Pedagogy at Cambridge

Some people have been asking me about what the education system here in Cambridge. I must admit that I am still kind of learning as I go and that what I have learned about the system so far is not exactly what I expected coming in. In any event I shall give the best explanation I can.
First you do not sign up for classes per say. You sign up for papers. These are generally not papers in the traditional American sense of the term, rather they are exams. However, for me they are actual papers. I do not take the exams I write a final paper. So I sign up for a paper. I will use my Pauline Epistles - Paper B4 - course as an example. The description of the paper is as follows, Major exegetical paper on a pericope, topic or theme from the corpus of Paul's letters. So for this "class" I take one lecture a week from the Faculty of Divinity at Cambridge University during the first two terms of the year (Michaelmas and Lent). I also take supplementary classes/lectures at the Westfield House at various times during the year. Then, during this whole time I work my way through the reading list, which basically is a 5 page long bibliography of books that pertain to the subject of the paper. Then during the Easter term I write my paper. So right now I am attending classes and thinking about what I want to write a paper on. What I decide to write my paper on has an impact on which books I choose to read from the reading list.
There are several things I like about this system. 1) The classes/lectures are not merely Lutheran Theology information download time. 2) I get a good broad education on the topic at hand from the lectures and readings I select. 3) While getting the broad education I am also able to choose where I want to really dig in. This is where the flexibility of the reading list really helps. I am not trying to keep up with assigned readings and thus just skimming most material and not letting it sink in adequately. I have time to really focus on the things that are of particular interest to me. So for the Paul paper I have a couple ideas in my head for a topic. 1) A overview and critique of the so called "New Perspective on Paul." 2) The relationship between Paul's Theology and the teachings of Jesus. (There are several people who call themselves scholars out there who claim that Paul is the true founder of Christianity and no Christ.) 3) What are Lutheran's to do with Romans 9, which allegedly points toward double predestination. (I don't think that I shall choose this topic because a clasemate has already shown extreme interest in it and I don't want to write a duplicate paper.) 4) An examination of Israel through Romans 9-11. 5) Were Paul and James at odds? I will hopefully nail down a definitive thesis some time at the end of this term or early next term.
In any event that is the education system as I understand it at this point in time, and I love it.