The 2012 STEP Results Discussion Thread

Original post by Farhan.Hanif93

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I've updated the 1998 thread, thanks.

Reply 961

Original post by ben-smith

by "question like that" do you mean a vectors question? I think I found that one OK when I did it but that was a while back. Horses for courses I guess...

I'd say it's mainly because that question took me substantially longer (something like 40-50 minutes) than the 5 others that I completed yesterday (Q1, 2, 3, 4, 7) and if that's supposed to be an OK one then I'd probably struggle with most vector questions in an exam situation. Maybe that will change throughout the year, I have never really bothered with the vector questions in the past so maybe it's a lack of experience with them? :dontknow:

Reply 962

DFranklin

Original post by Farhan.Hanif93

I'd say it's mainly because that question took me substantially longer (something like 40-50 minutes) than the 5 others that I completed yesterday (Q1, 2, 3, 4, 7) and if that's supposed to be an OK one then I'd probably struggle with most vector questions in an exam situation. Maybe that will change throughout the year, I have never really bothered with the vector questions in the past so maybe it's a lack of experience with them? :dontknow:

I was reasonably good at IA vectors (which are roughly the same level as this question), and I *still* find STEP vectors questions seem to be significantly harder than other questions.

Reply 963

Original post by DFranklin

I was reasonably good at IA vectors (which are roughly the same level as this question), and I *still* find STEP vectors questions seem to be significantly harder than other questions.

I recall it being mentioned somewhere (perhaps in the Siklos booklets) that the examiners struggle to set STEP vector questions at a suitable level of difficulty (with consistency) due to the limitations of the syllabuses at A-Level, or something to that effect.

I held the view that they were more challenging because the style deviates furthest from what is seen at A-Level; more so than any other "topic" but if you still find them tougher than most other questions then it may be that the questions are just generally more taxing.

Reply 964

Dirac Spinor

10

Original post by Farhan.Hanif93

I recall it being mentioned somewhere (perhaps in the Siklos booklets) that the examiners struggle to set STEP vector questions at a suitable level of difficulty (with consistency) due to the limitations of the syllabuses at A-Level, or something to that effect.

I held the view that they were more challenging because the style deviates furthest from what is seen at A-Level; more so than any other "topic" but if you still find them tougher than most other questions then it may be that the questions are just generally more taxing.

Yeah it's in the siklos booklet.
I personally don't find vectors that bad and I've met people who actively seek them out.
It's also worth pointing out that there are some vectors questions in disguise out there i.e. most geometry questions, mechanics etc...

Reply 965

Original post by ben-smith

Yeah it's in the siklos booklet.
I personally don't find vectors that bad and I've met people who actively seek them out.
It's also worth pointing out that there are some vectors questions in disguise out there i.e. most geometry questions, mechanics etc...

Don't get me wrong, vectors are manageable/good fun but for me it feels as though I'm wasting time when it's quite likely that there's another question which I can finish off A LOT faster (I'm talking 15-20 minutes faster in general). Roughly speaking, the impression I get from the examiners' reports' is that the "explicit" vector questions tend to be the least popular/worst answered on the paper. Make of that what you will... :p:

Reply 966

Xero Xenith

10

Original post by Farhan.Hanif93

Don't get me wrong, vectors are manageable/good fun but for me it feels as though I'm wasting time when it's quite likely that there's another question which I can finish off A LOT faster (I'm talking 15-20 minutes faster in general). Roughly speaking, the impression I get from the examiners' reports' is that the "explicit" vector questions tend to be the least popular/worst answered on the paper. Make of that what you will... :p:

Do you have an opinion to hand on 2007, STEP II, Q8? :smile:

(I've mentioned this one before but I really struggled on it. No idea if it's hard or easy, as STEP vector questions go.)

Reply 967

Original post by Xero Xenith

Do you have an opinion to hand on 2007, STEP II, Q8? :smile:

(I've mentioned this one before but I really struggled on it. No idea if it's hard or easy, as STEP vector questions go.)

I haven't tried it on paper but I was able to almost completely do the first two parts in my head (I was able to see what I would have done, at any rate), which probably puts it in the doable category as far as vectors is concerned. That said, you shouldn't be too worried about that at this stage. As I mentioned earlier, I put the difficulty of STEP vectors questions down to the massive leap from their A-Level counterparts. After you've had a go at a few other vector questions, one's like this one should be routine.

Reply 968

username219321

I've found with STEP vector questions I can generally grind through them if I try, but I can never see what to do straight away.

Reply 969

Rahul.S

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/LaTeX

Original post by Xero Xenith

Do you have an opinion to hand on 2007, STEP II, Q8? :smile:

(I've mentioned this one before but I really struggled on it. No idea if it's hard or easy, as STEP vector questions go.)

spent last week doing quite a few vector questions.....I would say thats about in the middle in terms of difficulty....ive seen more horrible vectors questions on paper II.

