The last time I was called upon to keep an act in the schools I sent in three questions to the Moderator, which he withstood as being all mathematical, and required me to conform to the usage of proposing one metaphysical question in the place of that, which I should think fit to withdraw. This was ground I never liked to take, and I appealed against his requisition: the act was accordingly put by till the matter of right should be ascertained by the statutes of the university, and in the result of that enquiry it was given for me, and my question stood.... I yielded now to advice, and paid attention to my health, till we were cited to the senate house to be examined for our Bachelor's degree. It was hardly ever my lot during that examination to enjoy any respite. I seemed an object singled out as every man's mark, and was kept perpetually at the table under the process of question and answer. It was found possible by means of the new examination to differentiate the better men more accurately than before; and accordingly, in 1753, as above stated, the first class was subdivided into two, called respectively wranglers and senior optimes, a division which is still maintained. The semi-official examination by masters of arts was regarded as the more important part of the test, and the most eminent residents in the University took part in it. Thus John Fenn, of Caius, 5th wrangler in 1761, wrote[40]: On the following Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, we sat in the Senate-house for public examination; during this time I was officially examined by the Proctors and Moderators, and had the honour of being taken out for examination by Mr Abbot, the celebrated mathematical tutor of St John's College, by the eminent professor of mathematics Mr Waring, of Magdalene, and by Mr Jebb of Peterhouse, a man thoroughly versed in the academical studies. This irregular examination by any master who chose to take part in it constantly gave rise to accusations of partiality. In 1763 the traditional rules for the conduct of the examination took more definite shape. Henceforth the examiners used the disputations only as a means of classifying the men roughly. On the result of their "acts," and probably partly also of their general reputation, the candidates were divided into eight classes, each arranged in alphabetical order. The subsequent position of the men in the class was determined solely by the senate-house examination. The first two classes comprised all who were expected to be wranglers, the next four classes included the other candidates for honours, and the last two classes consisted of poll-men only. Practically anyone placed in either of the first two classes was allowed, if he wished, to take an aegrotat senior optime, and thus escape all further examination: this was called gulphing it.