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Brilliant Cambridge Assessment!

This was sent by me.

Hello.
I'm a lower sixth student now.
I'm interested in STEP II & III and to take it this summer.
Because I'm a international student and GCE ALEVEL maths was covered in my home country.
In addition, I learned a lot of knowledge which should be covered by further maths by myself.
Having work on some past paper, I think I can get good grades in both II&III.
But my teacher said it would lower my chance to get into Cambridge since they might think what I am going to do in Year 13.
It is unreasonable in my opinion.
Will it be like that?

This is reply.

You would gain very little by sitting the tests in Year 12 and would need to re-sit the test the following year. The STEP test is actually an undergraduate admissions test, so the relevance of the scores is achieved by comparison against those of other candidates in the year of application to University.
As stated, your registration cannot be made directly through us but must be made by the Examination Officer at the test centre. In your case, we suggest that it would be best to take your teacher's advice and wait until Year 13 before writing the STEP tests at the same time as you are applying to Cambridge University.

It sounds like that they prefer to see nearly 40% students miss their offer only due to their STEP results rather than encourge the students have a go in Year12.

This really let me down. :mad:

Reply 1

FadedJade

15

Sorry that you happy with what they say, but it is probably best to take their advice. You could get hold of a load of practice papers so you really know how to approach them once the time comes round. I dont really know a great deal about STEP so someone else will probably be able to help you more than i can. Either way, I hope this hasn't discouraged you from applying to cambridge.

Reply 2

Y__

13

I'm sorry, but they're right and you're wrong. In a way, they want 40% of those who got offers to fail. They're giving out more offers than they have places because STEP can test what cannot be tested in a 45 minute interview. So those people that they think are suited to the Cambridge style of learning/teaching and suited to take STEP will be made an offer.

If they wanted none of their "offerees" to fail, they'd have to reject more people after interview which would NOT be a good thing at all.

I think you do understand why you need to take STEP in the same year as the other applicants - how are they supposed to compare? That said, there are people on this forum who have taken STEP early and are currently holding offers, but I don't think it's necessarily the right way to go. If you're certain you will achieve good grades, you might as well take it in your final year and achieve even better grades due to more experience and training. You can still set yourself a mock STEP exam by taking the 2005 papers and an alarm clock. You would then save the registration fees and the surrounding bureaucracy.

Reply 3

Glutamic Acid

17

Interesting. I've seen that some people on TSR have taken STEP II and III in Year 12, and it hasn't harmed them...
But if you wanted to, perhaps you could take STEP I for fun?

Reply 4

didgeridoo12uk

16

why dont u just take them this year, then again next year

Reply 5

Hashshashin

13

I'm sitting STEP I and II this year (I'm in Year 13 - considering applying suring a gap year) and I e-mailed Maths Admissions asking about it, and they said that at worst I'd have to sit STEP III in my gap year, but actually most colleges would probably accept good grades in Papers I and II as meeting the conditions of an offer (as my school doesn't offer A2 FM).

Reply 6

Winter

OP

2

Then I'm afraid I'm wasting registration fees.
Since it won't take me any advantage whatever I get.
The thing I wanna do is to maximize my chance to get conditional offer.
I don't worry about my grades since I have looked at some past papers and pretty sure I can achieve at least 1/2 in II/III.
But if I didn't get conditional offer, everything would be meaningless.
When I said that to my teachers, they said I would get it if I'm good enough.
So if I couldn't get it, that would be some problems on my ability.
That sounds reasonable.
But didn't they see lots of people who was excellent was rejected due to many strange reasons?
Alright, someone would argue that they only seemed to be excellent.

Many offer holders didn't meet the offer.
But I may manage to do that.
Then the colleges would say it wouldn't take me any advantage.
Don't you think that is a strange logic?

Reply 7

Y__

13

So I do get you right: You want to take STEP a year early because you think you're more likely to get an offer that way?
Well, I fear nobody on here can tell you whether that's the case or not, you should take the Admissions Tutor's word from the college you're applying to. I tend to agree with your teachers that if you're smart enough you'll get an offer anyways, but in the end it's up to you to decide. I'm pretty sure you won't be disadvantaged by taking STEP early - you might need to take it again though.

