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STEP Prep Thread 2016 (Mark. II)

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Original post by shamika
Can we have a year with people writing properly? I might ignore any post with "fam", "bro" or "blud"*:rolleyes:


If they don't me and the bois will tell em wag1


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Zacken
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Original post by shamika
Can we have a year with people writing properly? I might ignore any post with "fam", "bro" or "blud"*:rolleyes:


Physicsmaths typing style has caught on. :tongue:
Reply 3322
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Pyoro
8
Original post by Zacken
Yeah, I've only taken over one as well. I think it's not so bad if all you do is report the OP and put in a "other" category with a message asking the CT to transfer the OP to you, it takes them ~2 days to get back to you but is relatively little effort on your part.

Are you done with your degree, then? :smile:


Yeah, I'm done. I don't really know what my life is anymore. I disappeared from the face of the earth for two weeks to watch the Olympics and then came back to find results day had happened. So many memories :blushing:.

Glad to hear you got in, boss. You'll have a great time and soon enough, you'll be all done and a dysfunctional confused adult like me :h:. And cheers for the tip about thread transfers. I have no more excuses to hide behind anymore, hehe.
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Original post by Pyoro
Yeah, I'm done. I don't really know what my life is anymore. I disappeared from the face of the earth for two weeks to watch the Olympics and then came back to find results day had happened. So many memories :blushing:.


Hahaha, Britain was great this year! Gah, I'm so glad results day is over and done with. :lol:

Glad to hear you got in, boss. You'll have a great time and soon enough, you'll be all done and a dysfunctional confused adult like me :h:. And cheers for the tip about thread transfers. I have no more excuses to hide behind anymore, hehe.


Thanks! I can't wait to get there, not so much about the dysfunctional confused adult bit, but oh well. :tongue:
Original post by Zacken
By the way, for those people whose marks I predicted, would you mind telling me (or PM-ing me) how close/far I was with my prediction? Just want to see whether I'm any good at it, thanks. :smile:


20 marks off, but I was on the good side of surprised :smile:

idk how i got it tbh, must have done better in some questions than others/not explained to you correctly. More my fault. How did you do btw? Guess you got into Cambridge?
Reply 3325
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Original post by jacobe
20 marks off, but I was on the good side of surprised :smile:

idk how i got it tbh, must have done better in some questions than others/not explained to you correctly. More my fault. How did you do btw? Guess you got into Cambridge?


Ooph, glad you were on the good side! Very well done. :smile:

Yep, got in with 1, 1, 1. Ecstatic!
Reply 3326
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stcs
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Dear Zacken,

I'm not quite sure how to use TRS...

Anyway, thank you and everyone else involved for all the work you do for people taking STEP. I think the advice and information above is excellent.

I have two small points.

In the general STEP information, it very kindly recommends buying my book if affordable for my benefit. Actually, the publisher is non-for-profit, and I don't get royalties (I'd quite like that to be said!). Though the book is nice.

There is now a data base of all STEP questions, indexed by topic. It is not perfect: you can search for questions on penguins (there is 1), or questions on prisons (there are two), but if you search for questions on bears you get questions on bearings. As soon as I have found the right place to put it, I can give you the URL. Perhaps it is best if you e-mail me.

Best wishes,
Stephen Siklos
Original post by stcs
Dear Zacken,

I'm not quite sure how to use TRS...

Anyway, thank you and everyone else involved for all the work you do for people taking STEP. I think the advice and information above is excellent.

I have two small points.

In the general STEP information, it very kindly recommends buying my book if affordable for my benefit. Actually, the publisher is non-for-profit, and I don't get royalties (I'd quite like that to be said!). Though the book is nice.

There is now a data base of all STEP questions, indexed by topic. It is not perfect: you can search for questions on penguins (there is 1), or questions on prisons (there are two), but if you search for questions on bears you get questions on bearings. As soon as I have found the right place to put it, I can give you the URL. Perhaps it is best if you e-mail me.

Best wishes,
Stephen Siklos


I hope vectors are revived for coming years.


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Original post by Mathemagicien
In the form of complex numbers :biggrin:


Lol.


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Zacken
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Original post by stcs
[...]


Thank you very much - I've sent you an email. :smile:
Original post by Zacken
Thank you very much - I've sent you an email. :smile:


Moka!


