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Reply 20
Original post by EnglishMuon
nah dw about the others. especially as there are gonna be imo people in most places. doesn't affect ur chances though.


scary though competition wise but I guess its expected...do any imo people not make the step offer by any chance
Original post by 11234
scary though competition wise but I guess its expected...do any imo people not make the step offer by any chance


Im sure there must be some who don't, just cus they have a bad day or something but I'm pretty sure most find step pretty easy.
Reply 22
Original post by 11234
[...]


Calm down mate.
Reply 23
Original post by 11234
What was your choice of questions did you go all pure or some mech


3 pure, 2 mech, 1 stats on both II and III. Applied saved my arse quite utterly.

IPhO went quite well - got a silver in the end. Nice mechanics question 1 which helped.

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Reply 24
Original post by Krollo
3 pure, 2 mech, 1 stats on both II and III. Applied saved my arse quite utterly.

IPhO went quite well - got a silver in the end. Nice mechanics question 1 which helped.

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Did you go Bmo2 this year as well
Reply 25
Original post by Zacken
Calm down mate.


but i really wanna get in....:frown:
Just finished AS and will be applying for Maths this year. Not applying to Cambridge but I am applying to Warwick and Imperial. Just finished self teaching C3 and C4 over the last two weeks or so and having done a few of the most recent papers I feel very comfortable with the material.

I will be sitting the MAT in November and also STEP I and probably AEA too next June. Where do you guys think the best place to start STEP I prep is? I find C1-C4 laughably easy but I honestly don't know where to make a start on most of the STEP I questions I've come across.

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Good luck 2017 STEPers
Original post by TheRandomGenius
Just finished AS and will be applying for Maths this year. Not applying to Cambridge but I am applying to Warwick and Imperial. Just finished self teaching C3 and C4 over the last two weeks or so and having done a few of the most recent papers I feel very comfortable with the material.

I will be sitting the MAT in November and also STEP I and probably AEA too next June. Where do you guys think the best place to start STEP I prep is? I find C1-C4 laughably easy but I honestly don't know where to make a start on most of the STEP I questions I've come across.

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I think part of the learning curve with STEP is the realisation that it is alright if you can't see the method straight away. With A Levels, if you can't see the method straight away, you haven't prepared enough, however, with STEP this can take some thought.
So, in the beginning of your STEP practice, try not to put a time limit on an answer. Give yourself two hours or so to try different ideas, with practice you'll get much faster.
Original post by TheRandomGenius
Just finished AS and will be applying for Maths this year. Not applying to Cambridge but I am applying to Warwick and Imperial. Just finished self teaching C3 and C4 over the last two weeks or so and having done a few of the most recent papers I feel very comfortable with the material.

I will be sitting the MAT in November and also STEP I and probably AEA too next June. Where do you guys think the best place to start STEP I prep is? I find C1-C4 laughably easy but I honestly don't know where to make a start on most of the STEP I questions I've come across.

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Just try more questions to be honest - C1-4 is what STEP 1 & 2 are based on so don't try STEP 3 yet
Start with STEP 1 and focus on a few questions you can complete/almost complete, don't worry about the ones you can't make a start on.
Make sure you do know C1-4 inside out, too.

At the beginning of year 13 I was in a similar position, struggling to get completely through most STEP 1 questions and I ended up getting 11S in STEP 1, 2 &3, so don't panic!

Honestly the best advice is to work hard, frequently and not when tired - make sure you're fully awake and learning as you do the questions. Think things through before jumping in, make sure everything you do is a valid move and keep your creative head on!

I've pretty much done every non-vector pure STEP question since 1998 so feel free to pm me about specific questions or parts you're stuck on!
Original post by EricPiphany
I think part of the learning curve with STEP is the realisation that it is alright if you can't see the method straight away. With A Levels, if you can't see the method straight away, you haven't prepared enough, however, with STEP this can take some thought.
So, in the beginning of your STEP practice, try not to put a time limit on an answer. Give yourself two hours or so to try different ideas, with practice you'll get much faster.


