Scholarship Examinations
The Trinity scholarship examinations, which reward outstanding academic ability, are an old and treasured institution of the College.
Overview
Scholarship examinations take place in January each year. Second-year students must apply to sit the exams. Achieving the status of Trinity Scholar is a prestigious distinction and comes with several benefits, including free accommodation and meals in College.
Sociology Scholarship Examinations
The Department of Sociology offers four papers as part of the Foundation Scholarship examinations. The specific papers a student should take depend on their programme and chosen pathway.
- Some papers are mandatory, depending on your programme and pathway, as listed below.
- Students may also have optional papers to choose from.
Exam Format
All Sociology Scholarship examination papers:
- Require students to answer two questions
- Are 2 hours and 15 minutes long
Paper Descriptions:
This is a 'foundations paper' which draws on the material taught in Semesters 1 and 2 from first year in the modules Introduction to Sociology 1 and 2. Students are offered six questions in two sections and they must answer one from each section.
This paper is a 'general paper' designed to test candidates’ analytical, critical and discursive abilities. Students are provided with a number of readings on two topics: Intermarriage & Homogamy and Gender & Education. Two questions on each topic are provided in two sections and students answer one question from each section.
Intermarriage & Homogamy Readings
The two questions in Section A will be based on two papers on the issue of intermarriage:
- Kalmijn, M. (1998). Intermarriage and homogamy: causes, patterns, trends. Annual Review of Sociology, 395-421.
- Thomas, R. (2020). Online Exogamy Reconsidered: Estimating the Internet's Effects on Racial, Educational, Religious, Political and Age Assortative Mating. Social Forces, 98 (3), 1257-1286
Gender & Education Readings
- Buchmann, C., DiPrete, T. A., & McDaniel, A. (2008). Gender Inequalities in Education. Annual Review of Sociology, 34 (1), 319-3
- Musto, M. (2019). Brilliant or bad: The gendered social construction of exceptionalism in early adolescence. American Sociological Review, 84 (3), 369-39
Students should read all of the papers above and be ready to answer essay questions based on the different concepts used and the social processes that underpin them.
The Foundation Scholarship Examination Sociology paper 3 is a 'theory and methods' paper. Students are presented with six questions overall in two sections (A and B) from which they answer two question from either section.
Section A will have three questions which draw on the material taught in Social Theory Semester 1 (SOU22061).
Section B will have three questions which draw on the material from Introduction to Social Research Semester 1 (SOU22011).
Paper 4 is a 'core topics’ paper. Students are presented with six questions overall in two sections (A and B) from which they answer two questions from either section, two in total.
Section A will have three questions which draw on the material taught in Gender, Work and Family in Semester 1 (SOU22021).
Section B will have three questions which draw on the material from Power, State and Social Movements Semester 1 (SOU22041).