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.

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  1. zuzia.kru's Avatar
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    Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!
    (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...
    I wish I had the possibility to pass some of those exams earlier rather than doing all of them in just one week...
  2. ben-smith's Avatar
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    Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!
    (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...)
    yeah it's not in there anymore. Personally, I only use it as a last resort...
  3. gff's Avatar
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    Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!
    The t-substitution is not on OCR MEI's syllabus, but it certainly is assumed in STEP, since it is in the formulae book.
  4. gff's Avatar
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    Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!
    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?
  5. Rahul.S's Avatar
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    Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!
    (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?
    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 depending on the question :rolleyes:
  6. Xero Xenith's Avatar
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    Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!
    (Original post by TheJ0ker)
    Going to attempt my first STEP 2 paper tomorrow, is the general consensus that 2010 is the easiest?
    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.)

    Why not just do a random paper from 2004-2008ish?

    (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.
    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.
  7. ben-smith's Avatar
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    Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!
    Wasn't STEP II 2007 supposed to be really nice? I haven't actually looked at the paper but I know that people on here all got +100 on it whereas on III they got significantly less (still S though, bastards!)
  8. matt2k8's Avatar
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    Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!
    (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.
    They'd never expect you to use it without a big hint.
  9. mikelbird's Avatar
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    Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!
    (Original post by Farhan.Hanif93)
    Yeah, there's something wrong with x=\dfrac{\pi}{2}-\omega although I haven't done the question/scrutinised the solution. The obvious reason being that \cos x = 5+7\sin x and looking at the ranges of the LHS and RHS, we require \sin x < -\dfrac{4}{7} for any hope of a solution i.e. x must be greater than \pi.

    Do you have a correct solution? If so feel free to post it up.
    How do you feel about this???
    Attached Files
  10. File Type: pdf Step2004Paper3Question5.pdf (77.4 KB, 24 views)
  11. member910132's Avatar
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    Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!
    \sum_{r=0}^{a-1} 2^r

    How do I turn this into 2^a -1 ?

    STEP I 04 Q2

    thnx
    Last edited by member910132; 15-04-2012 at 12:53.
  12. ben-smith's Avatar
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    Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!
    (Original post by member910132)
    \sum_{r=0}^a 2^r

    How do I turn this into 2^a -1 ?

    STEP I 04 Q2

    thnx
    it's a geometric series. If you can't see that then I'd imagine you need to look at C2 again.
  13. member910132's Avatar
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    Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!
    (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.
    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
    Last edited by member910132; 15-04-2012 at 13:02.
  14. TheMagicMan's Avatar
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    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
    S_n= \sum_{r=0}^{a-1} 2^r

    2S_n= \sum_{r=1}^{a} 2^r

    so S_n= 2^a-1
  15. member910132's Avatar
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    Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!
    (Original post by TheMagicMan)
    S_n= \sum_{r=0}^{a-1} 2^r

    2S_n= \sum_{r=1}^{a} 2^r

    so S_n= 2^a-1
    Thnx, would rep if I could.
  16. Farhan.Hanif93's Avatar
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    Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!
    (Original post by mikelbird)
    How do you feel about this???
    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.
  17. Intriguing Alias's Avatar
    • TSR Idol
    • Location: Yorkshire
    Doing some work that isn't STEP for the first time in weeks. Damn physics homework!
  18. TheJ0ker's Avatar
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    Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!
    Not had a good day of STEP today.... Felt really slow all day haha
  19. gff's Avatar
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    Re: The 2012 STEP Prep Thread!
    (Original post by hassi94)
    Doing some work that isn't STEP for the first time in weeks. Damn physics homework!
    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 member910132)
    Edit: I keep geting 2^(a-1) -1
    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 n.
    From  0 to the whole number a - 1 there are exactly a whole numbers. It is one of those where people don't know that from 10 to 15 there are 6 numbers.
  20. fruktas's Avatar
    • Benevolent Member
    • Location: London
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    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 ?
  21. Xero Xenith's Avatar
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    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.
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