100% agree with this too ^
Original post by EricPiphany
I think part of the learning curve with STEP is the realisation that it is alright if you can't see the method straight away. With A Levels, if you can't see the method straight away, you haven't prepared enough, however, with STEP this can take some thought.
So, in the beginning of your STEP practice, try not to put a time limit on an answer. Give yourself two hours or so to try different ideas, with practice you'll get much faster.

I'm just worried that I don't have the mathematical ability to tackle STEP. I will probably get A*A* in Maths and further maths quite easily but let's be honest, A level maths is pretty much down to memorisation and exam technique.

Was everyone useless when they first started STEP or is just me? Is there any way to develop mathematical thinking /intuition?

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Original post by ValerieKR
Just try more questions to be honest - C1-4 is what STEP 1 & 2 are based on so don't try STEP 3 yet
Start with STEP 1 and focus on a few questions you can complete/almost complete, don't worry about the ones you can't make a start on.
Make sure you do know C1-4 inside out, too.

At the beginning of year 13 I was in a similar position, struggling to get completely through most STEP 1 questions and I ended up getting 11S in STEP 1, 2 &3, so don't panic!

Honestly the best advice is to work hard, frequently and not when tired - make sure you're fully awake and learning as you do the questions. Think things through before jumping in, make sure everything you do is a valid move and keep your creative head on!

I've pretty much done every non-vector pure STEP question since 1998 so feel free to pm me about specific questions or parts you're stuck on!

So what you're saying is that improving comes with practice? I can see the logic behind that but I literally cannot make a start on most questions which is a completely new experience for me 😢 Any books /guides that you'd recommend?

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Original post by TheRandomGenius
So what you're saying is that improving comes with practice? I can see the logic behind that but I literally cannot make a start on most questions which is a completely new experience for me 😢 Any books /guides that you'd recommend?

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Yes - practice and patience
Again, you can ask me if you need help starting somewhere on (a) specific question(s), and give it until you've taken the problem from several angles/approaches before you give in - don't just stare at the page
If there's an equation, try drawing a graph, try anything you can

Er... Siklos booklets is a classic, honestly I didn't look at anything else
Original post by ValerieKR
Yes - practice and patience
Again, you can ask me if you need help starting somewhere on (a) specific question(s), and give it until you've taken the problem from several angles/approaches before you give in - don't just stare at the page
If there's an equation, try drawing a graph, try anything you can

Er... Siklos booklets is a classic, honestly I didn't look at anything else

Thank you for the offer, I'll definitely take you up on it at some point.

And there are two of those aren't there? Which one would you recommend starting with?



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I think one's mostly for STEP 1, the other for all 3 - start with that one (the STEP 1 one) (I don't know which is which but you can tell by the difficulty of the questions halfway in)
Original post by 11234
I thought of Trinity for nxt year but too scared with all imo peples


I got into Trinity and didn't get past BMO1 (or equivalent) in Junior, Intermediate or Senior maths challenges!
(I did in the primary maths challenge :s Not sure that's worth anything)

STEP is inherently quite different to a lot of the IMO stuff (mistakes count less and you are given more guidance) and the IMO troop represents the best of the best of not just this year's uni entry, but often Yr 12 and Yr 11 students will get through to the top of the senior one, so it's not the insane wall that you think.
Have you seen the other 'STEP' 2017 thread?
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4276814#primary_content
I hope people don't get confused :s
Maybe add a '(this is not x)' to the top of the original post and get them to do it too?

Edit: It's about engineering as well - a lot of potential for confusion :s
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 38
Original post by ValerieKR
Have you seen the other 'STEP' 2017 thread?



I think the phrase "Google STEP" in the other title is good enough to avoid any confusion, shouldn't be an issue.
Reply 39
Original post by ValerieKR
I got into Trinity and didn't get past BMO1 (or equivalent) in Junior, Intermediate or Senior maths challenges!
(I did in the primary maths challenge :s Not sure that's worth anything)

STEP is inherently quite different to a lot of the IMO stuff (mistakes count less and you are given more guidance) and the IMO troop represents the best of the best of not just this year's uni entry, but often Yr 12 and Yr 11 students will get through to the top of the senior one, so it's not the insane wall that you think.


I just cant be bothered to do the ps...will it matter too much

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