Course costs
Please note: Every effort has been made to ensure that the course costs given below for courses within the Natural Sciences Tripos were accurate at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to review and revise the costs without prior notification and you are advised that their publication here serves only as an indicator of course costs for current and future years. The publication of this information does not form part of any contractual arrangement of costs associated with studying at the University.
General Costs
| Essential | University-approved calculator | approx £25 |
| Essential for some courses | labcoat Safety spectacles | approx £13-£16 approx £4 - £7 |
| Essential | a laptop It is recommended not using a Chromebook as they do not support some software used on the course, including digital assessment. | cost, if purchased new, will depend on choice, e.g. £400+, but existing laptops, if less than 4 years old, are likely to be fine. |
| Non-essential | books etc., as advised in course documentation | at student's discretion library books are available |
| Non-essential | specialist equipment | can be borrowed if necessary |
Costs for individual courses
The following courses have direct additional costs to students associated with them:
| Part IA Earth Sciences | ||
| Essential | One-week field course (Arran: Easter Vacation) | Estimated Cost: £140 |
| Part IA Biodiversity, Evolution and Ecology | ||
| Non-essential, but desirable | One-week field course, Slapton Ley in Devon or Dale Fort in Pembrokeshire. Easter Vacation (Mar/Apr). | Estimated £100 + travel costs |
| Part IB Earth Sciences A and B | ||
| Essential | Ten-day mapping course (Cumbria: Long Vacation before course) | Estimated cost: £140 |
| Essential | Ten-day field course (South West England: Easter Vacation) | Estimated cost: £140 |
| Part IB Biodiversity, Ecology & Conservation | ||
| Highly desirable | Ten-day field course, Juniper Hall in Surrey. Long Vacation (Jun/Jul) to work on an individual project. | Estimated £200 + travel costs |
| Part II Earth Sciences | ||
| Essential | Twelve-day mapping course (Skye: Long Vacation prior to course) | Estimated cost: £150 |
| Essential | Seven-day mapping course (Wales: Easter Term) | Estimated cost: £150 |
| Essential | Eight-day field course (Greece: Christmas Vacation) [same as Physics Part III below] | Estimated cost: £190 |
| Essential | Two week (Environmental Geochemistry) or one month (Mapping) individual field work project in the Long Vacation prior to the course. | Total cost depends on choice of location. Students are eligible to apply to the Department (up to £450) and college travel funds to support the costs of this trip. |
| Part II Zoology & Plant Sciences | ||
| Non-essential | Twelve-day field course, Kota Kinabalu and Sabah in Borneo, Malaysia or Gamboa, in Panama. Long Vacation (Sept) to work on an individual project. | Estimated £300 + travel costs. Students on a full Cambridge bursary will be reimbursed up to £800 in travel costs. Travel grants often available from colleges. |
| Non-essential | Twelve-day field course, Norfolk, UK. Long vacation (Sept) to work on an individual project. | Estimated £300 + travel costs. Travel grants often available from colleges. |
| Part III Earth Sciences | ||
| Essential | One-week field course (Spain: Easter Vacation) | Estimated cost: £50 |
| Part III Physics | ||
| Non-essential part of a Major Topic | Eight-day field course (Greece: Christmas Vacation) [same as Earth Sciences Part II above] | Estimated cost: £190 |