Reply 8

turgon

11

Weird reply :s-smilie:

. If you think you're more than capable of getting 1/S in your STEP, then go for it, they can't seriously say no to you because you got good grades a year earlier.

Stupid college...

Winter

You would gain very little by sitting the tests in Year 12 and would need to re-sit the test the following year. The STEP test is actually an undergraduate admissions test, so the relevance of the scores is achieved by comparison against those of other candidates in the year of application to University.

They've got a point here. Not all tests are created equal. They want to make sure they have the fairest comparison between candidates, so they want all candidates to take the exact same tests.

Now, you might think this is unfair - universities allow A-levels with different boards, of varying difficulty, without a problem. That in itself isn't fair, but that's a whole other rant. The fact is, Cambridge are trying to make it as fair as possible.

Reply 11

Chewwy

17

who did you send that too?

what they're saying is rubbish, it's not an admissions test. for example, simba on these forums got SS in year 12, and then was made a non-step offer the next year.

if that was sent to a college head of admissions or dr siklos, you might get that response. send that to an admissions tutor though, and they'd be all for you taking STEP early - they WANT people tos tand out, it makes their job easier.

so, if you think you can do it, take the exams.

Reply 12

Hashshashin

13

Chewwy

what they're saying is rubbish, it's not an admissions test. for example, simba on these forums got SS in year 12, and then was made a non-step offer the next year.

It may have changed this year though - STEP is no longer run by OCR as of this year, but directly by Cambridge Assessment instead.

However, as I said a few posts ago, I got an e-mail from Dr Siklos today advising me to sit STEP I and II this year if I decide to apply post-A level, as "If they go well, the worst that can happen is that the college will ask you to take Paper III next year. I think, though, papers 1 and 2 should be acceptable, in view of the fact that your school does not offer A2 FM." (direct quotation).

Maybe it's just me, but this seems to suggest that things haven't changed after all - unless the Maths department at Cambridge aren't aware of it yet, which seems unlikely.

Reply 13

Glutamic Acid

17

HCD

They've got a point here. Not all tests are created equal. They want to make sure they have the fairest comparison between candidates, so they want all candidates to take the exact same tests.

Now, you might think this is unfair - universities allow A-levels with different boards, of varying difficulty, without a problem. That in itself isn't fair, but that's a whole other rant. The fact is, Cambridge are trying to make it as fair as possible.

But they change the boundaries for the grades each year. So surely it's still a fair comparison?

Reply 14

HCD

16

Glutamic Acid

But they change the boundaries for the grades each year. So surely it's still a fair comparison?

Roughly, but it's not exactly the same test. Giving all candidates the exact same test is "fairer".

Reply 15

Opsimathmo

6

An 'S' will always be good enough

Reply 16

Glutamic Acid

17

HCD

Roughly, but it's not exactly the same test. Giving all candidates the exact same test is "fairer".

Yeah, but it's unlikely that there'll be much difference. Practically, it think it's still fair enough.

Reply 17

HCD

16

Glutamic Acid

Yeah, but it's unlikely that there'll be much difference. Practically, it think it's still fair enough.

Ah well, I'm only interpreting what Cambridge seem to have written! :wink:

Reply 18

Winter

OP

2

I sent to Cambridge Assessment who organizes the exams, they said so @_@
I think I'd better ask admission offices of the colleges.
However,
Because my teacher said so and they said it should be general opinion , then I wanted to prove they were wrong.
But...I felt very upset due to the reply.
My teachers are trying to discuss this with the admission officers and may give me reply in one month.
The only thing I could do is to wait- -（got lots of other work to do such as BMO,BPHO)
As they said , if the school doesn't allow me to take it, I can't.
(to change to apply to engineering or Oxford? everything is messy now :frown:

)

Reply 19

turgon

11

Winter

(to change to apply to engineering or Oxford? everything is messy now :frown:

)

Huh? Even if the verdict is that you don't take STEP this year, why are you thinking of changing universities/courses? The fact that you are even thinking of doing STEP papers early (provided you're getting reasonable grades in them) shows you're a strong applicant, even for Cambridge. If you don't take STEP in year 12, then simply take it in year 13. Don't panic!

Brilliant Cambridge Assessment!

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