Natural Sciences Tripos

Natural Sciences Tripos: Part IA Practical registrations

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Questions and answers for Directors of Studies

I'm having problems logging on! HELP!

If you can't log on to the registration system through the RAVEN portal, there are two reasons why there may be a problem:

  1. You may not have been given permission by your College: in the first instance contact Elaine Oliver by email or phone (UTN: 64853) to check whether you have permission.
  2. You may not have activated your RAVEN account: please go to the RAVEN site to register for an account and/or password.

Questions and answers for Directors of Studies

Why has the Natural Sciences Tripos moved to a standardised timetable of registration on-line?

The increased number of students reading Natural Sciences subjects has led to tight restrictions on when students can take their required practical sessions. There is very little spare accommodation in laboratories, and we have now moved to a system where we inform students of their practical days, expecting them to organise their supervision timetables afterwards.

On-line registration will free time up for students, who will be emailed with an individualised timetable of lectures and practical classes based on information on their subject choices provided by College staff. Colleges will also be able to view the timetables of their students.

The allocation system has attempted to take into account a variety of disparate needs: from the College's point of view (and subject to more important timetable constraints), it will allocate students to practical classes such that (wherever possible):

  1. students with more than one fortnightly practical will have them allocated on the same days in alternate weeks;
  2. students with the same subject combinations from the same College will be allocated the same timetable slots.

What is the timetable?

Sat 1 Oct - Mon 3 Oct Matriculating students arrive in Colleges.
Mon 3 Oct - a.m. Tue 4 Oct Students meet with Directors of Studies to discuss subject choices within the Natural Sciences Tripos. N.B. this applies to students taking Natural Sciences Tripos, Computer Science Tripos, Mathematical Tripos, Education Tripos students
12 noon, Tue 4 Oct Deadline for on-line entry of subject choices for all students by approved College staff.
9 a.m., Wed 5 Oct Students informed individually by email about their lecture and practical timetables.
2.15 p.m., Wed 5 Oct NST students attend a 1 hour induction lecture (optional).
Thu 6 Oct Lectures and practical classes start.

Who enters information on students into the practical allocation system?

The allocation system, designed by CARET, is accessible only through RAVEN authentication. Colleges have been asked, via their Senior Tutor, to identify the staff who will input the data: these authorised persons will have been notified separately.

If you would like to know who is responsible for entering data for your College, please contact Elaine Oliver (elaine.oliver@admin.cam.ac.uk or phone UTN: 64853).

These authorised users will also have access to the timetables of all students in the corresponding College once the allocation has taken place.

Why is access restricted to only a few users?

It is anticipated that there will be over 700 students who will need to be allocated to one or more practical classes within the NST, from four different Triposes. To obtain information on each of these students in such a short timescale precludes other routes, such as self-registration (as will be used by examination entry in CamSIS).

It will also allow the administrator of the practical allocation system to target individuals if data has not been entered for a College, and provide an audit trail for all of the data entered.

What information is needed about each student?

The allocation system needs to record, for each student:

  • their name and their CRSID;
  • their Tripos;
  • their subject choices within the Natural Sciences Tripos (including their Maths subject)

There is also a field to add a comment of free text to alert the administrators to any individual needs or problems. Please note that this field should NOT be used for individual timetable requests (see below).

It is well-recognised that not all students are certain of their future pathway through the NST by this very early point in their career. It is important, however, that a complete set of subject choices (however provisional) is entered for each student to allow the Departments to manage the numbers of students they will have to provide laboratory space for, and to allocate students as efficiently as possible.

If, as Director of Studies, you are yourself responsible for entering this information, please consult with your Tutorial Office to make sure you know of any individual circumstances (e.g. disability, religious requirements) that may require a student to attend practical classes on a particular day

What if I make a mistake about the data I enter?

At any time, you can 'recall' a student's information simply by typing in their CRSID. You can overwrite any information you have already entered (and the system will warn you that this is what you are doing.)

If you have entered information for a student who should not be included (i.e. you want to delete the student), you will need to contact Elaine Oliver (elaine.oliver@admin.cam.ac.uk or phone UTN: 64853).

Why is the deadline for student registration 12 noon on the Tuesday?

The deadline has been chosen to meet a number of conflicting needs of the Departments and the Colleges. Obviously, Colleges need time to discuss with their students the subjects they wish to study but equally the allocation process takes time to run and the Departments need time to prepare for practical classes which may start on the Thursday. It was felt that noon on Tuesday was a fair compromise and did not differ substantially from the previous registration timetables.

What if I miss the deadline?

The allocation process will run as soon as the deadline has passed.

The allocator only works effectively if all of the student details have been entered, which is why it is so important for all the information to be entered by the deadline. If student details are not included by the time the allocation process is run, they will not be allocated practical classes for any of their subjects. Students will then be responsible individually for contacting the individual Departments and/or course organisers to register for classes: no central support for this will be available. If you discover that information has been omitted please contact Elaine Oliver as soon as possible (Elaine.oliver@admin.cam.ac.uk UTN:64853).

What if a student is undecided about their choices?

It is important that (at least) a provisional set of subject choices for each student is entered by the College by 12 noon on the Tuesday. A number of students do change their minds in the first weeks of the Michaelmas Term and they will continue to have to negotiate these changes via their Directors of Studies and the subjects concerned.

If a student changes their mind before the Tuesday noon deadline, you can simply overwrite the existing subject choices by entering their CRSID again. The system will warn you if you are overwriting existing information.

What if a student wants to 'try' an additional subject in the short term, or has an irregular choice of subjects?

The on-line registration system will not allow students to register for more than the formal number of subjects to be studied. The number of places on practical classes has become too tight to allow students to undertake this freely. If students wish to register for an additional subject, they may be able to do so on the Wednesday by contacting the individual Department or course organiser, but only if there are places available.

The system will only allow you to enter permitted combinations of subjects for that Tripos. If an irregular combination (or number) of subjects needs to be entered, you will need to contact Elaine Oliver (elaine.oliver@admin.cam.ac.uk or phone UTN: 64853).

What if a student has particular needs and wants to register on a particular day?

Special requests for practical classes on particular days (or avoiding particular days) will only be allowed in extenuating circumstances and for good educational or pastoral reasons. Examples of this would include students with limited mobility or other related issues, students with particular religious requirements etc.

These students will have their practical classes 'hardwired' before the allocation process starts.

If you have a case you wish to discuss regarding pre-registration, please contact Elaine Oliver (elaine.oliver@admin.cam.ac.uk or phone UTN: 64853) as soon as you can and ahead of the deadline.

When and how will students hear about their individual timetable?

All students will be informed by email of their individualised timetable by 9 am on the Wednesday before lectures start at the latest. This should allow them time to arrange supervisions and collect any material required prior to lectures starting.

What other information will students be told about?

The email will also include details of the NST induction event and any subject-specific information (e.g. safety talks, lab locations, where to buy lab coats, calculators etc.).

We would strongly recommend that you ensure your students have access to their Cambridge email accounts before the Wednesday morning.

However, students will still need to be informed of other NST-related events and requirements before they will receive the email mentioned above: this is included elsewhere in this information pack for Directors of Studies.

What if students can't access their email accounts?

Authorised College personnel will be able to access timetable information for each of their College's students, and may choose instead to alert them to their timetable if they are unable to access their email by the Wednesday morning.

The title of this document is: Natural Sciences Tripos: Part IA Practical Registrations
URL: http://www.cam.ac.uk/about/natscitripos/part_ia/