams occur at the end of each semester and only test the new material that has been taught during that semester.
Cambridge's final exams are quite different. As there are no final exams at the end of the Michaelmas (first trimester) or Lent (second trimester) terms, all exams take place during Easter (third and final trimester) term. Some modules during Lent are designed specifically to build directly off of a module(s) you took during Michaelmas. Thus, when the tripos role around, you will be tested on that module series as a whole rather than being tested on each module individually. This is where the understanding aspect of Cambridge is so important because Lent modules will assume that you have a firm understanding of Michaelmas material and will build on it directly, and the tripos will assume that you have a firm understanding of Michaelmas and Lent material. This leads me to the next point:
5) Vacations aren't really vacations
When MIT is out for vacation (e.g. winter break), we are more often than not out for vacation (i.e. no academic commitments), with some exceptions for certain GIR courses. MIT students will then tend to find things for themselves to do to keep themselves busy such as a personal project, an externship, or in some cases, just couch potato and derp around. Well, Cambridge has that all covered for you here: it's called studying! Yes, during vacations between terms, there is an expectation that you will review the material you have covered in the previous term so that you will be ready for the subsequent term, whether it be for a whole new set of modules or the tripos. That way you can fully solidify your understanding of class material without having to worry about lectures or supervisions and can jump fully into learning and understanding new material in the next term. In fact, with that expectation in mind, many modules in one term will in fact have a final supervision in the subsequent term just so that you can discuss any issues you may have encountered while reviewing the material. Thus, when planning out your vacations, do try to allot some time over the vacation to review the material. Otherwise, you will probably be in for a rude awakening come next term.
6) It is Pass No Record all over again!
You thought "Pass No Record" was just a first semester freshman year thing? Well, think again! Fortunately for us CME students, Cambridge's and MIT's grading scales are very incompatible. At Cambridge, you do not get "grades" for each of your modules, but rather, you get a cumulative grade for your performance throughout the entire year. Subsequently, those grades are curved to award out their version of letter grades, which are (from highest to lowest): firsts, two-ones, two-twos, two-threes, and thirds. To get a first at Cambridge is considered a serious achievement, as tripos exams are notoriously difficult, so getting a two-one is pretty good for most students. In fact, they even award prizes for high scorers on tripos exams! This is contrary to the mindset of many MIT students where getting A's is sometimes the only acceptable grade for some classes.
Because you don't get graded on each of your modules, it becomes very difficult to assign grades to equivalent classes at MIT. Thus, on your transcript, it will just show an "S" for satisfactory work done for these equivalent classes, assuming that the transfer credit examiner deems your performance satisfactory enough for those particular classes. These grades will not affect your GPA. Thus, it is essentially pass no record all over again (YAY!). Of course, as it was the case for freshman fall, that doesn't mean you have the right to slack off. You still have to work hard in order to do well here and get those "S" grades come next fall. For me personally, I think it is quite worth while to push as hard as you can to do well here at Cambridge because it is a challenge to see how well you can adjust and succeed in an entirely different academic environment. Whether I will succeed in such a "noble" quest I can only know come the end of the school year. We will see though!
I should also note that because we CME students are not actual Cambridge students ultimately (i.e. we still have one more year at MIT after this!), our grades and performance do not factor into the overall curve that is used to assign firsts, two-ones, etc. Thus, before those grade assignments are made, our grades/scores are taken out of the pool. The curve is then set, and our own final grades will be the result of where our scores fall on the distribution of scores for the actual Cambridge students.
Another consequence of us not being actual Cambridge students is that our grades/scores will not be published unlike for actual Cambridge students. Thus, the CME students and Cambridge students are in some ways isolated from one another academically so that we will not be seen to be "competing" with Cambridge students to get top marks (remember, grades are curved!) since our performance has no effect on what happens to them.
7) Cross-discipline studies are very difficult to pursue at Cambridge
For those of you pursuing minors or a second major, be forewarned! Contrary to MIT, departments at Cambridge operate very independently of one another because they assume that you are devoting your time and attention solely to their department. This is due to the fact that students choose which department they want to study in before they matriculate into Cambridge, which is slightly different from MIT in which we have until the end of our freshman year to decide.
With this premise in mind, it means that departments have no reason to coordinate their schedules (or timetables) with one another, so if you try to take modules in different departments, you are likely going to encounter conflicts both in your lectures as well as in your tripos. Thus, if you are pursuing a minor or a second major, take a look at the classes you haven't taken so far and the ones you plan to take for your sophomore year. Which degree have you made the most progress in? Which one is easier to complete when you return to MIT? Remember, CME is designed so that you can come back next fall and resume as if you had spent your junior year here at MIT. If those two questions are difficult to answer, you unfortunately might need to reconsider whether it is feasible to do CME, as some serious planning would most likely need to be done in advance if you have to pursue modules in multiple departments. Even if you start preparing in well advance, it may not even guarantee that a suitable solution can be found to meet your academic needs.
Another consequence of this lack of cross-discipline studies is that majors at MIT may not have equivalents at Cambridge! For example, my major, which is electrical engineering and computer science, or in MIT speak, "6-2", is considered cross-discpline at Cambridge. Thus, I had to make the decision of whether I wanted to focus on electrical engineering or on computer science. Fortunately, I had a taken sufficient number of computer science classes that I can fulfill a large portion if not the remainder of my degree with electrical engineering classes. Thus, I am taking classes solely in electrical engineering this year.
7) Third year is a big year for Cambridge engineers!
This next difference is directed towards engineering majors specifically, as it might help to alleviate some fears about having to jump into the deep end of Cambridge academics (remember, they get their bachelors in three years). For engineering students, you will most likely be taking third year modules and perhaps some second year ones in case you need to brush up on topics that were not necessarily covered at MIT. An interesting aspect of Cambridge engineering is that they do not have separate departments for each area of engineering. There is just one giant umbrella engineering department. As a result, Cambridge engineers will spend their first two years as generalists, meaning that they will take classes in a variety of engineering disciplines. Think of it as their GIR's. It is only in their third year that they decide which area(s) of engineering they want to focus on.
Thus, MIT engineers are coming at a point in Cambridge engineers' academic careers where they have to make a big decision that us MIT engineers made back in freshman year. In addition, there are also some major changes between the engineering curriculum between their first two years and the third year. First, in the first two years, supervisions are held always in college, but they are now held in the various engineering department facilities over campus. That can be a big difference, especially given that not all colleges are close to such facilities! Secondly, the grading scheme is a little different. Like MIT, Cambridge engineering has its own system of "easing" students into the Cambridge academic life via standard credit. Like MIT engineers, Cambridge engineers have to do labs, but standard credit means that they only had to do a minimal amount of work in order to get full credit on a lab in efforts to discourage students from spending hours on a lab so that they could finish it or get it "just right." That scheme no longer applies in third year, so psychologically, that is a big change. In some respects, they too find themselves thrown in a new academic environment that doesn't have the "luxuries" or safety nets that they might have been used to before, so us MIT engineers are not so behind the curve as it may seem when it comes to adjusting to Cambridge academic life!
Whew! That was quite a mouthful! With classes having started, I most likely will not be able to update my blog daily as I have been able to up to this point. However, I do hope to blog periodically as I further assimilate myself into Cambridge student life. Also, as I have alluded to in several of my posts, some aspects of Cambridge life need further reflection and observation before I can share anything further with you all. I most likely will even do another blogpost about the Cambridge academic system as I begin to engage further with its style of teaching. So I will be back soon enough! :)