Tripos result 2009

After I finished my first year tripos exams I made the mistake of predicting the amount of points I scored. I learnt a valuable lesson from this: Tripos is unpredictable, at least when using the basic mark estimates that worked so well at A-level.

I estimated that I would get a 2.i overall thanks to a high mark in one Computer Science paper and the Mathematics papers. Instead I scored much lower in these two (solid 2.ii grades) and got a higher mark in Physics than I was expecting.

Natural Science is a very intense course and you have to have your head screwed on straight from the start. The combination of a gap year, state schooling and concentrating on rowing and socialising were my main disadvantages in Tripos. Next year the focus should be on performing well. Instead of grasping for air all year I can start level pegging with every other student and work just as diligently.

The secret seems to be to consolidate Michaelmas work over Christmas and Lent work over the Easter holidays. This leaves time to study the Easter lecture courses in enough detail to answer their questions in the examinations. This year most people scored around zero on the Easter courses Probability and Regular Languages and Finite Automata.

Another secret is to do some work.