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STEP Prep Thread 2016 (Mark. II)

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Original post by tridianprime
I can't wait to drag myself (screaming and fighting back) through the Dynamics and Relativity notes. I failed once before but this time I have 3 months to beat it.


You'd benefit from doing vector calculus first
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Original post by tridianprime
I can't wait to drag myself (screaming and fighting back) through the Dynamics and Relativity notes. I failed once before but this time I have 3 months to beat it.


Concur with what Shamika said, would be better if you learned some vector calc first.
Original post by Zacken
Concur with what Shamika said, would be better if you learned some vector calc first.


Original post by shamika
You'd benefit from doing vector calculus first


Original post by tridianprime
I can't wait to drag myself (screaming and fighting back) through the Dynamics and Relativity notes. I failed once before but this time I have 3 months to beat it.


Yes, doing some preliminary stuff in much more depth first makes these much easier (and more interesting). Back in the day before I somehow knew what maths was I dragged myself through all 21 chapters of Feynman's lectures on quantum mechanics. Although I did have some understanding of some of the stuff after, it wasted a lot of time as the study of matrices and relativity basics first would have made it make a lot more sense and be more useful to the current maths I was doing :tongue: So dont do waht i did.
Original post by tridianprime
I can't wait to drag myself (screaming and fighting back) through the Dynamics and Relativity notes. I failed once before but this time I have 3 months to beat it.


I don't know why it's been suggested but having just done IA, I can confirm you don't need to have done Vector Calculus to do Dynamics and Relativity. Considering Inertia Tensors and in VC rather than D&R these days, that suggestion doesn't make any sense

It's probably better to do D&R first (needs no background other than M1-3) and properly learn VC at Cambridge.
Original post by newblood
I don't know why it's been suggested but having just done IA, I can confirm you don't need to have done Vector Calculus to do Dynamics and Relativity. Considering Inertia Tensors and in VC rather than D&R these days, that suggestion doesn't make any sense

It's probably better to do D&R first (needs no background other than M1-3) and properly learn VC at Cambridge.


You sure. Y u lying for you just finished your gcse's.
How are you guys feeling for Round 3? I can't imagine how devastated I would feel if, after 21 exams, I break my offer on the 22nd (STEP III).

@physicsmaths, give me some prep talk or something, I know we have two days left, but at least tell me how I can stop myself from following your steps (from last year). Oh, and I've decided to pretty much grind mechanics questions after my Chemistry exam tomorrow and on Thursday morning.
Original post by Insight314
How are you guys feeling for Round 3? I can't imagine how devastated I would feel if, after 21 exams, I break my offer on the 22nd (STEP III).

@physicsmaths, give me some prep talk or something, I know we have two days left, but at least tell me how I can stop myself from following your steps (from last year). Oh, and I've decided to pretty much grind mechanics questions after my Chemistry exam tomorrow and on Thursday morning.

Easy. Answer the ****ing questions right u little boy.
Original post by physicsmaths
Easy. Answer the ****ing questions right u little boy.


PRSOM, so motivational.

Better to focus on answering more full solutions than getting 6 solutions with last parts missing though right?
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Insight314
PRSOM, so motivational.

Better to focus on answering more full solutions than getting 6 solutions with last parts missing though right?


nah u just need to do the 2 stats ones. they worth double
Original post by physicsmaths
You sure. Y u lying for you just finished your gcse's.


y u bait mi lyf make me cri
Original post by EnglishMuon
nah u just need to do the 2 stats ones. they worth double


There used to be 3 stats questions, so when they took one away it made sense to double the points of the others.
@physicsmaths


How did you do STEP III 2015 Q6? IIRC you posted your solution earlier on but I wouldn't be able to find it.
I regret not doing this question in the mock itself, it's great :smile:.
Original post by Insight314

@physicsmaths, give me some prep talk or something, I know we have two days left, but at least tell me how I can stop myself from following your steps (from last year).


