Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Can STEP papers help my chances?

Hi, I'm looking to apply for university in specifically the northwest and Wales.

My question is, if I apply for a university that has no requirements to sit the STEP papers, will my chances of being accepted increase compared to other candidates that do not sit the STEP papers?

My sixth form offered to fund these STEP test sits, and are willing to devote a teacher's time to give me some lessons on practicing the papers and preparing for them

Thanks
Rhys

Reply 1

Astonix

I think they will help. I can't remember word for word exactly, but if you look on the website for STEP exams, it says something about them being independant qualifications. Don't take my word for it though.

Reply 2

DFranklin

Original post by IxI_Rhys_IxI

Hi, I'm looking to apply for university in specifically the northwest and Wales.

My question is, if I apply for a university that has no requirements to sit the STEP papers, will my chances of being accepted increase compared to other candidates that do not sit the STEP papers?Assuming you won't have taken them before you apply, I'm not sure it will make much difference, although they might make you a STEP offer if they were otherwise going to reject you.

To kind of state the obvious: just sitting STEP doesn't say anything about your mathematical ability - the grade you get matters.

My sixth form offered to fund these STEP test sits, and are willing to devote a teacher's time to give me some lessons on practicing the papers and preparing for them

Just be aware that STEP is hard - it's not really a "do a few extra lessons" thing.

Reply 3

kerily

STEP does show an interest in maths beyond the curriculum, and aside from helping with applications, it will also help you prepare for university-level maths.

If your school is willing to pay for it and you're willing to put in the effort to prepare properly, go for it; it won't hurt your chances, although it also won't increase them massively. Do bear in mind, however, that the time taken to properly prepare for STEP is quite substantial. How much time you should spend is a whole debate in itself, but I've heard you should spend approximately as much time as you would on a whole a-level; I started in January doing about an hour a day, stepped this up to 2 hours ish a day in April, and was doing between 8 and 10 hours a day for the 4 weeks before the exams. There's not much point in doing it half-heartedly, so be aware of the commitment you're making.

Which universities do you want to apply to? Do they ever give offers involving STEP?

Reply 4

DFranklin

Original post by kerily

If your school is willing to pay for it and you're willing to put in the effort to prepare properly, go for it; it won't hurt your chances, although it also won't increase them massively. Do bear in mind, however, that the time taken to properly prepare for STEP is quite substantial. How much time you should spend is a whole debate in itself, but I've heard you should spend approximately as much time as you would on a whole a-levelTo some extent you can trade it off against time spent on A-level M/FM though, on the basis that if you can do STEP, the M/FM papers will tend to be straightforward (at least on the topics you are also doing for STEP).

That was my plan when I did S-levels, anyhow; I did hardly any A-level maths work that year.

I started in January doing about an hour a day, stepped this up to 2 hours ish a day in April, and was doing between 8 and 10 hours a day for the 4 weeks before the exams.

8-10 hours a day is an awful lot...

Reply 5

kerily

Original post by DFranklin

To some extent you can trade it off against time spent on A-level M/FM though, on the basis that if you can do STEP, the M/FM papers will tend to be straightforward (at least on the topics you are also doing for STEP).

That was my plan when I did S-levels, anyhow; I did hardly any A-level maths work that year.

I agree that they'll help an awful lot with any topic that's on both STEP and an A2 paper, as you're learning to apply it at a far higher level than A2 requires. But if you decided, for example, to only answer pure questions on STEP, then you'd need to revise mechanics/stats/discrete for your a-levels as well.

8-10 hours a day is an awful lot...

Didn't pay off either :colondollar:

Oh well. I did rather enjoy the process and get quite into it. That was only for the last burst of activity, really; I realised about a month before the exams that I was woefully under-prepared, and panicked a bit!

Reply 6

DFranklin

As the mathematics gets harder, unfortunately the ability to 'pick it up quickly' tends to diminish. At uni it's not uncommon to cram a course, scrape a pass, do no work on it until next term, and suddenly find you are much more able to do the questions. You need time to absorb it.

Reply 7

IxI_Rhys_IxI

Hey, Sorry about the heavily delayed response.

I have intentions to apply to somewhat local universities and some high, but not the highest level universities, kind of around the Liverpool, Warwick, Etc range.

Generally, I'm on target for a strong A* in Mathematics and a really high A for Further Maths, A* if I can get a good 90%+ on M2, I don't feel that my knowledge of mathematics is a massive issue.

It's just a case of whether or not I should spend the extra time preparing for university doing these STEP tests.

Reply 8

DFranklin

You'll need STEP for Warwick.

Reply 9

Venomilys

Original post by DFranklin

You'll need STEP for Warwick.

For example, UCL is a very good uni for maths that does not ask for STEP. There offer is A*AA with f.maths included.

If I sat STEP, would they acknowledge this when dishing out offers and they might give me an offer like:

A*AA or A*AB2 or A*AC1.

what do you think? are unis for maths known for doing this that do not mention STEP at all on their website? (like UCL, St andrews etc).

Reply 10

Ree69

Original post by Ilyas

No; universities that don't ask for STEP won't make an offer including one. The only exception, I'm aware of, is Imperial - they do ocasionally do this and are slightly annoying. The worst thing is they don't even lower your A-Level offer - they just add on the STEP requirement like it's nothing :rolleyes: