STEP Prep Thread 2016 (Mark. II)

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for the last part of 6 i just substituted in a rearranged version of the differential equation of ym(x) and that ended up with the right answer i think?

Reply 1581

Zacken

Original post by 16Characters....

Ah right, nice. Unlike how that paper went for me. Only managed 2 fulls (one of which I made a mistake on) and got 4 partials of varying levels of success. How'd you find it?

Pretty horrid, It's unlikely that I'll get into Cambridge unless I get an S in STEP III to make up for the 2 I've gotten in this paper. I got 2 fulls (one of which I made a mistake on) and 4 partials, none really worth more than 10 marks.

Reply 1582

16Characters....

Original post by Zacken

Which questions did you do full?

Reply 1583

Zacken

Original post by 16Characters....

Which questions did you do full?

Q3 and 7. You?

Reply 1584

sweeneyrod

What do you think this would be?

Q 1: Got close to showing the intersection was on 4y^2 = 3x-1 but couldn't quite get through the algebra. Showed that curves met by saying that all cubics have at least one real root, but didn't factorise. Sketched the correct shape of the graphs, but no coordinates for the points where they touched.

Q 3: Should be full, apart from I didn't justify the number of solutions for even n. Lovely question!

Q 5: Wrote down the first expression they asked for and then the sum.

Q 6: Did everything up to the last part. Tried the last part by replacing 2 with m in previous working, but didn't get anywhere.

Q 7: Hopefully got everything right up to (iv). In that part, got to the integral of 1/(sin x + cos x + 1) but didn't make a substitution to get further.

Q 12: Showed everything that needed to be shown, not quite sure if I got the very last part (probability of exactly one) correct.

Reply 1585

gasfxekl

how much marks do you think iii of the binomial question (q5) would be worth?

Reply 1586

16Characters....

Original post by Zacken

Q3 and 7. You?

Q1 and Q3 (Q1 is the one I screwed up). I didn't manage to finish Q7. I didn't see how to integrate 1/cos x(cos x + sin x) during the exam. Partials on Q6, Q8, Q5 also.

Reply 1587

sweeneyrod

Original post by Zacken

As you well know, many people get in with 1, 2 (and even more with 2, 1 I think). It sounds like you've got a high 2 at least, so don't give up!

Reply 1588

KFazza

Anyone got a link to the paper?

Reply 1589

Zacken

Original post by 16Characters....

Q1 and Q3 (Q1 is the one I screwed up). I didn't manage to finish Q7. I didn't see how to integrate 1/cos x(cos x + sin x) during the exam. Partials on Q6, Q8, Q5 also.

That's more like 3 fulls, given that your Q7 is ~17 marks.

Original post by sweeneyrod

As you well know, many people get in with 1, 2 (and even more with 2, 1 I think). It sounds like you've got a high 2 at least, so don't give up!

Hopefully, last year, only 11 out of 22 people were let in with 2, 1 - so not looking forward to that. sigh, my summer is doomed to worry.

Reply 1590

Hauss

Original post by gasfxekl

how much marks do you think iii of the binomial question (q5) would be worth?

Same as previous part, exact same idea except you use

Spoiler

Reply 1591

tridianprime

Original post by Zacken

That sounds similar to me. I found the whole experience quite hallucinogenic. I did 3 fulls (one with an error at the end), and 2 that should add up to a full mark-wise and one pathetic glance worth nothing, except perhaps 1 mark but I doubt it.

Reply 1592

matthewdjones

I did
1- Ballsed this one completely. Misread the question and assumed the tangents were normal therefore got a different condition on p and q therefore couldn't show they were on c2. Did the rest of the question though.
7- Everything right except that I forgot to change the limits in the last integral when i made a substitution
6- Did everything but iv)
8- Everything but the last part about the sum of r^-4
3- Everything. Didn't justify "at most 1 root" particularly well
11- got i) and showed the inequality but couldn't do the last part about alpha>beta

Any ideas on marks (especially for 1) would be infinitely appreciated.

Reply 1593

Zacken

Original post by tridianprime

That sounds like a safe 1 to me, whereas I'm hovering over 2 fulls and 4 partials that might add up to 1.5 fulls.

Reply 1594

krishdesai7

It was quite an odd paper for me. I'm generally a Pure person, so i was most surprised when I decided to do 3 Applied questions. And both the statistics ones would you believe it, when statistics isn't my cup of tea at all

Reply 1595

tridianprime

Original post by sweeneyrod

As you well know, many people get in with 1, 2 (and even more with 2, 1 I think). It sounds like you've got a high 2 at least, so don't give up!

I didn't get that - it seems more people get in with 1,2 than with 2,1. I know quite a few people do better in 3 than 2 but then why are the boundaries higher in 2? Am I missing something.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/step_results_of_offer_holders

Reply 1596

gasfxekl

Original post by Hauss

Same as previous part, exact same idea except you use

Spoiler

lol i asked the number of marks, not how to do it...

Reply 1597

Hauss

Original post by gasfxekl

lol i asked the number of marks, not how to do it...

How you do it is kind of relevant to how many marks it is worth :smile:

.
Probably ~6 marks.

Reply 1598

gasfxekl

Original post by Hauss

How you do it is kind of relevant to how many marks it is worth :smile:

.
Probably ~6 marks.

What? i know how to do it, you just didnt answer my Q

Reply 1599

tridianprime

Original post by Zacken

That sounds like a safe 1 to me, whereas I'm hovering over 2 fulls and 4 partials that might add up to 1.5 fulls.

That depends how badly I screwed up the error in q2. Either way, I feel a summer of worry is ahead for me as well. At least I have a nice easy mei DE exam today.