In the first part (honour moderations or mods) students concentrate on Latin and/or Ancient Greek; in the second part students choose eight papers from the disciplines of classical literature, Greek and Roman history, Philosophy, Archaeology, and Linguistics.
The teaching style is very traditional and consists of weekly tutorials in each of the two main subjects chosen, supplemented by a wide variety of lectures.
The main teaching mechanism remains the weekly essay, one on each of the two main chosen subjects, typically written to be read out at a one-to-one tutorial; this affords all students plenty of practice at writing short, clear, and well-researched papers.
Changed in the late 20th century, a strong emphasis remains on study of original texts in Latin and Greek, assessed by prepared translation and by gobbet (a short commentary on an assigned primary source).
The course has now changed to reflect the continuing decline in the numbers of applicants who have had the opportunity to study Greek and Latin at school.
Since the early 1970s, it has been possible to begin learning Greek during the preparation for mods (an option originally called mods-B, the brainchild of John G. Griffiths of Jesus).
Students who successfully pass mods may then go on to study the full greats course in their remaining seven terms.
The formerly optional prose and verse composition papers (English into Latin and Greek) have been removed from the greats syllabus entirely.