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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 Astrophysics (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. |
| Journal clubs | One per week. |
| Literature Reviews | A literature review is a component of every project. |
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
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 of 12 units (a three-hour examination for a course of 24 lectures is equal to three units).
Other
Examined oral presentation for the project.