What are Step and AEA exams?

I've seen many people saying they've got conditional offers from universities one of the conditions would be achieving an A in Step or AEA.

I'm doing maths and further maths at sixth and I've never heard of these.

When do you do them? can everyone do them? why should you do them?

Just generally what are they.

Thanks.

Reply 1

swanseajack1

19

they are harder exams than a levels required by a very small amount of universities to study Maths including Oxford Cambridge imperial Warwick Bath and a few others. Most unis don't require these. These unis also want Maths and Further Maths but generally most unis do not require this. Unless you are applying to a very few universities there is no point in worrying about them. It is probably too late to do anything now. Several top unis including Durham Lancaster and Exeter do not ask for them. I know of one person who got A*A*A*A* and got rejected by Cambridge because she did not reach the appropriate level in Step. My son studied STEP and is studying his final year Maths degree and said it had no relevance to the course he is studying. He rejected an offer from Bath because he wanted his A level alone to be the deciding factor in which university he attended. He got A* Maths and A* in further Maths

Reply 2

GorlimtheUnhappy

2

Anyone can do them.
STEP is graded S (Distinction), 1, 2, 3, U (not high enough for a 3). There are 3 papers, STEP I (easiest), STEP II & STEP III (hardest)
AEA (Edexcel) Graded: Distinction - after that I don't know the grades (google is your friend)

As far as I'm aware the following universities ask for STEP/AEA:
Warwick (2 in any STEP Paper or a Distinction in AEA) - Maths (not sure about other degrees, please check website)
Imperial College London (sometimes ask for STEP, I believe it's a 1 in STEP I, but please don't quote me on this, google is your friend)
University College London (sometimes ask for STEP, again 1 in STEP I think, please don't quote me on this)
University of Bath
University of Cambridge
Kings College London (I think)
and University of Bristol (I think)

Anyone can do them and it's recommended all keen mathematicians try them as they make excellent preparation for university-level Maths.
STEP is taken mid-Juneish, AEA similar time but don't quote me on that.

STEP is quite different from A-Levels, AEA is also different but not as much.
In any STEP paper, your 6 highest scoring answers are summed to give you a total mark. It's advised you answer at most 6 questions as you'll be pressed for time. STEP questions are longer than A-Level questions are best described problem solving based questions. They're challenging (but rewarding) and preparation is key. There is A LOT of information regarding STEP on the internet so please do read up on it.

Reply 3

TVIO

12

Original post by swanseajack1

they are harder exams than a levels required by a very small amount of universities to study Maths including Oxford Cambridge imperial Warwick Bath and a few others. Most unis don't require these. These unis also want Maths and Further Maths but generally most unis do not require this. Unless you are applying to a very few universities there is no point in worrying about them. It is probably too late to do anything now. Several top unis including Durham Lancaster and Exeter do not ask for them. I know of one person who got A*A*A*A* and got rejected by Cambridge because she did not reach the appropriate level in Step. My son studied STEP and is studying his final year Maths degree and said it had no relevance to the course he is studying. He rejected an offer from Bath because he wanted his A level alone to be the deciding factor in which university he attended. He got A* Maths and A* in further Maths

Some sadistic departments such as Imperial Computer Science also give out STEP offers.

What are Step and AEA exams?

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