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Admissions

UCAS Course Code: G400

Brief Course Outline

Duration of course: 3/4 years
Degree awarded: BA/MCompSci
Intake: 25
Applications shortlisted for interview: 59.0%
Successful applications: 20.9%

Open days

20 September 2013. Please see the Computer Science website.
26 September: Lesser Spotted Science Day

Contact details

Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford, Wolfson Building, Parks Road, Oxford
OX1 3QD
+44 (0) 1865 273821 / 273833
Please email us at undergraduate.admissions@cs.ox.ac.uk
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Computer Science

Courses tab icon About the course Course outline Entrance requirements How to apply

Computer Science can be studied for three years, leading to the award of a BA degree, or for four years, leading to the award of Master of Computer Science. The fourth year of the Master of Computer Science degree provides the opportunity to study advanced topics and undertake a more in-depth research project. You do not need to decide between these options when you apply; you can choose at the beginning of your third year whether to stay for either one more year or two.

A typical weekly timetable

During the first part of the course, your work is divided between lectures (about ten a week), tutorials (about two a week), and practical classes (about two sessions a week).

In tutorials, you have the opportunity to discuss ideas in depth with an experienced computer scientist, usually with just one or two other students. You will be expected to spend a considerable amount of time developing your own understanding of the topics covered in lectures, answering questions designed to check your understanding, and preparing for your tutorials. As the course progresses, you will also begin to work in small classes (up to ten people) on more specialised topics. In the second year you will take part in an industry-sponsored group design practical. You will spend about a third of your time in your third and fourth years working on an individual project on your own choice of topic.

1st year
Courses

Core courses:

  • Functional programming
  • Design and analysis of algorithms
  • Imperative programming
  • Digital systems
  • Continuous Maths
  • Linear algebra
  • Discrete Mathematics
  • Probability
  • Introduction to formal proof
Assessment

Five written papers, plus practicals

2nd year
Courses

Core courses (37.5%):

  • Object-oriented programming
  • Concurrency
  • Models of computation

Options (62.5%) including:

  • Computer architecture
  • Computer graphics
  • Compilers
  • Concurrency
  • Advanced data structures and algorithms
  • Databases
  • Computer networks
Assessment

Four written papers, plus practicals (including a group design practical)

3rd year
Courses

Options (67%) including:

  • Computer security
  • Machine learning
  • Computer-aided formal verification
  • Geometric modelling
  • Intelligent systems
  • Lambda calculus and types
  • Computational complexity
  • Knowledge representation and reasoning
  • Principles of programming languages
Further 2nd-year options

Project work (33%)

Assessment

Three written papers, plus practicals and project

4th year
Courses

Options (67%) such as:

  • Categories, proofs and processes
  • Computational linguistics
  • Computer animation
  • Probabilistic model checking
  • Probability and computing
  • Program analysis
  • Automata, logic and games
  • Database systems implementation
  • Information retrieval
  • Software verification
  • Theory of data and knowledge bases

Project work (33%)

Assessment

Five written papers, plus practicals and proje

Lists of options offered in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th years are illustrative only, and may change from time to time.

Further information about all of our courses: www.cs.ox.ac.uk/computerscienceatoxford

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