Hey everyone. I want to start doing some STEP work for the exams next year so that i am thoroughly prepared. Where would be a good place to start? Should i just go over past papers, because the past papers are really difficult and overwhelming when i look at them. If you've done STEP, how did you find them in the end, and where did you start?
Finishing A-Level Maths is a good place to start so you can get started on STEP I without the limitations of not having covered the syllabus. Just keep trying with questions. It will get easier.
It wasn't for you (difficulty), but the way I deal with those is to try out simpler cases first.
Simplify
(1+x+x2)(1−x+x2)
where this corresponds to m=2,N=0. More cases, any patterns?
Have you heard of mathematical induction?
Yeah - I just thought I would try it anyway (there's no harm). That would be a good idea! I was trying to do it algebraically - simplifying each expression in the brackets then combining some bits and so on until the whole thing is done. I am now getting somewhere with the algebra but I got to a part where I'm expanding something not so nice and I've got the first and last bits and it's the bit in the middle that's annoying to work out.
1+x2+x4. I think I'll leave this paper. I didn't realise it was this year's.
I have, yes.
I see what you're getting at! I'll leave it though and then I'll have forgotten this conversation next year.
You should also note that these two are geometric series. Do this product, but don't look at the question paper.
Yes, I had noticed.
Alrighty, just this one (It's getting a bit late and my eyelids are drooping, so another day) and I won't look at the paper. Besides, there'll be 12 other questions to have a go at when I do.
Finishing A-Level Maths is a good place to start so you can get started on STEP I without the limitations of not having covered the syllabus. Just keep trying with questions. It will get easier.
Hey, thanks for getting back to me!
I'm going over the C1-C4 content now :P. Is it worth doing all 3 STEP papers? Are there some things that are extra that is not in the syllabus of C1-C4 that is questioned in the exam?? Isn't STEP III Further Mths?
I'm going over the C1-C4 content now :P. Is it worth doing all 3 STEP papers? Are there some things that are extra that is not in the syllabus of C1-C4 that is questioned in the exam?? Isn't STEP III Further Mths?
No problem!
That is good. It depends - which degree do you plan on doing? Personally, I am going to do all three wherever I go because I'm just a bit odd like that. STEP I and STEP II are based on C1-C4, M1, M2, S1, S2 and STEP III includes the Further Maths (and Additional Further Maths!) modules. You do not have to do Additional Further Maths if you don't want to but it is rather useful for STEP III as the applied maths questions rely on it.
There are some questions on STEP which can be done in much quicker ways if you have learned some maths outside the syllabus, for example Number Theory, Geometry, Combinatorics and Inequalities. These questions can be figured out just by thinking about them, and using the concepts covered in A-Level Maths/F.Maths but it's a lot quicker/easier if you have the experience from covering those topics.