Dear University of Cambridge,

I am writing to request model solutions and mark schemes to all Mathematics Tripos exams for Parts IA, IB, and II from 2001 to 2018/19. I understand that similar requests have been made in recent months, and that this information has been provided. However, the information requested has always been provided privately and so is not available for review. I am aware the last five years are excluded, so would be grateful if you could include the documents between 2001 and 2018/19, whichever is the later year for which the information can be disclosed. If it remains convenient for you to provide the information by email, it can be made available to me at: [email address]

Yours faithfully,

Niall Thompson

Dear FOI,

I am writing in relation to the above decision to refuse the FOI request with reference FOI-2024-755. This is my official request for an internal review into the decision.

The request was refused on the grounds that the mathematics department have recently reclassified the older mark schemes I requested as a trade secret. Since I understand many of these materials have been released as part of FOI disclosures as recently as this calendar year, it calls into question the validity of the more recent decision and, in particular, I believe that the Information Commissioner’s Office is likely to take the view that everything already disclosed under an FOI request should now be publicly available anyway. Moreover, withholding mark schemes is inconsistent with the publishing practices of national awarding bodies much larger than the university, who publish mark schemes to older exams as a matter of routine, only restricting access to those which took place recently. I note that my request was measured in this regard in that it gave the university latitude to decide how long to restrict access for.

It might also be helpful for you to know that as a former mathematics tripos student I have already been exposed to the majority of the materials requested, and am currently seeking them again for the sole purpose of aiding my personal revision. If this means that the department is comfortable to provide the information outside of a public FOI request given that the trade secret is one I am already to a large degree party to, I am very happy to receive the materials on that basis. I would agree not to share them or use them for anything other than my own personal revision of the study I have already completed with the university. I can provide matriculation information so that this may be verified if that is helpful. If that is acceptable to you, then I will of course withdraw my request for internal review.

Yours sincerely,

Niall Thompson

Dear FOI,

I am delighted by the outcome of your review and very much appreciate you making the requested documents available to me. The response letter stated that some of the files still required redacting further to anonymise personal information, but that this would be provided within a week. I’ll be more than happy to update the status of this request when that arrives.

Yours sincerely,

Niall Thompson

Dear FOI,

Thank you very much for providing the documents with the final aspect of the information requested. I really appreciate you providing everything I asked for.

Yours sincerely,

Niall Thompson

Dear FOI,

I have greatly appreciated the information you provided, but have noticed that some of the information is missing. In particular, the Part IA mark schemes relating to 2014/15 don’t appear to be complete. Could you please arrange to provide these ones separately?

Yours sincerely,

Niall Thompson