That's harsh!

:smile:

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Original post by IrrationalRoot
@physicsmaths


How did you do STEP III 2015 Q6? IIRC you posted your solution earlier on but I wouldn't be able to find it.
I regret not doing this question in the mock itself, it's great :smile:.


The first part?
ImageUploadedByStudent Room1466533460.271987.jpg
I just bounded stuff nicely to get equality must hold when stuff happens. Last part did the same as MS and i rearranged using diff of cubes.


Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by newblood
I don't know why it's been suggested but having just done IA, I can confirm you don't need to have done Vector Calculus to do Dynamics and Relativity. Considering Inertia Tensors and in VC rather than D&R these days, that suggestion doesn't make any sense

It's probably better to do D&R first (needs no background other than M1-3) and properly learn VC at Cambridge.


If you say so. Certainly wasn't the case last time I looked at D&R but that was years ago so it could've changed. (Conceptually VC makes sense to learn first before D&R.)

EDIT: I actually meant Vectors & Matrices :colondollar: (although VC first still makes conceptual sense to me, as a pure mathmo - isn't that where you learn what ∇\nabla is? How do you learn about electromagnetism or central forces properly without first knowing that?

The reason I say V&M is that in my experience, people don't find the theory in D&R difficult, it's actually manipulating expressions with enough fluency to get to a final result. (Well that and getting the equations of motion / CoE / Co angular momentum etc. To begin with but that's a problem with A-level mechanics too.)
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by physicsmaths
The first part?
ImageUploadedByStudent Room1466533460.271987.jpg
I just bounded stuff nicely to get equality must hold when stuff happens. Last part did the same as MS and i rearranged using diff of cubes.


Posted from TSR Mobile


Yeah it was a very short Q tbh, first part one direction is done in one line with just w and z and then the other direction with w=a+bi, z=c+di (or x+yi as you did). Then same I used sum of cubes factorisation with wz=1/3 and the other stuff was easy.

I need to get better at choosing questions - actually more precise is that I need to get better at not judging questions so harshly by extremely small things. I kid you not I've dismissed so many Qs just because I saw an inequality symbol or a subscript lol.
Original post by IrrationalRoot
Yeah it was a very short Q tbh, first part one direction is done in one line with just w and z and then the other direction with w=a+bi, z=c+di (or x+yi as you did). Then same I used sum of cubes factorisation with wz=1/3 and the other stuff was easy.

I need to get better at choosing questions - actually more precise is that I need to get better at not judging questions so harshly by extremely small things. I kid you not I've dismissed so many Qs just because I saw an inequality symbol or a subscript lol.


Tbh in pure this year I will do anything other then polars stuff like Q3 2015 III.
Luckily i can manage geomety which is a big advantage.


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Original post by jneill


How does the removal of university student number caps affect acceptances/rejections by Cambridge? I was told that Cambridge can be now more flexible in their decisions, and since they would not be restricted by such caps, they would be now able to accept more people. Is this true?
Original post by Insight314
How does the removal of university student number caps affect acceptances/rejections by Cambridge? I was told that Cambridge can be now more flexible in their decisions, and since they would not be restricted by such caps, they would be now able to accept more people. Is this true?


Dunno, but afaik the cap was to do with ABB places and below. So not very relevant for Cambridge... :wink:
Original post by physicsmaths
Tbh in pure this year I will do anything other then polars stuff like Q3 2015 III.
Luckily i can manage geomety which is a big advantage.


Posted from TSR Mobile


I like geometry but only the standard Euclidean geometry stuff, not vector geometry.
I've even discovered that I like polar, which is good. Gonna try the conchoid of Nicomedes Q later, doing Q7 now. :smile:

As long as I can manage 5 Qs I will be happy. I'd love an S in this since I would've liked at least one S in my STEP papers given my mock results, but looks like it's not gonna happen. :frown: Hopefully will get a 1 though, 111 would be ok.

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