I think the hardest part of that question is probably part ii.....part i plays an important role in ii and iii is straighforward if part ii is understand fully.

Reply 970

TRLMaths

A little off the vectors subject (which I struggle with... :P) could anyone point me in the direction of a LaTeX how to? :P I'm planning on typing up my confusion on here in the coming months, so I think that would be much easier for everyone to understand, instead of "^" and "pi"and "ntegral of" and "sum of" etc.

P.S. Not long till the STEP Residential. WOOP.

Reply 971

SParm

8

Original post by TRLMaths

A little off the vectors subject (which I struggle with... :P) could anyone point me in the direction of a LaTeX how to? :P I'm planning on typing up my confusion on here in the coming months, so I think that would be much easier for everyone to understand, instead of "^" and "pi"and "ntegral of" and "sum of" etc.

P.S. Not long till the STEP Residential. WOOP.

Reply 972

Xero Xenith

10

Original post by Farhan.Hanif93

I haven't tried it on paper but I was able to almost completely do the first two parts in my head (I was able to see what I would have done, at any rate), which probably puts it in the doable category as far as vectors is concerned. That said, you shouldn't be too worried about that at this stage. As I mentioned earlier, I put the difficulty of STEP vectors questions down to the massive leap from their A-Level counterparts. After you've had a go at a few other vector questions, one's like this one should be routine.

Thanks for the support :smile:

yeah, that does make a lot of sense. A-level vector questions are marshmallows.

Original post by Rahul.S

spent last week doing quite a few vector questions.....I would say thats about in the middle in terms of difficulty....ive seen more horrible vectors questions on paper II.

I think the hardest part of that question is probably part ii.....part i plays an important role in ii and iii is straighforward if part ii is understand fully.

Damn, already talking like a pro :tongue:

Could you point out a tricky one so I know the worst I can expect? :smile:

I did a full STEP III paper today, and went through some of it - I think it would have marked to a 3. It's a start, I suppose, and it highlighted some points I need to improve on :smile:

(Also gave me a slightly better plan to get fit for the race - do a STEP paper every week, in full, then spend the rest of the week fixing my answers and doing the other questions I skipped :smile:

not all is lost!)

Reply 973

Original post by Xero Xenith

(Also gave me a slightly better plan to get fit for the race - do a STEP paper every week, in full, then spend the rest of the week fixing my answers and doing the other questions I skipped :smile:

not all is lost!)

This is THE strategy for STEP, in my opinion.

Reply 974

Rahul.S

Original post by Xero Xenith

Thanks for the support :smile:

yeah, that does make a lot of sense. A-level vector questions are marshmallows.

Damn, already talking like a pro :tongue:

Could you point out a tricky one so I know the worst I can expect? :smile:

I did a full STEP III paper today, and went through some of it - I think it would have marked to a 3. It's a start, I suppose, and it highlighted some points I need to improve on :smile:

(Also gave me a slightly better plan to get fit for the race - do a STEP paper every week, in full, then spend the rest of the week fixing my answers and doing the other questions I skipped :smile:

not all is lost!)

umm I dont remember any from the top of my head....but there are some hard ones in the pre 2000 papers. tbh as many have said....vectors isnt really attempted by many candidates and most examiner reports ive read say the attempts are usually weak. Im doing vectors as I think they are quite straighforward once you get the hang of them for STEP II...havent checked the III ones yet :tongue:

also I want to broaden the type of questions I can do for pure....as Im only doing mechanics for applied.

i havent done a STEP III paper yet......probably around april I will :biggrin:

seems like your doing good...all you need is a 2 in III :cool:

Reply 975

twig

Original post by Rahul.S

spent last week doing quite a few vector questions.....I would say thats about in the middle in terms of difficulty....ive seen more horrible vectors questions on paper II.

I think the hardest part of that question is probably part ii.....part i plays an important role in ii and iii is straighforward if part ii is understand fully.

For that q is there a neater way to do part iii (other than the standard define lines, equate co-efficients, algebra crunch etc., which is easily doable for most familiar similar vector qs)?

I was thinking about writing a line about let's C and B be the origins each time, and then redefining the new postion vectors of P each time. And then writing down the ratios directly by inspecting the form of the position vector of P. I would not be confident to do this in an exam, but would seem so much nicer. Unfortunately the official MS do not give solution via this method.

Reply 976

bananarama2

Original post by twig

For that q is there a neater way to do part iii (other than the standard define lines, equate co-efficients, algebra crunch etc., which is easily doable for most familiar similar vector qs)?

I was thinking about writing a line about let's C and B be the origins each time, and then redefining the new postion vectors of P each time. And then writing down the ratios directly by inspecting the form of the position vector of P. I would not be confident to do this in an exam, but would seem so much nicer. Unfortunately the official MS do not give solution via this method.

Pah. Mark schemes are always a guide.

I trivialised a M1 question class the other day using the dot product. It wasn't on the mark scheme but I got the right answer.

Reply 977

Rahul.S