They draw together all of the student's appropriate previous reading and add titles which the examiners regard as necessary for the student's preparation for the examination. The General Examinations include both written and oral components. The student should take both components within a period of three or four weeks. The specialization is designed to be written in three hours, and the cognate in two hours. The Centre adds an extra hour in each case.
All examiners read the whole of the written examination.
Each examiner is asked to report to the Centre immediately whether the written examination is a 'pass' or not, together with a provisional letter grade for the portion each has set. If a 'pass', the oral examination goes ahead as scheduled. The oral examination is two hours. It is conducted by all examiners and chaired by the Associate Director. It is based on the student's written answers and may extend to other matters contained in the reading lists agreed upon, but it is not intended that entirely new matters unrelated to the written papers should be introduced.