STEP I 2011 Discussion Thread

I did this too! But somehow I missed the q=0 option so missed out on one solution :frown:

how many marks do you think I'll lose?!

5 tops i reckonnn. they are quite cruel when you're almost there they give 20 marks instantly if you get solution in full, if you don't get it in full they scrutinize the whole method more heavily

how many other questions you get solutions down for?

Reply 41

kerribbz_x

6

Original post by ltplivsey

5 tops i reckonnn. they are quite cruel when you're almost there they give 20 marks instantly if you get solution in full, if you don't get it in full they scrutinize the whole method more heavily

how many other questions you get solutions down for?

Ahh how annoying!

I managed Q1 fully after about 6 pages of working haha, the first bit of Q2 (none of i or ii), a tiny tiny bit of Q3 (I had 5 minutes left, so almost proved the first bit), the first bit of Q6 (not i or ii either), Q9 fully, but no ones put up a solution to that yet so I don't know if it's right :s-smilie:

Completely banking on Q9! And Q8 of course haha, with the missing solution!

Really want a 2 :frown:

how did you do?!

Reply 42

twig

Original post by jj193

the stats is very easy, again.

Such a shame. My school does A2 maths and A2 F. Maths next year, so I had to self-teach myself c3/c4 content from the a-level textbook, and then jump stricght into step I questions without any practice at the actual a-level content. Hence, I just could not be bothered to look any further than the first 8Qs (even though some applied Qs could have been probably done with M1/S1 content).

Reply 43

ltplivsey

Original post by kerribbz_x

Ahh how annoying!

I managed Q1 fully after about 6 pages of working haha, the first bit of Q2 (none of i or ii), a tiny tiny bit of Q3 (I had 5 minutes left, so almost proved the first bit), the first bit of Q6 (not i or ii either), Q9 fully, but no ones put up a solution to that yet so I don't know if it's right :s-smilie:

Completely banking on Q9! And Q8 of course haha, with the missing solution!

Really want a 2 :frown:

how did you do?!

ahhh well i need a 2 aswell so we're in the same boat.
I had similar question choices/progress to you aswell by the sounds of it.

started off on question one and it took me about 40 minutes to get through almost all of it, went back to it later on and managed to finish that off. It took me quite a lot of working too.

I moved onto question 5 inbetween my efforts with question one and i made a fair bit of progress but then gave up on the last part of it as i decided i couldn't do it.

Then i did question 8 in full which took about 50 minutes or so + a toilet break in between ha. Was quite an eventful morning actually got a call off head of maths department telling me to get my ass into college for step - thought it was in the afternoon! so i didnt have chance to go to the loo before...idiot.

by this point i had limited time so i picked out question 6 as doable and did it upto part (ii) and then left it there.

then in the last 10 minutes i did the first part of question 2 by integrating by parts, got it the wrong way round and corrected it just in time.

hoping for about 60 marks which should be a 2

:smile:

Reply 44

AnonyMatt

15

Original post by jj193

the stats is very easy, again.

I agree - I completed Q12 and Q13.

Well, I didn't get the final result of 12, and said it was due to an algebraic error or I've simply forgotten one of the cases. Oh well.

Otherwise I made progress on Q1 and that was it really. I was annoyed at how none of the results were coming out for me. Oh well, it just shows me that I definitely don't belong at Cambridge!

I genuinely feel I have more chance of a 2 in STEP III than STEP I!

Reply 45

twig

Original post by AnonyMatt

I agree - I completed Q12 and Q13.

Well, I didn't get the final result of 12, and said it was due to an algebraic error or I've simply forgotten one of the cases. Oh well.

Otherwise I made progress on Q1 and that was it really. I was annoyed at how none of the results were coming out for me. Oh well, it just shows me that I definitely don't belong at Cambridge!

I genuinely feel I have more chance of a 2 in STEP III than STEP I!

Wow, so do you not think there is a considerable difference between the three papers? I must say when preparing with past papers, my test performance was much more signficantly affected by the choice and order of my questions rather than whether I was practising step I and II.

Reply 46

AnonyMatt

15

Original post by twig

Wow, so do you not think there is a considerable difference between the three papers? I must say when preparing with past papers, my test performance was much more signficantly affected by the choice and order of my questions rather than whether I was practising step I and II.

I don't think there is really.

STEP I questions are shorter, that's all I've gathered.
To me, any 'intuitive leaps' you need to make on II but not in I, aren't difficult to see. It's getting the gist of the question that's the hard part!

Reply 47

dbou

9

Original post by AnonyMatt

I agree - I completed Q12 and Q13.

Well, I didn't get the final result of 12, and said it was due to an algebraic error or I've simply forgotten one of the cases. Oh well.

Otherwise I made progress on Q1 and that was it really. I was annoyed at how none of the results were coming out for me. Oh well, it just shows me that I definitely don't belong at Cambridge!

I genuinely feel I have more chance of a 2 in STEP III than STEP I!

Don't be so hard on yourself! STEP is all about what questions come up, and if you think you did better on STEP III than STEP I you can always just say you thought STEP I was too easy so you were looking for the traps :P

Reply 48

AnonyMatt

15

Original post by dbou

Don't be so hard on yourself! STEP is all about what questions come up, and if you think you did better on STEP III than STEP I you can always just say you thought STEP I was too easy so you were looking for the traps :P

I'm just so gutted it wasn't a 'nice' paper like last year. The questions weren't hard it's just it was so much harder for me to find questions I liked - I'm glad I had the stats questions to fall back on though.

I'm still so worried I haven't got into Warwick. D:

Gotta prepare for the AEA! >.>

Reply 49

twig

Original post by AnonyMatt

I'm just so gutted it wasn't a 'nice' paper like last year. The questions weren't hard it's just it was so much harder for me to find questions I liked - I'm glad I had the stats questions to fall back on though.

