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Part C, Computer Science and Philosophy

In Part C, Computer Science and Philosophy students take courses according to the following rules.

  • Each Philosophy course or thesis is worth 8 units;
  • Each Computer Science course is worth 3 units;
  • A Computer Science project is worth 9 units.

You must complete between 24 and 26 units, subject to the following constraints:

  • You may take at most six Computer Science courses;
  • You may not take both a Philosophy thesis and a Computer Science project.

The effect of these rules is that you should take one of the following combinations:

  • Three Philosophy papers (maybe including a thesis) (24 units);
  • Two Philosophy papers (maybe including a thesis) and either three CS papers or a CS project (25 units);
  • One Philosophy paper (or thesis), and six CS papers (26 units);
  • One Philosophy paper, three CS papers and a CS project (26 units);
  • Five CS papers and a CS project (24 units).

Computer Science courses are chosen from Schedule C1. Most of these subjects will be examined by a take-home mini-project, though some will be examined by a sit-down paper of three hours' duration. Mini-projects will be handed out to candidates on the last Friday  of the term in which the subject is being taught and have to be submitted in week -1 of the following term.

Philosophy courses are chosen from courses 101–116, 120, 122, 124, 125, 127-129, 137-140, 198 and 199, as described on the Philosophy Faculty website. Each Philosophy course will be assessed by a 3-hour written examination together with an essay of at most 5,000 words. Rules for Philosophy theses are described in the Examination Regulations here, except that the word limit is 20,000 words.

Please note that the Computer Science courses in Part C are 50% larger than those in earlier years, i.e. for each course in the 3rd year undergraduates are expected to undertake about 10 hours of study per week, but 4th year courses will each require about 15 hours a week of study. Computer Science lecturers are providing this extra work in a variety of ways, e.g. some will give 20 lectures but will require you to undertake extra reading, classes and/or practicals, whereas others will be giving 24 lectures, and others still will be doing something in between. Please look at each synopsis for details on this.

Examination timings and methods for Computer Science papers vary by course. For 2026-27 examination modes and timing are as follows:

Advanced Algorithmic Game Theory Exam Trinity Term
Advanced Security Mini-project Easter Vacation
Algorithmic Foundations of Collective Decision Making Mini-project Easter Vacation
Automata, Logic and Games Exam 0th Week Trinity Term
Categories, Proofs and Processes Exam 0th Week Hilary Term
Computational Biology Mini-project Christmas Vacation
Computer Vision Exam Trinity Term
Database Systems Implementation Mini-project Easter Vacation
Distributed Processes, Types and Programming Mini-project Christmas Vacation
Foundations of Self-Programming Agents Mini-project Easter Vacation
Geometric Deep Learning Mini-project Easter Vacation
Knowledge Representation and Reasoning Exam Trinity Term
Law and Computer Science Mini-project Easter Vacation
Privacy and Computation Exam 0th Week Trinity Term
Quantum Processes and Computation Mini-project Christmas Vacation
Uncertainty in Deep Learning Mini-project Christmas Vacation

Schedule C1 (CS&P)

Projects

Student Space

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