STEP Papers

Hello there. I am currently in the lower sixth and am very interested in doing the step papers. I have already done the work for P1 P2 and P3, and I am just wondering when I should start the work for the STEP papers? Thanks for your help.

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Reply 1

shiny

garytse86

Your 16/17 man, have some fun!

Reply 2

Unregistered

garytse86

your college will probably give you step classes once people have been given offers from cambridge (next feb), you need to have covered most if not all of the a-level maths modules for step I/II and you need most of the further maths modules for step III

Reply 3

acidbubble

shiny

Your 16/17 man, have some fun!

some ppl think step is fun :smile:

Reply 4

k@tie

garytse86

don't listen to them - crack on with it now. i've been working on STEP since september and am still absolutely hating it. It might be worth looking at AEA papers first, then STEP 1. AEA is P1-3 stuff, whereas STEP 1 includes P1-5 stuff. (mainly P1-3 stuff though). You can find AEA papers and STEP on Warwick and Cambridge websites.

Reply 5

k@tie

Katie Heskins

I just want to add to that, even if you don't get an offer from Cambridge (and therefore do not need to worry about STEP) it'll be great preparation for your interview.

Reply 6

shiny

He's in the lower sixth - he's got plenty of time for STEP and interview prep!

Reply 7

kart

I'm in lower sixth and I've realised that I should have started earlier, if anything! Seeing as the interviews are in October, that leaves five months. I'm assuming that STEP will be good preparation for the interviews. And obviously, I'm going to carry on after October if I want to get the necessary grades. Maybe some hardcore maths revision this summer would bea good idea for me.

Reply 8

hornblower

kart

Interviews are in December, not October.

Reply 9

shiny

Maybe I'm just getting old or something but back when I was in sixth form (1998-2000) I wasn't half as hardworking and prepared as you guys!

Reply 10

kart

hornblower

Interviews are in December, not October.

Myyyyyyy mistake. Sorry, I got mixed up with the application deadline. Two more months then!

Reply 11

k@tie

shiny

He's in the lower sixth - he's got plenty of time for STEP and interview prep!

6/7 months til interview. I wouldn't say that was plenty of time.

Reply 12

MadNatSci

Katie Heskins

6/7 months til interview. I wouldn't say that was plenty of time.

I would say it was plenty of time - but at the same time I wouldn't think it would hurt to have a go at a few papers and see what they're like if that's what you want to do. I guess it proves you're enthusiastic after all :smile:

Reply 13

fishpaste

Okay, each question is supposed to take 45 mins, right? Now some are going to take alot longer than that, and can't think any will take less than 15 or so. So I think it's fair to put an average of "one hour" on each question. Given that an important part of STEP is analysing your own approach to the question, identifying your mistakes, your pitfalls, and learning how to maximise the marks.

There are
70 questions in the new Siklos booklet
43 in the old one

In each paper there are 14 questions, x 3 papers, and you can probably get papers 1994 - 2003, so 10 years, that's 420.

So just by doing the preparation booklets, and the past papers, you could spend 533 hours practising for STEP, this is 3 hours a day for 6 months. Starting early = good idea.

Reply 14

username9816

fishpaste

One hour a question?! Bloody hell!

Reply 15

shiny

You guys are meant to be talented people - you shouldn't need 533 hours of prep to do STEP papers.

Reply 16

username9816

shiny

You guys are meant to be talented people - you shouldn't need 533 hours of prep to do STEP papers.

533 hours seems extreme to me, way too extreme...

Reply 17

fishpaste

bono

One hour a question?! Bloody hell!

Easily. Obviously by exam time you should be getting them out in 30-45 mins, but for a long time it will be perfectly usual to spend several hours on one question.

Reply 18

fishpaste

shiny

You guys are meant to be talented people - you shouldn't need 533 hours of prep to do STEP papers.

Okay yah, it's silly to say you're going to do every question on every paper for the past 10 years. But it would be the ultimate preparation, and until you had, there's always going to be a bit more you can do to prep yourself.

Reply 19

username9816

fishpaste

Easily. Obviously by exam time you should be getting them our in 30-45 mins, but for a long time it will be perfectly usual to spend several hours on one question.