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Studying Mathematics at Cambridge

Firstly, I like to say that I am from the Caribbean therefore I would be an international student.
I already checked the website and I found that Cambridge accepts CAPE (Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination) for entrance into the university with profile grades AAA in all subjects which is roughly equivalent to an A*. For more info on the grading system of CAPE please visit http://cxc.org/?q=examinations/exams/cape/grading-scheme-cape
So results came out and I achieved those grades in Pure mathematics, physics and chemistry (further mathematics is not offered)
What this post is actually about is whether or not CAPE's Pure Mathematics is difficult enough to prepare me for any of the STEP exams. I've uploaded two typical papers.


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Those papers seem to cover a lot of the material needed for STEP, though you should probably read through the A-level curriculum and see if there is anything you have not covered, as much of it is needed in STEP. Even after that though, just doing these papers will not prepare you for STEP - the best way to do that is to practice STEP past papers, see how good you are, and then keep practacing until you are good enough. There are other texts you can read, and there may be courses you can do, but it is unlikely that the CAPE will prepare you adequatly if you don't practice a lot of STEP papers themselves.
Reply 2
Thanks for replying. I had a feeling that it wouldn't be enough. I was also worrying about some of the stuff covered in STEP that I will only be covering in my second year of CAPE. I know this would be a problem. Oh and I have seen CIE's pure mathematics syllabus actually so I have an idea of what an A level syllabus/exam is like. Very similar to CAPE in some aspects.

Oh and I am aware hat some of the pictures are a little blurred :s-smilie:

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Reply 3
Original post by Arieisit
Thanks for replying. I had a feeling that it wouldn't be enough. I was also worrying about some of the stuff covered in STEP that I will only be covering in my second year of CAPE. I know this would be a problem. Oh and I have seen CIE's pure mathematics syllabus actually so I have an idea of what an A level syllabus/exam is like. Very similar to CAPE in some aspects.

Oh and I am aware hat some of the pictures are a little blurred :s-smilie:

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Some of the step material is covered in the second year of a-level so that's a normal issue to have. What you want to try and do is read ahead so that you can learn the material before everyone else. This will give you time to practice step questions that rely on this more advanced material.
Reply 4
Original post by ttoby
Some of the step material is covered in the second year of a-level so that's a normal issue to have. What you want to try and do is read ahead so that you can learn the material before everyone else. This will give you time to practice step questions that rely on this more advanced material.


Oh, I thought it was just CAPE but now that you said its a normal issue I have a better outlook. STEP is hard though... maybe I should just apply to Oxford?
Reply 5
Original post by Arieisit
Oh, I thought it was just CAPE but now that you said its a normal issue I have a better outlook. STEP is hard though... maybe I should just apply to Oxford?


It is meant to be hard, although practicing past papers will help a bit. Oxford has their own admissions test - the MAT. That is supposed to be of a harder difficulty than a-level as well although I never applied there so I couldn't compare it very well to step.
Reply 6
Original post by ttoby
It is meant to be hard, although practicing past papers will help a bit. Oxford has their own admissions test - the MAT. That is supposed to be of a harder difficulty than a-level as well although I never applied there so I couldn't compare it very well to step.


I glossed through the two and my first impression of the two was the STEP is harder - at least MAT looks do-able. Lol. I dunno what to choose:confused:

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