STEP Dates 2011

I had two mechanics, a philosophy exam and a physics exam in the same week as STEP II and III last year. I'm sure most people would be fine doing the 3 of them, especially as it is likely that for most people doing all 3, STEP I would just be as an added paper in case they do awfully on II and III for their insurance choices.

They put STEP 1 last, in that sense it won't disrupt your STEP 2/3 exams, although you may be quite burnt out after those. You have a 1 in STEP 1, IMO you should focus on STEP 2/3.

Obviously up to you. I find that freshness and 'feeling' is important in these exams, I know I would underperform in the 3rd exam of the 3.

EDIT: You should do AEA Maths too btw; you actually get a pretty certificate for that and the word 'Distinction' too, which you don't get for STEP. I'm sure you'd get Distinction; even I got a high Merit! (75/100)

I think 3 STEP papers in the space of 4 days would be too much, it's quite a killer. Your past schedule also sounds like quite a killer.
It'd be 3 hour paper, day off, 3 hour paper, day off, 3 hour paper. And then some will do AEA Maths 3 days later as well. Quite beastly.

It would be a lot of work, but when you consider the amount you'll be required to do at university, if someone isn't capable of 3 hours of maths a day then they probably shouldn't be applying to do a maths degree (which one would assume the person would be doing if they are taking STEP exams, unless they are just some kind of crazy masochist about maths )

If I'm honest, AEA is a bit strange. I will try it properly soon to see how I get on though.

This year they jacked up the boundaries loads, like STEP. Usually 50/70 for Merit/Dist, this year 63/81. You'll get a Distinction for sure. Just make sure any weak areas in pure Maths are covered; you get no choice with the Qs, you have to do what they give you. It counts as a qualification worth UCAS points and you get a pretty certificate too. Nice for mere mortals like me.

There's a big difference between a 3 hour exam and just doing 3 hours of regular Maths in a day at uni. The former is far more stressful. It's the stress, pressure and stamina more than anything.

I'd say there isn't that big a difference, STEP exams don't have the same kind of time constraints that a normal exam does. You don't need to be writing every second of the exam to do well, it helps if you stop and you think. The best way to revise for the STEP exams is to treat it like the exam, trying to work through a question by yourself as quickly as is possible without getting any help. STEP practice doesn't involve reading from a textbook and so it should be as hard as the exam itself. By the time you get to do STEP if you've done as much work as you need to do to do well, you'll easily be doing 3 hours of STEP work a day.

Yeah the boundaries seem a bit disappointing tbh because they seemingly do not give you the credit you deserve for your performance. 70 marks for a 2 on STEP I is pretty crazy especially considering the highest ever previous 1 boundary was 72 marks before this year...

I disagree, and I think intense prep for STEP beforehand only adds to it. Far different to 3 hours of casual Maths in a normal day. I'm going to do 3 hours of casual Maths very soon, but I'll be fine. I also think sitting STEP is daunting and very pressuring when you have an offer to meet; and for me, I find it very time pressured (as well as difficult and thus mentally demanding, of course).

University maths isn't going to be casual maths though. It'll all be hard work, you won't be given straight-forward problems where you apply what you just learnt in a lecture 10 times mindlessly to the work you have been given. The reason they use STEP is because it tests a different kind of thinking to that of the standard maths exams, university maths won't be following the rules given in a textbook, it'll be applying what you do know to unfamiliar questions.

Of course it does have a time element, but what i'm saying is that to write down correct solutions to 6 questions would probably take an hour at most, the rest of the time needs to be spent on thinking what you need to do, where as in a normal exam, the majority of your time needs to be spent writing or you won't have enough time.

Don't forget: tripos exams = four 3 hour exams in two days. (in my day, anyhow).

It's not stressful and pressuring though, it is casual, you can take as long as you like, have breaks, delay it etc. Far different to the strain of an exam; and for most people, a HUGELY important exam. It's pressuring and obviously mentally demanding.

Also, the style of Maths you describe may be true of Oxbridge, but not general unis. People do maths degrees at top unis and still can't do STEP. But then they'd have gone to Cambridge if they could.


But that still means it's stressful for obvious reasons. And for me anyway, a lot of ink is involved. But then again the geniuses may spot quicker solutions. I just think the mental stress of 3 STEPs is a LOT.

Don't forget: tripos exams = four 3 hour exams in two days. (in my day, anyhow).

Four days with a weekend in the middle in first year, and four consecutive days in 2nd and 3rd year I believe.

You lot have it soft...

Seriously - that has to be a sensible change for the better. Two 3 hour exams in a day was pretty miserable, and I averaged a fair bit less (over an alpha I thnk) in the afternoon exams than the morning ones. (In fact, in IA I got 14 alphas in the 2 morning exams and 9 in the afternoon ones. But the content of the exams was a factor too).

Conversely, I can't reasonably say that a 3 hour exam per day is anything like the same level of strain (I have had this format too). The actual *stress* level may be no different, but you don't have the same physical and mental fatigue. (If you write a lot, then 6 hours of exam writing is physically difficult - I once had to write out a question again because what I'd written the first time was almost illegible)

That's unbelievable. I couldn't handle that. But then again, I'd be trying my arse off in every exam. Maybe you'd find it fairly routine.

I don't understand the Cambridge system. Doesn't seem to be a fair test of ability if your marks suffer due to physical and mental stress and fatigue. Seems like a poor way of seperating candidates.