The 2012 STEP Results Discussion Thread
Maths exam discussion - share revision tips in preparation for GCSE, A Level and other maths exams and discuss how they went afterwards.
-
View Poll Results: Should we include the AEA in this thread?
Yes 53 33.76% No 104 66.24%
-
Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!I wish I had the possibility to pass some of those exams earlier rather than doing all of them in just one week...(Original post by TheUltimateProof)
I guess it works out well that I took quite a few exams early and don't need much UMS in physics otherwise I would be very worried. Feel sorry for people without Jan exams... -
Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!yeah it's not in there anymore. Personally, I only use it as a last resort...(Original post by shamika)
Seriously, is the t-substitution not in A-Levels anymore? I think they pushed it into Further Maths when I took my A-Levels but I'm very surprised if its not taught anymore. Its so useful!
(I did Edexcel in case that makes a difference...) -
Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!from what I was told in the step school....you want to portray the general shape. I guess labelling critical values wont do any harm(Original post by gff)
General question on graph sketching? Do you just get the general shape and label the important things, or do you actually try to produce something that looks good?
depending on the question
-
Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!Looks like it from the boundaries, but I dunno, doing the 2010 paper as a first shot seems a little off. (It's the second most recent, so you might want to save it for a mock-mock in June.)(Original post by TheJ0ker)
Going to attempt my first STEP 2 paper tomorrow, is the general consensus that 2010 is the easiest?
Why not just do a random paper from 2004-2008ish?
The STEP formula book is exactly the same as the OCR one. The t-sub is on OCR FP2 and the revision sheets on http://mathshelper.co.uk explain it well on page 7.(Original post by gff)
The t-substitution is not on OCR MEI's syllabus, but it certainly is assumed in STEP, since it is in the formulae book. -
Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!They'd never expect you to use it without a big hint.(Original post by gff)
The t-substitution is not on OCR MEI's syllabus, but it certainly is assumed in STEP, since it is in the formulae book. -
Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!How do you feel about this???(Original post by Farhan.Hanif93)
Yeah, there's something wrong with
although I haven't done the question/scrutinised the solution. The obvious reason being that
and looking at the ranges of the LHS and RHS, we require
for any hope of a solution i.e.
must be greater than
.
Do you have a correct solution? If so feel free to post it up. -
Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!I made a mistake with the latex, I have changed it from what you have in the quote, I know what it is and I am using the Sn formula but just cant get 2^a -1.(Original post by ben-smith)
it's a geometric series. If you can't see that then I'd imagine you need to look at C2 again.
Help plz ?
Edit: I keep geting 2^(a-1) -1Last edited by member910132; 15-04-2012 at 13:02. -
Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!(Original post by member910132)
I made a mistake with the latex, I have changed it from what you have in the quote, I know what it is and I am using the Sn formula but just cant get 2^a -1.
Help plz ?
Edit: I keep geting 2^(a-1) -1

so
-
Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!At a glance, it looks perfectly fine to me. I couldn't see any relevant use of the result at the start so your solution helps in that respect. I posted this a few days ago but completely neglected the result at the start because it felt pointless to switch to tans before I solved the equations.(Original post by mikelbird)
How do you feel about this??? -
Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!I know that feeling! My Physics teacher is great though, so I can't blame him. It is just what I'd prefer to do.(Original post by hassi94)
Doing some work that isn't STEP for the first time in weeks. Damn physics homework!
I saw your question has been answered, but when you use the formula, make sure you put the number of terms in the place of(Original post by member910132)
Edit: I keep geting 2^(a-1) -1
.
From
to the whole number
there are exactly
whole numbers. It is one of those where people don't know that from
to
there are
numbers.
-
Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!
After STEP School I actually tried to relax for some time knowing that this is the last week until end of June where I can do nothing, so only doing 2 STEP questions a day I successfully relaxed haha. Tomorrow it all begins again, going to start by doing a STEP mock paper in school, STEP 2 2008 and hopefully get atleast a 1. How is everyone else doing ?
-
Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!
Damn... I've now done the 2004 II and III papers a total of 5 times in exam conditions

(Twice each doing different sets of questions, then once when I picked a few from each and made my own paper that way.)
I prefer this way of working tbh. When I'm just left alone with a STEP question I can get annoyed and occasionally bomb... for hours! Much better to work on a few at once in a set amount of time IMO
So after ~18 hours of work I'm kinda close to finishing both papers.
(18 including a few hours on the train to Cambridge yesterday... Avenue Q was brilliant!
)
EDIT: 2,000th post in this thread. What do I win?
Last edited by Xero Xenith; 15-04-2012 at 18:11.
depending on the question 
So after ~18 hours of work I'm kinda close to finishing both papers.