I'm still so worried I haven't got into Warwick. D:

Gotta prepare for the AEA! >.>

How does step compare with AEA, for someone who has not done the AEA before? Is it more like a-level where more questions must be answered in quicker time?

EDIT: Also, I think I would preferred this year paper over 2010, mainly because of the grade boundaaries putting a larger pressure on time.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 50

usmanqureshi

The mechanics questions in this paper were really nice in my opinion.. in particular question 9 and 11. 11 was relatively straightforward if you had a decent diagram showing the forces. Question 9 needed a bit of algebra work and rearranging to get the range, but all in all the paper was a nice one if you had the jist of a question. if you could do the beginning of a question it was most likely you could do the vast majority of it. Questions 1 and 8 were nice too :smile:

Reply 51

dbou

9

Original post by AnonyMatt

I'm just so gutted it wasn't a 'nice' paper like last year. The questions weren't hard it's just it was so much harder for me to find questions I liked - I'm glad I had the stats questions to fall back on though.

I'm still so worried I haven't got into Warwick. D:

Gotta prepare for the AEA! >.>

If you have sat all three papers I am sure you will have at least got the 2 for Warwick :smile:

Reply 52

AnonyMatt

15

Original post by twig

How does step compare with AEA, for someone who has not done the AEA before? Is it more like a-level where more questions must be answered in quicker time?

EDIT: Also, I think I would preferred this year paper over 2010, mainly because of the grade boundaaries putting a larger pressure on time.

It's like a synoptic Maths A level paper, with little guidance. :p:

It's easier than STEP, in that the questions are far shorter and they should be somewhat familiar, but harder in the fact that you must know all the topics (FML VECTORS) and be able to cope with them really well.

Reply 53

AnonyMatt

15

Original post by dbou

If you have sat all three papers I am sure you will have at least got the 2 for Warwick :smile:

Fingers crossed! I'm just gutted because I torture myself by 'resitting' the paper after an exam and getting so many questions out. :rolleyes:

STEP II was soooo much easier than I actually found it in the exam, but it was still a much harder paper than usual. WHY I couldn't do Q12 in the exam, I'll never know. Forever ashamed. :colondollar:

Reply 54

dbou

9

Original post by AnonyMatt

Fingers crossed! I'm just gutted because I torture myself by 'resitting' the paper after an exam and getting so many questions out. :rolleyes:

STEP II was soooo much easier than I actually found it in the exam, but it was still a much harder paper than usual. WHY I couldn't do Q12 in the exam, I'll never know. Forever ashamed. :colondollar:

Ouch, as soon as I have done as exam I never look at it again until after results :biggrin:

I used to, but then I'd go on TSR and see someone had got a different answer to me, and even though I thought I was 100% right I would start questioning myself :redface:

How many questions do you think you managed? I have never done any statistics and our mechanics doesn't cover "newtons law of restitution" or "centre of mass" so for the applied maths sections I can only really ever do projectiles questions. Which there were two of this year :biggrin:

Reply 55

zlatanib

Original post by Zuzuzu

Ah.. That method would make a lot more sense. Cheers.

Hi member you seems to have extensive knowledge about the mathematics' specification. Can you answer my following query? much appreciated if you could.

I have sat the complete A Level Mathematics this year and my modules were: C1-4 and D1 + FP1. I'm now looking to cash-in my modules to have a certified A-level grade after the results are published next August. My concerns are however the following:

1. When is the deadline for cashing-in A level and How should I proceed to cash-in? Should I explicitly have to precise this to the examination centre where I sat the exam?
2. Are the modules I have chosen satisfactorily to count for a the full A-Level Maths grades. I know that this specification is particular as you could achieve it with Four AS + Two A2 modules. But is the inclusion of FP1 satisfactorily to that.

Many thanks for addressing my queries. I've done substantial researches over internet but I got nothing convincing as yet !!!

PS: I did the AQA spec.

Reply 56

soczek322

Original post by kerribbz_x

Ahh how annoying!

I managed Q1 fully after about 6 pages of working haha, the first bit of Q2 (none of i or ii), a tiny tiny bit of Q3 (I had 5 minutes left, so almost proved the first bit), the first bit of Q6 (not i or ii either), Q9 fully, but no ones put up a solution to that yet so I don't know if it's right :s-smilie:

Completely banking on Q9! And Q8 of course haha, with the missing solution!

Really want a 2 :frown:

how did you do?!

How did you do the second part of Q9? and was it really long? how many marks do you think the tan = .... show that will be worth? I just kept going in circles in that question.... :frown:

Reply 57

Farhan.Hanif93

18

Paper doesn't look too bad to me. To fill in the some of the gaps that Zuzuzu left over:

Q5

Q7

Q13

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 58

DFranklin

18

On first glance, this looks like quite a tough paper to me. There are several questions I can't immediately see how to do, although this includes ones like Q1 that I don't expect to actually be hard, but you can't just "look at it" and know how it's going to come out.

Maybe I'm just having an off day.

Reply 59

Farhan.Hanif93

18

Original post by DFranklin

On first glance, this looks like quite a tough paper to me. There are several questions I can't immediately see how to do, although this includes ones like Q1 that I don't expect to actually be hard, but you can't just "look at it" and know how it's going to come out.

Maybe I'm just having an off day.

Possibly, but I'm fairly sure it isn't just you. I got a reaction from my college mates to the tune of not being able to do any questions completely; which was surprising, considering almost all of them are pretty capable mathematicians.

The impression I got from this paper was that some of the questions were quite hard to complete but reasonably straightforward to start.

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