Are Maths Degrees Dumbed Down?

Since A-level mathematics has been consistently dumbed down over the past decades, does this mean mathematics degrees are also dumbed down?

If not then how can their qualities be maintained when incoming students are less and less capable every year? Or the workload increases to compensate?

That's why STEP is becoming a requirement for more and more Maths courses I guess. They can't rely on A-level Maths or even Further Maths to judge ability.

So do you think maths degrees are dumbed down?

So do you think maths degrees are dumbed down?

That's why STEP is becoming a requirement for more and more Maths courses I guess. They can't rely on A-level Maths or even Further Maths to judge ability.

But some people get STEP lessons at their college now which is simply unfair. A teacher who has been teaching STEP for a few years will easily tech a class of 5 students STEP I and II. And these students will be able to score highly in these because they have been taught them. Whereas someone who has to self-teach STEP will be at a disadvantage. Therefore creating an unfair system, and making STEP into a mainstream qualification like anyother....

This is a bit of tangent discussion anyway. Unless you radically changed the format of the test every year (which would completely defeat the purpose of the test, as the skills needed for a Maths degree do not change year-on-year) this inequality will happen with ANY test. Even tests of raw aptitude such as the UKCAT can be prepared for- my evidence for that is that the average UKCAT score has increased steadily from 600 to 624 over the last few years.

It's jut the way it works, there are limitations to any metric of ability. Cambridge have found a very high correlation between good STEP performance and good Tripos performance so they will continue to use STEP, and other universities are joining in now.

Basically im just complaining that my college doesnt do these lessons, and i know others do, but you're right, it is a tangent discusssion. Back to topic, this quote is right, Oxbridge and warwick use STEP as a guideline to get the best candidates. I think an answer would be that university degrees in general are not being dummed down, but the universities as a whole are being diluted with micky mouse courses, and "college" universities, which appears to make degrees being dummed down. When in actual fact, degrees at specific universites are being dummed down.

Phone up a nearby college that does offer them and ask if you'd be able to join any after-school STEP classes they may have. They'll probably say no, but it's worth trying. If I was a Maths teacher and a student from the school down the road called me up asking if he could sit in on my STEP lessons, I would be very impressed by his courage and ambition and try to cater to such an impressive young Maths student.

I think i am going to seek a tutor outside school. I will have to pay, but closer to the time il have money saved up to do so.

Sounds good. Just remember to always arrange a trial lesson with a tutor first before deciding whether or not to continue...

I saw your other thread on STEP by the way. If you keep thinking that STEP tutoring guarantees better results, well then you're immediately expecting yourself to fail. Just do the past papers that's how everyone else prepares for STEP. A STEP teacher can help sometimes but they can't give you that intuition and flair that is needed to do well in STEP.

Yes after trying to study i thought i was going to fail... But you say simply doing past papers is the way to mastering STEP, when should i begin doing them you reckon?