Warwick maths - STEP EXAM

a 3 in STEP will put you higher then a U in AEA. If thats enough is anyones geuss. I think people are wising up to the fact AEA is easier entry, so maybe there will alreaddy be too many people who meet the offer, maybe not. But your geuss is as good as mine.

Reply 2

aphilpotts

Hi

Seeing as there's only 2 weeks left until STEP I (which is hopefully the only risk to me missing my offer for maths - I need a 2 in STEP I only) I was wondering what my chances would be if I did fall short. Do many candidates miss the offers for STEP? if so, do any get in anyway?

Cheers

P.S. this only a backup idea! I'm not giving up after 6 months of prep for this exam!

Last year, about 550 Home/EU students firmed Warwick (from about 1500 offers and 1600 applications). Around 200 got in. More fail than pass. In fact, last year the STEP exam was difficult/had a higher 2 boundary. This meant the university undershot and accepted some people who got 3s in STEP. Perhaps a maximum of 10 people.

Should you fall short, you will be competing against 350 other students who failed. If the STEP exam was difficult (like last year), then yes they do accept more people. If the STEP exam was easy, then they oversubscribe and don't accept those who failed their offer. Remember there are people coming from Cambridge who miss their STEP II/III offer - about 40 or 50 come from here (they aren't included in the 550 firmers). Home/EU target for the department is 240.

My tip (if it's not too late) doing AEA [and STEP II, but if you haven't looked at that there's not much point] can maximise your chances. Anyone who doesn't do AEA is risking a lot (I personally think that AEA is miles easier/requires much less preparation than STEP to meet the offer).

Reply 3

OP

Ah cheers, AEA was a big worry. I didn't take it because a teacher recommended me against it, he seemed to think that you could only do one of AEA and STEP, god knows why, i shall have to have words, :angry:

I chose to do STEP in the end because I was better prepared for it, because I was looking at cambridge originally. Fingers crossed I pass this then or a certain teacher is going to be getting a very angry phonecall

Reply 4

OP

on reflection, its mostly my fault because i should have researched it better, so maybe the phone call won't be that angry :P

Reply 5

henrykravis

5

TheTallOne

Last year, about 550 Home/EU students firmed Warwick (from about 1500 offers and 1600 applications). Around 200 got in.

You mean 1500 were made an offer out of 1600 applications? 93.75 ACCEPTANCE rate :confused:

(too high for a god uni like Warwick...)

Reply 6

aphilpotts

Ah cheers, AEA was a big worry. I didn't take it because a teacher recommended me against it, he seemed to think that you could only do one of AEA and STEP, god knows why, i shall have to have words, :angry:

I chose to do STEP in the end because I was better prepared for it, because I was looking at cambridge originally. Fingers crossed I pass this then or a certain teacher is going to be getting a very angry phonecall

Dont blame your teacher.

Reply 7

OP

jj193

Dont blame your teacher.

in fairness, i did take it back :P

Reply 8

aphilpotts

in fairness, i did take it back :P

Reply 9

henrykravis

You mean 1500 were made an offer out of 1600 applications? 93.75 ACCEPTANCE rate :confused:

(too high for a god uni like Warwick...)

Yes.

Consider this: a lot of people applying to Imperial/Oxford/Cambridge will also apply to Warwick, many applying to Bath/Bristol/Durham will also do the same.

What puts people off firming: an offer from Cambridge, probably an offer from Oxford (if Warwick is preferred over Oxford, why not apply to Cambridge instead?), also people may be deterred from doing STEP/AEA because it is too difficult.

Correction: stil 93.75% acceptance but 1714 applications were made and 1607 offers made. 240 Home/EU places, 547 offers, 194 insurance. Of these, ~200 people came here via firm, ~40 were insurance.

'In addition, we had 366 applications from non-EU countries and made 319 offers of which 73 were accepted as first choice and 64 as insurance.'

Non-EU students don't have to do STEP, I believe. There were about 80 internationals at the start of term.

Reply 10

maucej

TheTallOne

Non-EU students don't have to do STEP, I believe. There were about 80 internationals at the start of term.

