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STEP 2016 Solutions

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Original post by Zacken
16 + 12 + 20 + 18 + 12(?) + 20 > 95, maybe an S.



Thanks so much :smile: I sincerely hope that you do very well, and I'm absolutely sure you're going to ace STEP III
q9 Solution:

Spoiler

(edited 7 years ago)
Wish I could answer these questions :biggrin:
Original post by Insight314
You mentioned a while ago that you didn't do the DE question when deciding the boundaries and just saw it and assumed it was easy. I feel like first parts were easy but then (iii) required a bit more work and overall the question would kind of take longer time to get through. I don't know if it is only me, I think I spent a bit over 30 minutes on it and I usually do DE questions a bit faster than other questions.


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But conversely I thought 3 was harder than it was, which is why I'm sticking to the original estimate. I'm not doing anything rigorous: I'm going by gut feel after seeing the questions for about 20 minutes and figuring out how to do them. Dont take what I'm saying as gospel, but I haven't seen anything yet to make me move from that estimate. As I keep saying I could be completely wrong!
Original post by riquix
Q9 from STEP 2. If someone could verify this I'd be grateful. About 90% certain I got it right.


lol sorry didn't see that :PP nice to have the two different approaches tho
Reply 185
Original post by mathsman22
Anyone have a solution for 9?


I posted one. Page 4 I think

Edit: so did strangebanana.
STEP II Q11 - See attached.
Alternate solution to STEP II Q7 (iv).
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Farhan.Hanif93
STEP II Q11 - See attached.


How many marks do you think the last part will be? (the alpha>beta part)
Original post by matthewdjones
How many marks do you think the last part will be? (the alpha>beta part)

I'd expect around 5 or 6, as most of the question comes together in that last part and it's arguably the trickiest part. Although, I haven't really looked at the mark schemes that they've released in recent years so make of that what you will.
Anyone want to estimate how many marks, for Q9, a fully correct part (i), and a correct common speed and value of c+b [without R eliminated, but with a correct energy argument up to that point], but a very silly mistake giving incorrect c and b would be worth? Thanks.
Original post by Farhan.Hanif93
I'd expect around 5 or 6, as most of the question comes together in that last part and it's arguably the trickiest part. Although, I haven't really looked at the mark schemes that they've released in recent years so make of that what you will.


I think I rather missed the point of 'explaining' it in the exam, but I'm fairly confident my method was OK and it culminated in tana>tanb, just a bit of an algebra bash. I should be OK shouldn't I?
Original post by Krollo
I think I rather missed the point of 'explaining' it in the exam, but I'm fairly confident my method was OK and it culminated in tana>tanb, just a bit of an algebra bash. I should be OK shouldn't I?

You should be, provided you made reference to part (i). Out of interest, did you find a way to use the result from part (i) itself? I couldn't see any such approach.
Original post by Farhan.Hanif93
You should be, provided you made reference to part (i). Out of interest, did you find a way to use the result from part (i) itself? I couldn't see any such approach.


I definitely remember using the result from (i) in my putative explanation (and I think the inequality from (ii)), and I suppose it can't have been that wrong if I got it down to tana>tanb or whatever. It's slightly alarming how much I've forgotten since Thursday; I shall try and rederive my argument from what I remember.
Q1. Full.
Q2. Just the first part for factor theorem. I was running out of time and decided to do Q3 instead.
Q3. Got everything until the part that asked that the polynomial cannot have more than 1 real root. I then stated the even and odd cases correctly but had an incorrect argument.
Q4. I solved everything but ended up with a very weird approach for tangent and only got x = -1. The claim the the equation had equal real roots is stated though.
Q6. First three parts full. I then let k = mn and found v'(x) but couldn't continue past that. I began with this in the exam and wasted 15 minutes stupidly trying solving the DE. I think I could've fared better in Q3 otherwise.
Q7. Full.
Is a high 70 / low 80 score possible? I would be very happy with a 1.
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 195
Original post by Devinky
Is a high 70 / low 80 score possible? I would be very happy with a 1.


high-80's/low 90's, more than certainly a 1. I'm envious. Congratulations. :smile:
STEP II
1. Poor but a lot of working.
3. I answered it all apart from showing there was only a max of 1 real root (I explained odd and even cases)
6. Did i) and ii) - attempted iii) - first two part were fairly easy to show probably not many marks.
8. did a lot of working but not many results - I showed E=2
9. Got part i) correct and a lot of working in ii) leading to a probably incorrect answer
11. I showed everything so I'm pretty sure this was full
Is a 2 or a 3 realistic?
Original post by almostover
STEP II
1. Poor but a lot of working.
3. I answered it all apart from showing there was only a max of 1 real root (I explained odd and even cases)
6. Did i) and ii) - attempted iii) - first two part were fairly easy to show probably not many marks.
8. did a lot of working but not many results - I showed E=2
9. Got part i) correct and a lot of working in ii) leading to a probably incorrect answer
11. I showed everything so I'm pretty sure this was full
Is a 2 or a 3 realistic?


It's kind of hard to tell what 'a lot of working' constitutes as.
Q1 5-15 Marks??
Q3 16
Q6 5/6
Q8 7
Q9 10?
Q11 20
Mark: 63-74
Likely a 2 but hard to say, with your description it is very hard to guess a mark.
? is guesstimate ?? Is plucked from thin air


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Original post by jjsnyder
It's kind of hard to tell what 'a lot of working' constitutes as.
Q1 5-15 Marks??
Q3 16
Q6 5/6
Q8 7
Q9 10?
Q11 20
Mark: 63-74
Likely a 2 but hard to say, with your description it is very hard to guess a mark.
? is guesstimate ?? Is plucked from thin air


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I'm pretty sure question 1 will be about 5 because I didn't really make any progress I just got an equation of a line and equated it to something and also found gradients.
With 9ii) I'm pretty sure my method was valid but I messed up one of the accelerations because i did not take into account that the bullet's mass would increase the total body's mass so I missed an m but I have no idea how many marks this would contribute - especially as most people did a different method.

Thank You :biggrin:
Hey guys,

I just registered on this page and I've got two questions I'd be grateful for an answer to:

1) How many points do you think part iii) of problem 5 and last line of problem 12 will be worth, respectively?

2) Did you also find this STEP significantly harder than all the recent ones, or was it just the effect time and psychological pressure had on me? At home, on a mock I did, I did much better.

3) "Fun question" - what do you think will be the least popular problem?

I need to get a 1 here and I'd lie if I said I didn't expect to manage, but hearing this from someone else would make me feel much calmer - that's just how I am. I'm not trying to humble-brag and I'm really sympathetic for people who will turn out to have done worse than me.

Cause other than problems 5 & 12 I'm hoping for about 70-80 points for other 4 problems. I'm hoping to only lose a few points for not explaining everything thoroughly enough - I was in a real hurry, but I'm pretty sure that the solutions were right.

Cheers

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