STEP Prep Thread 2016 (Mark. II)

Original post by Insight314

Yeah that makes me feel a bit better about this week's failure of doing A-level prep. I can't wait for exams to be done, I just hate having this much workload and then feeling extremely guilty and anxious for not getting through it. I can't wait for summer and do some IA stuff without having to worry about exams.

Speaking of FP2, the exam is next week 8th June. I am not even gonna ask if you are ready for it since doing STEP literally makes FP2 a piece of cake. I haven't done FP2 in weeks, opened a past paper and did it 100UMS so I don't think getting a D in FP2 and getting 1,1 in II, III is possible unless you fall asleep during the exam or something.

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lol yea same with me. Except I lost a mark by adding incorrectly, but that just sums up fp2

Reply 382

Insight314

7

Original post by EnglishMuon

lol yea same with me. Except I lost a mark by adding incorrectly, but that just sums up fp2

Yeah, I know right.

There seems to be a negative correlation in a mathematical problem between the difficulty of the problem and how easy it is to make a careless mistake on it. It is way easier to make silly mistakes on A-levels, and it's often been discussed on this thread that STEP I is more fiddly in terms of algebra, and hence easier to make a careless mistake on, than compared to II and III. Although you could easily refute this claim, it is interesting, and the main cause of it is probably because more difficult questions require problem-solving and not the mindless computation that easier (A-level) questions require.

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Reply 383

Insight314

7

Original post by physicsmaths

I am pretty sure you will hardly ever get rejected if you get 1,1 in II III. Unless you get D's in FP2 or something even then they won't reject people with 1,1 or higher. Im hopeing to flop a levels and meet step so they let me in lol.
Leaving it short 2nd time in a row.

Btw, the FOI table of STEP grades against acceptances/rejections, it also includes those who miss their A-level offers right? Someone should do an FOI request of A-level misses against STEP grades since that is pretty interesting and the current information does not really give us an idea of this since some offer-holders do sometimes reject Cambridge, especially if they get S,S or something close to this.

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Reply 384

16Characters....

13

Original post by Insight314

Yeah, I know right.

There seems to be a negative correlation in a mathematical problem between the difficulty of the problem and how easy it is to make a careless mistake on it.
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I agree. The comprehension section of OCR MEI's C4 is the perfect example of this for me; every time I manage to drop marks for arithmetic errors, not reading the question properly or other stupid stuff. It's really infuriating after you've gotten 71 or 72 out of 72 in the main section of the paper and then drop 2 or 3 marks on the 18 mark comprehension section.

Reply 385

C3 next Wednesday, so scared. Gonna have to give STEP a break until then guys, I need to do a lot more papers if I'm gonna get 90+.

Reply 386

jacobe

3

Original post by IrrationalRoot

C3 next Wednesday, so scared. Gonna have to give STEP a break until then guys, I need to do a lot more papers if I'm gonna get 90+.

Sarcy motherf'er :P

Reply 387

STEP II 1992 Q7 is a prime example of why older questions are sometimes simply just not good practice. It's just an extremely easy pointless algebra bash. It's not even that tedious either; it's just an expanding brackets/collecting like terms drill. Would recommend it to those who need to practice those skills lol.

Reply 388

Original post by jacobe

Sarcy motherf'er :P

Reply 389

Insight314

7

Original post by IrrationalRoot

STEP II 1992 Q7 is a prime example of why older questions are sometimes simply just not good practice. It's just an extremely easy pointless algebra bash. It's not even that tedious either; it's just an expanding brackets/collecting like terms drill. Would recommend it to those who need to practice those skills lol.

A-level question disguised as a STEP question!

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Reply 390

Krollo

17

Original post by IrrationalRoot

STEP II 1992 Q7 is a prime example of why older questions are sometimes simply just not good practice. It's just an extremely easy pointless algebra bash. It's not even that tedious either; it's just an expanding brackets/collecting like terms drill. Would recommend it to those who need to practice those skills lol.

God I remember this one. What on earth was the point?

Another thing in the old ones is questions with several parts on a common topic but no real links beyond that, like 1 and 8 on that paper. Old papers can be strange.

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Reply 391

Original post by IrrationalRoot

C3 next Wednesday, so scared. Gonna have to give STEP a break until then guys, I need to do a lot more papers if I'm gonna get 90+.

ikr. wat i find the hardest is wen they say "show there is root in interval" and i just like m8 i dont know how?? and they ask that for about 50% of the questions so thats a max grade of a C for me.

Reply 392

Original post by EnglishMuon

ikr. wat i find the hardest is wen they say "show there is root in interval" and i just like m8 i dont know how?? and they ask that for about 50% of the questions so thats a max grade of a C for me.

Yeah and then they get you to do like 50 iterations on your calculator. How can they expect us to have physical strength to press the = button so many times in a row; this is a maths exam not P.E. Gonna fail bcoz of tat :frown:

Reply 393

Original post by Krollo

God I remember this one. What on earth was the point?

Another thing in the old ones is questions with several parts on a common topic but no real links beyond that, like 1 and 8 on that paper. Old papers can be strange.

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Yeah lots of them feel like drills from a worksheet tbh.

Reply 394

Original post by IrrationalRoot

Yeah and then they get you to do like 50 iterations on your calculator. How can they expect us to have physical strength to press the = button so many times in a row; this is a maths exam not P.E. Gonna fail bcoz of tat :frown:

lol yea my = button actually wore off last year because of that!

Reply 395

SamKeene

11

Original post by EnglishMuon

ikr. wat i find the hardest is wen they say "show there is root in interval" and i just like m8 i dont know how?? and they ask that for about 50% of the questions so thats a max grade of a C for me.

(assuming this isn't sarcasm)

If the interval is [a,b], just calculate f(a) and f(b) and if there is a sign change, then there is a root in that interval.

Easy few marks, just remember that :smile:

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 396

Original post by EnglishMuon

lol yea my = button actually wore off last year because of that!

Seriously though they'd better make the C3 exam harder this year. Otherwise I'm protesting lol, literally same Qs different numbers every year. Well different numbers if you're lucky.

Reply 397

Original post by SamKeene

If the interval is [a,b], just calculate f(a) and f(b) and if there is a sign change, then there is a root in that interval.

Easy few marks, just remember that :smile:

lol thanks, was sarcasm though :biggrin:

did c3 last year. Just my version of humour :wink:

Reply 398