I think the distinction is made on type of qualification studied rather than whether stuydents are home/eu... Certainly, from looking at threads earlier in the year, it would seem that there are plenty of UK students taking the IB who haven't been asked for STEP...

To the OP - I guess you just have to try not to panic too much (as with any exam :p:

) and give it your best shot. If you know your maths inside out and have that eye for links between different areas then there's every chance you could do well.

Ah... the relief of seeing that grade 2 on your results slip... :biggrin:

Reply 11

OP

maucej

To the OP - I guess you just have to try not to panic too much (as with any exam :p:

) and give it your best shot. If you know your maths inside out and have that eye for links between different areas then there's every chance you could do well.

Cheers for the help guys. I still think I should be okay, based on the practice papers I've done, but I have thought the past papers to be pretty inconsistent, or at least my grades on them. On some papers I can finish 5 questions comfortably within the 3 hours, whereas on others it seems getting 3 is a real struggle, so my main worry is that I'll get landed with a paper that doesn' suit me :s-smilie:

Reply 12

Sliced Bread

aphilpotts

Cheers for the help guys. I still think I should be okay, based on the practice papers I've done, but I have thought the past papers to be pretty inconsistent, or at least my grades on them. On some papers I can finish 5 questions comfortably within the 3 hours, whereas on others it seems getting 3 is a real struggle, so my main worry is that I'll get landed with a paper that doesn' suit me :s-smilie:

If you do get lumbered with a difficult paper, you can always try to scout for 2-3 easy questions (cause there will at least be 2-3 unless we're hopelessly unlucky) and then try to do 3 half questions or something. A 2 is something like 60 marks I think, perhaps slightly higher on Step I

Reply 13

OP

This morning I put myself in test conditions and did the 2009 paper, I'm pretty sure I got 4 of the pure questions, and maybe another half one (though they say you get poor marks unless you finish the question) which would be fine. Hopefully if I practise some mechanics ill raise my chances a little.

I really am kicking myself now for only doing STEP I though :s-smilie:

if I don't get a 2 on my results sheet this summer ill never forgive myself :eek:

Reply 14

STEP I/II 2009 were harder papers, I think. If you did 4 questions then you srsly have nothing to worry about; that's borderline S.

Also, past TSR members results suggest fragments are marked proportionately ~ not penalised for incomplete answers.

Reply 15

OP

ah thats just made my day! cheers :smile:

Reply 16

Sliced Bread

If you do get lumbered with a difficult paper, you can always try to scout for 2-3 easy questions (cause there will at least be 2-3 unless we're hopelessly unlucky) and then try to do 3 half questions or something. A 2 is something like 60 marks I think, perhaps slightly higher on Step I

From 2003-2008 it was in constant decline (I think it was less than 40 in 2008) but then it suddenly rose to the high 50s last year, which caught Warwick out (or all the students).

Reply 17

jj193

STEP I/II 2009 were harder papers, I think. If you did 4 questions then you srsly have nothing to worry about; that's borderline S.

Also, past TSR members results suggest fragments are marked proportionately ~ not penalised for incomplete answers.

Well, each question is probably allocated a rough proportion of marks - if you seem to attempt it well then it is marked negatively (eg if a question is 5 marks you then take one or two off for a few mistakes) and if you only try a bit it is marked positively and could get 0, 1, 2 or 3 marks (out for 5, again in our example) depending on how far you get/spot the tricks.

And to say 2009 I/II were harder papers I would disagree with. II normally has this consistency over the years and I somewhat prefer it than STEP I. (In fact, I believe I scored more in II than I when I took it last year). The 2 boundary went up by 20 marks or so and yes, that meant that only 1/3 got a 2 or more compared to 45% or so the previous year, so to attain the marks it was more difficult. But because the grade boundary went up means that the exam being easier could be another factor.

Reply 18

Sliced Bread

TheTallOne

From 2003-2008 it was in constant decline (I think it was less than 40 in 2008) but then it suddenly rose to the high 50s last year, which caught Warwick out (or all the students).

That's better that I expected. Hopefully it's a tougher paper this year, I fancy myself more on a couple of tough questions rather than 4 easier ones, as I'm bound to make some sort of an algebraic error and mess up in a few.

Reply 19

username219321