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STEP (Sixth Term Examination Paper) is a mathematics examination set Cambridge Assessment (formerly by OCR) on behalf of Cambridge University. It is used by the University of Cambridge and sometimes by the University of Warwick to judge the ability of their mathematics (and sometimes physical science and computer science) applicants. STEP was available in several more subjects than just Mathematics, but the AEA was felt to supersede these, and they were withdrawn. The former subjects were: Biology, Chemistry, Economics, English Literature, French, General Studies, German, History and Physics; now only the three Mathematics papers remain. While the maths AEA is aimed at the top 10% of A-level mathematics candidates, STEP is aimed at the top 2% of A-level mathematics and further mathematics candidates.

Exam Tips, Solutions and Revision Notes

Are you studying for STEP exams and would like to read a some tips for passing them? Maybe you have done some practice papers and would like to mark your work. A number of members on the site have been busy writing out solutions to all past years STEP papers and are currently uploading them to the wiki.

• To browse through the paper solutions take a look here
• For general STEP paper tips and trick, look here.

Format, marks and grading

One STEP examination lasts three hours and consists of 14 questions: eight pure mathematics questions, three mechanics questions and three probability/statistics questions. There are three STEP examinations: I, II and III. STEP I and II are based largely on a "standard" mathematics syllabus, while STEP III is based largely on a "standard" further mathematics syllabus. Each examination is graded using the following grades: S (highest passing grade), 1, 2, 3 (lowest passing grade), U (unclassified; failing grade).

The questions are designed to be difficult, and candidates are not expected to answer any more than six questions. Each question is worth 20 marks, and the overall mark a candidate obtains is based on the six questions they receive the highest marks for - that is, all questions answered will be marked, but all except the highest six will be disregarded. The exam is therefore not marked out of 280, but 120, and good solutions to four or five questions (or "perfect" solutions to three or four questions) are generally enough to get a grade 1 in any STEP exam. A standard Cambridge offer is 1, 1 or 1, 2 in STEP II and III respectively, along with AAA at A-level; a standard Warwick offer is 2 in STEP I, along with AAA. These do vary according to the candidate, however; for example, candidates whose schools do not offer further mathematics may be allowed to sit STEP I and II instead of STEP II and III by Cambridge.

STEP I and III are timetabled at the same time so that it is physically impossible to sit both exams. Of course, if a candidate should be entered for both papers, it would be treated as a standard clash, and the candidate would be allowed to sit both exams, but this is discouraged as it is never required for university offers and puts unfair stress on the candidate.

Why STEP?

Cambridge and Warwick base many of their offers on STEP, as it is believed to be a fairer measure of a candidate's ability than A-levels or the mathematics AEA. It also generally requires longer, more detailed solutions than A-level and AEA, which is more similar to the style of examinations taken at university, and therefore seen to be a better measure of a candidate's ability to adapt to university examinations.