Cambridge Tripos

At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (/ˈtraɪpɒs/, plural 'Triposes') is any of the undergraduate examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by an undergraduate to prepare. For example, an undergraduate studying mathematics is said to be reading for the Mathematical Tripos, whilst a student of English literature is reading for the English Tripos.

In most traditional English universities, a student registers to study one field exclusively, rather than having "majors" or "minors" as in American universities or Scottish universities. In practice, however, most degrees may be fairly interdisciplinary in nature, depending on the subject. The multi-part tripos system at Cambridge also allows substantial changes in field between parts; the Natural Sciences Tripos is especially designed to allow a highly flexible curriculum across the sciences.

The word has an obscure etymology, but may be traced to the three-legged stool candidates once used to sit on when taking oral examinations (see tripod). An apocryphal legend says that students used to receive one leg of a stool in each of their three years of exams, receiving the whole stool at graduation. Another tradition holds that the name derives from the three brackets printed on the back of the voucher.

Initially, the only way to obtain an honours degree at Cambridge was the Mathematical Tripos examination. Although John Jebb proposed reforms in 1772, but implementation was blocked by various matters such as lack of expertise in the smaller colleges in a wider range of subjects. Classed examinations in law were introduced in 1816 by James William Geldart, who was then Regius Professor of Civil Law. Although a classical tripos was created in 1822, it was only open to those who already had high honours in mathematics or those who were the sons of peers. This restriction ended around 1850, and triposes in the moral sciences and natural sciences were introduced in the 1860s.

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