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Original post by Zacken
Thank you very much - I've sent you an email. :smile:


Zacken is communing with our God!
Original post by ValerieKR
Zacken is communing with our God!


Play it cool bro, play it cool


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Pyoro
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Original post by stcs
Best wishes,
Stephen Siklos

.....
ARGH!
:adore:
Original post by stcs
Dear Zacken,

I'm not quite sure how to use TRS...

Anyway, thank you and everyone else involved for all the work you do for people taking STEP. I think the advice and information above is excellent.

I have two small points.

In the general STEP information, it very kindly recommends buying my book if affordable for my benefit. Actually, the publisher is non-for-profit, and I don't get royalties (I'd quite like that to be said!). Though the book is nice.

There is now a data base of all STEP questions, indexed by topic. It is not perfect: you can search for questions on penguins (there is 1), or questions on prisons (there are two), but if you search for questions on bears you get questions on bearings. As soon as I have found the right place to put it, I can give you the URL. Perhaps it is best if you e-mail me.

Best wishes,
Stephen Siklos


Our Siklos, who art in Cambridge,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy college come, thy will be done,
In tripos as it is in step.
Give us this day our deserved 1s,
And forgive us our mistakes
As we forgive those who choose the humanities
And lead us not into clearing
But deliver us on track.
Amen
Original post by Zacken
Thank you very much - I've sent you an email. :smile:


dont open the attachments
Original post by Number Nine
dont open the attachments


prsom lol
Original post by Zacken
Ooph, glad you were on the good side! Very well done. :smile:

Yep, got in with 1, 1, 1. Ecstatic!


Nice one! :biggrin:
Hey guys, I'm starting to prepare for the 2017 STEP exams and I have a few questions, mostly regarding resources:

- My teacher says the best way to prepare is: go through the syllabus and make sure I know everything-->Siklos' latest booklet-->Past papers. What do you think?

- I looked at all the resources on the front page. I'm a bit confused about the two older booklets - I know the newest one is an amalgamation of the previous two, but since the two booklets have 110 questions in total and the newest one has 75, surely this means it doesn't include all the questions from the previous booklets? Does this mean going through all 3 booklets is beneficial? If so, in what order?

- Since TSR provides solutions to every single question, I don't think the worked solution resources are necessary. However, I'd like to ask about the usefulness of the following resources: STEP correspondence course (https://correspondence.maths.org/assignments), the modules on https://maths.org/step/, and the nrich modules (http://nrich.maths.org/step).

In a nutshell, I'm trying to decide which resources I should use.

Thanks!
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Zacken
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Original post by MTripos
My teacher says the best way to prepare is:


No such best way, for some, it's easiest to just jump into the straight end and do past papers. Others prefer a more gradual approach with correspondence programs/STEP programme/booklets or what not.

If you're not sure at what you think is best then I'd advise starting out with the booklets (most of us used the first old STEP booklet, fondly known as "APICM", but you could probably just as well use the first half or so of the new booklet. (i.e: STEP I level questions) - if you find the booklet boring, then I'd jump straight into past papers.

surely this means it doesn't include all the questions from the previous booklets?


Yes, and it also contains some questions not on the other two booklets. But almost every problem on there is a past STEP question anyway, so...

Does this mean going through all 3 booklets is beneficial? If so, in what order?


Up to you. If I was forced to suggest an order, I'd say first booklet -> first half of new booklet -> second booklet.

Since TSR provides solutions to every single question, I don't think the worked solution resources are necessary. However, I'd like to ask about the usefulness of the following resources: STEP correspondence course (https://correspondence.maths.org/assignments), the modules on https://maths.org/step/, and the nrich modules (http://nrich.maths.org/step).


Again, up to you and what you think will work best for you. I personally dislike the above three resources you link, they spoil STEP questions and give far too much guidance.

In a nutshell, I'm trying to decide which resources I should use.


In my opinion, it's all going to come down to you doing past papers, whether that starts now or later on next year - assignments or booklets are simply an alternative way of doing past papers (with the assignments or modules or whatever they call them now spoiling the question) so it's not really worth overanalysing what resources you should use. Have a cursory glance at them, pick the one you like most and just start. Move on to another one if you get bored or just not feeling it. STEP is very far away, there's time to experiment.

...


Also, this is the 2016 thread - there's a 2017 STEP thread stickied to the maths forum; your question would be better off there. :smile:

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