STEP Prep Thread 2015

Can someone rank these in order of how good they are for preparing you for STEP?

Old format STEP questions (Late 1980s to Early 1990s)
Old Special papers
Old Oxford Entrance exam papers

I know one or two. They are mad. They can do like 4 questions in 1:30 minutes. I would say I can think on par with them but they are just too quick and knowledgable in how to answer it as fast as possible and are very familiar with great deals of algebra that save alot of time. The biggest thing im trying now is sitting and thinking for a few minutes and then dive into the question.... **** scared for III 😁 Posted from TSR Mobile

Old Oxford Entrance exam
Old Special
Old format STEP



4 questions in 90 seconds? My ****ing God, that's insane. I can't even read 4 questions in 90 seconds; it usually takes me more than 10 minutes just to read all the questions on the paper.

1 hr 30 minutes.


Posted from TSR Mobile

Hi boys I've been an quiet observer of the thread for quite a while (also sitting step I,II,III) only need I for Warwick sitting the rest to see how I fair my predicament is as follows. I would be very grateful if you can give me an insight on my situation. I have attained an A* in maths last year and have a pretty high UMS in my FM AS. I have sat FP2 this summer and achieved 90+ and 90+ in my M2 module which is currently in my FM AS. I have S2 and FP3 on the 22nd whilst very confident with S2 I haven't had the time I would of liked to prepare for fp3 due to STEP prep. Thus I do not think I can achieve 90+ums. However if I average 90 in fp2 m2 and s2 can my FP3 be placed in AS further maths leading me only to need 30 ums or so to get 480ums to get an A* in further?

Yep you should be fine. It's 90+ UMS average across your best three modules which don't end with a 1 (so can't be M1, S1, FP1 or D1). It doesn't matter if FP3 isn't one of the ones in which you got 90+ UMS.

So, for amusement, I had a go at doing 4 questions from STEP III 2014. Should be noted this wasn't entirely "unseen" but in general I can see how a question will go quite easily so I don't think it made that much difference. (But if it was any of you I'd be warning it does make a big difference, so maybe I'm just a hypocrit!)


tl;dr: 4 questions in 1hr18. I had forgotten how doing questions at exam speed is *hard work*. I don't think I could have sustained that pace much longer. I made more mistakes than I should have - the balance between speed and accuracy is hard to get right. And I was lucky not to have picked any "bad" questions.

Wow for 2014 III Q8 part I, I didn't even think about summing the inequality

I don't want a hint but is STEP I 2000 Q2 part 2 actually disgusting or is there a neat solution? I'd like to know in advance.

How do you even know it's an ego boost? If he really wanted to show off and up his ego he'd be blasting out all his pHD mathematics and using rieman-zeta functions to solve quadratic equations.

STEP III 2014 question 9

It's basically only disgusting if you make it out to be disgusting. Pick the clearest diagram to convey your method and it won't be disgusting, even though it has the same amount of content and the same method as any other.

I don't want a hint but is STEP I 2000 Q2 part 2 actually disgusting or is there a neat solution? I'd like to know in advance.

Diagram? Which diagram?

The question is Q2 here:
http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/stcs/STEP/2000paperI.pdf

Diagram? Which diagram?

The question is Q2 here:
http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/stcs/STEP/2000paperI.pdf