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Progression to Year 4 (MPhys Students Only)
Progression from Year 3 to Year 4 requires students to have accumulated at least 340 credits (or 460
for Placement degrees), with a minimum of 100 credits at Level 6. Similar rules apply to the recovery
of failed modules as in previous years.
The Award of BSc Degrees
Finals Exam Board
The Finals Examining Board is normally held in the last week of the teaching year. As part of their
duties the External Examiners may wish to meet a cross-section of our final-year undergraduates.
These are informal meetings, i.e. they form no part of the assessments for your degree, but they are
an important part of the sampling process and quality-control undertaken by the External Examiners.
We ask that you attend any sessions to which you are invited.
BSc Degree Classification
The Regulations covering the award of BSc degrees and the mechanism by which Examining Boards
determine the outcome of your degree are given in Appendix 1.
Life After the Third Year
The School takes a keen interest in your future career. You are strongly urged to:
•
Keep a record of any employment and work experience which you undertake during your
time as a student.
•
Make good use of the University Careers Service.
•
Attend the careers talks given in the School.
•
Contact the School’s Careers Officer if the need arises.
•
Talk to the Postgraduate Admissions Tutor if you are interested in the postgraduate research
opportunities either at Cardiff or elsewhere.
•
Seek advice from your Personal Tutor or the University Careers Service when writing your CV.
•
Keep in contact with us after you graduate and let us know what you are doing and consider
becoming an alumni.
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16.
I
NFORMATION FOR
F
OURTH
-Y
EAR
S
TUDENTS
Information on Modules
You are required to take 120 credits at Level 7 in your fourth year, 60 credits of which are associated
with your extended project. You are advised to recover any outstanding failed modules from
previous years to ensure you have appropriate credit accumulation at the end of your degree
programme. Compulsory and optional modules for your degree scheme are listed in the Module
Catalogue. We recommend that you split your “taught” modules as evenly as possible between the
two semesters (i.e. 30/30, 20/40 or 40/20).
Teaching Arrangements
Tutorials
Your project supervisor will act as your informal Academic Tutor. You must see your tutor during the
first week of the Autumn semester. To provide support in advanced topics, all modules include an
opportunity for discussion with the lecturer.
In Year 4 you will normally have the same Personal Tutor as you had in previous years. Personal
tutorials are held in Week 6 of the Autumn and Spring semesters.
Exercises
Lecturers will hand out exercise sheets as appropriate. Solutions will be posted on Learning Central.
Deadlines for the submission of exercises and project work are strict and late submission will result in
the award of zero marks.
Lectures taught across video links
A small number of modules in Year 4 are taught across a video link with Swansea University (we each
contribute two 10-credit modules to this scheme). This allows teaching of specialised modules in
which each university has particular expertise. We have a dedicated video-conferencing room
(N/3.23) set aside for this purpose, but given the nature of the teaching medium it means that
lectures and support and these modules are a little different from the normal.
Research Project and Dissertation
The research project is an extended investigation of a particular aspect of physics, applied physics or
astrophysics carried out in a real research environment in the University or industry. It develops the
abilities of critical thought, theoretical and/or experimental skills, organisation of work, and oral and
written communication skills, and provides an awareness of health and safety issues and the
industrial and/or cultural relevance of physics.
Selection of projects is made towards the end of the third year, and you are strongly advised to
discuss your preferences with individual supervisors. Final allocation of projects is made before the
end of the third year.
Fourth-year projects demand considerable self-motivation and planning for their successful
completion, but you are assisted throughout this process by your supervisor, who you should meet
on a weekly basis. Your supervisor will also give you guidance about the writing of reports and about
the nature of the oral examinations and talks.
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Full details of the project, your management of the work and the assessment of project work is given
in the Year 4 Project Handbook:
http://www.astro.cardiff.ac.uk/teachingandlearning/resources/Y4-Project-Handbook.pdf
Project Hours
The project comprises 60 credits spread across two semesters. The project might be spread evenly
or unevenly between the semesters depending on your other module choices. In the first semester,
you should consult with the supervisor to ensure that all the background work and literature
searches are complete. To give you an estimate of the time and effort which you should put into
your project work, note that it is expected that you should undertake about 80 hours of work for the
equivalent of each 10 credits.
Gregynog Residential Course
The project module includes required attendance at a week’s residential course in Gregynog at the
start of the Spring semester (usually commencing at the start of the Spring semester and it may
include a weekend). This involves group work and aims to develop the skills required to write
successful research applications, to present them orally, and to assess them.
The Award of MPhys Degrees
Finals Exam Board
The Finals Examining Board is usually held in the last week of the teaching year. As part of their
duties the External Examiners may wish to meet a cross-section of our final-year undergraduates.
These are informal meetings, i.e. they form no part of the assessments for your degree, but they are
an important part of the sampling process and quality-control undertaken by the External Examiners.
We ask that you attend any sessions to which you are invited.
MPhys Degree Classification
The Regulations covering the award of MPhys degrees and the mechanism by which Examining
Boards determine the outcome of your degree are given in Appendix 1.
Life After the Fourth Year
The School takes a keen interest in your future career. You are strongly urged to:
•
Keep a record of any employment and work experience which you undertake during your
time as a student.
•
Make good use of the University Careers Service.
•
Attend the careers talks given in the School.
•
Contact the School’s Careers Officer if the need arises.
•
Talk to the Postgraduate Admissions Tutor if you are interested in the postgraduate research
opportunities, either at Cardiff or elsewhere.
•
Seek advice from your Personal Tutor or the University Careers Service when writing your CV.
•
Keep in contact with us after you graduate and let us know what you are doing and consider
becoming an alumni.