Part IA Option B and Part IB option A

Information for Candidates

All candidates must present themselves for an oral examination in each language for which they have been entered.

Please note that the Oral B examinations begin just before the start of term. These examinations will be held on Monday 26 April and Tuesday 27 April 2021.
 The examinations will each consist of two parts:
(1) reading aloud; 
(2) conversation based on a text chosen by the Examiners. At the discretion of the examiners, conversation could move on to other topics.

A 'fail' in the Oral will not in itself disqualify a candidate from passing the Tripos examination. 

Preparation for Candidates:

1. The examination will be held online, using the platform MS Teams.

2. You will be given a time slot for each of your examinations.

3. Before your examination, you will spend 15 minutes perusing the passage.

4. Open or log into the MS Teams app around 25 minutes before the exam, then log into Moodle to collect your passage.

5. Your passage, which will be of at least 270 and no more than 300 words in length, will be released on Moodle 20 minutes before your examination (5 extra minutes are provided to obtain the passage, download it and print it out, if necessary; the allotted reading time is 15 minutes). Refresh the page if you cannot see the passage at your assigned time.

6. Examiners will call you into the Oral examination by initiating a video call with you, but please check the chat to see if there is any delay (examiners will try to contact you by chat if they are running more than 10 minutes late).

7. You are allowed to print out the passage if you find this more convenient.

8. Please note that sharing this passage with anyone will be treated as academic misconduct.

9. If you cannot access the passage or enter MS Teams, please contact the Faculty Office (facultyoffice@mmll.cam.ac.uk) immediately. Candidates can use dictionaries during the perusing time. Candidates may make notes, but should bear in mind that during the exam they are expected to speak freely, rather than read out whole sentences from their notes.

Reading Aloud: Examiners will indicate a section of the text for the candidate to read during the examination.

Conversation: The issues discussed should arise in the first instance from the passage itself, although examiners are free to move on to other topics.

The examiners will assess the candidate's pronunciation and intonation, grammatical accuracy, range of vocabulary and idiom, fluency and response.

The total time for the examination is not expected to exceed 15 minutes.

Full details of the schedule of interviews with examiners will be sent to Colleges well in advance of the examinations. 

March 2021