[kabbers]

(Original post by Zhen Lin)
So, another applications cycle, another set of STEP offers to satisfy.

Aside from the STEP papers available from Dr Siklos's website, are there any currently working websites which have newer/older papers? I'm not quite sure I want to get them through the school - the last time I ordered papers, they charged me for it!

I have all of them from 98-04, and II/III from 2005, I/II from 2007.. i can email these to you if you want.

also if anyone else has other step papers and doesnt mind emailing them to me i'd really appreciate it

cheers

[nota bene]

I have all (from 1987) except 1988 IIRC, so you can PM me your emails if you want them (specify which papers though - I'm not sending all, because it takes too much time!). I'll send emails when I get time, i.e. may take a few days.

[DFranklin]

Here you go...

http://rapidshare.com/files/81215071...-2007.zip.html

[Totally Tom]

Thank you David

[Glutamic Acid]

Thanks, should make for good reading.

[DFranklin]

Actually, I've realised that's missing 2005+2006. Anyone want to post them or upload them?

[squeezebox]

thankyou!

[kabbers]

Thanks for those

http://www.megafileupload.com/en/fil...I-III-zip.html
2005 II,III

did not have any others of 05/06 ..

[generalebriety]

(Original post by DFranklin)
Here you go...

http://rapidshare.com/files/81215071...-2007.zip.html

Thanks for that, I'll put a link to it in the first post if you don't mind.

I'm actually waiting for confirmation from AAM that we're actually allowed to post these. If so, I'm hoping to get them put onto the wiki or something.

[Kolya]

(Original post by generalebriety)
I'm actually waiting for confirmation from AAM that we're actually allowed to post these. If so, I'm hoping to get them put onto the wiki or something.

I'd be more interested to hear from OCR about the matter. I cannot see what is gained if they decide that they do not want STEP past papers in the public domain. Compared with normal A-levels, the financial rewards from selling past STEP papers are going to be tiny. More importantly, I would think it in Cambridge's best interests to let all the candidates access the papers online, instead of favouring those from schools who have had many STEP candidates in the past (or, indeed, those who know TSR's "usual" source of STEP papers ).

[kabbers]

(Original post by Lusus Naturae)
I'd be more interested to hear from OCR about the matter. I cannot see what is gained if they decide that they do not want STEP past papers in the public domain. Compared with normal A-levels, the financial rewards from selling past STEP papers are going to be tiny. More importantly, I would think it in Cambridge's best interests to let all the candidates access the papers online, instead of favouring those from schools who have had many STEP candidates in the past (or, indeed, those who know TSR's "usual" source of STEP papers ).

I heard something about STEP being operated by Cambridge themselves, starting this year.. they'd be more lenient i'd imagine

[Zhen Lin]

STEP has always (?) been conducted and marked by Cambridge. What is happening this year is that Cambridge Assessment itself is responsible for (the administration of?) STEP, rather than OCR, which is a subsidiary. See here.

[cnwillis]

David! You are a legend!! Thanks SO much!

[Nadeshka]

I've got the 2006 II and III papers if people still need/want them:

http://rapidshare.com/files/81735887..._2006.pdf.html (II)
http://rapidshare.com/files/81736282..._2006.pdf.html (III)

[Zhen Lin]

So... I have a day off tomorrow (one of the perks of living in the Land of Public Holidays) and would like to try a Maths III paper. Which one should I do? I'd like to contribute to the solutions project if possible...

[DFranklin]

My general advice: the further back you are, the harder you're likely to find the questions - not so much that they are actually harder, but they're more likely to expect different content from the current syllabus. The style has changed over the years as well - you don't get as many idiosyncratic questions these days compared with the early 90s. When you're confident with the questions, this isn't as big a deal, but if you're starting out it can really hinder you. (From your posts, I suspect you wouldn't have a problem personally as you seem to know a lot outside the core syllabus. But if you want other people to be able to contribute, they're more likely to do so for more modern papers).

Continuing along those lines, the 2007 paper is likely to be the closest approximation to what this years' paper will be like. For that reason, a lot of people like to leave it as a "mock" paper to do closer to the time of the June exams.

So my general advice would be: start at 2006, work backwards as time/motivation allows, and then do 2007 close to June.

As far as solution threads go: there are other solutions available for the 2000 and later papers, but I don't think that should stop you. There's also an issue of whether people with have the papers - not as many people seem to have 2004,2005,2006 as the other years.

[Zhen Lin]

That is a sensible strategy. Seeing as all the solution sites except for Meikleriggs appear to be down, I think I will do 2000 first.

[brianeverit]

(Original post by DFranklin)
The examiners' report is here. It doesn't have grade boundaries, but it does seem to support my guestimate that the boundaries for STEP III will be roughly similar to previous years but those for STEP II will be significantly higher.

It might also be worth asking on NRICH.

Grade boundaries were as follows
STEP I S(81)-1(66)=-2(49)-3(36)
STEP II S(95)-1(67)-2(56)-3(35)
STEP III S(86)-1(64)-2(52)-3(35)

[Zhen Lin]

95 for S in STEP II?! 64 for 1 in STEP III? *faints* That's much higher than in usual years, right?

[*bobo*]

yeah, not suprised about II boundaries though, but III seemed to be generally harder than most years and boundaries are significantly higher. Turns out I only just scraped a 2, which is much nicer than just missing out on a 1