Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 April 2011
“Nos numeri sumus.”
—Horace.During the week of interval between the examination for Mathematical Honors and the publication of the Honor list, takes place the examination of candidates for an ordinary degree, popularly called the πoλλoí, and by abbreviation, the Poll men. Their number is greater than that of the candidates for Honors in the proportion of four to three, but as the range of subjects is more limited, the papers shorter, and the examiners more numerous, the classification of the men goes on nearly pari passu with their examination, and the list is issued on the same day as that of the candidates for Honors. There are on an average about two hundred Poll men, and it is a most striking instance of the minute subdivision in vogue at Cambridge examinations, and the introduction of competition wherever possible, that every one of these two hundred men is arranged in order of merit according to his marks, except some fifteen or twenty who have just succeeded in passing, and who are bracketed together at the end, and familiarly known as the “Elegant Extracts.” The head man is called Captain of the Poll, which is deemed among the non-reading men almost as great an honor as Senior Wrangler or Senior Classic among the reading ones.
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