doing step early

Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally, really, really not recommended. It took me about 3 months of additional practice after finishing my 13 maths modules to get up to STEP II/III standard (which are actually roughly the same standard, I'd say). Don't take the papers - it won't make your Cam application any stronger if you get a couple of 3s a year early.

Spend the time reading some books and reading around your subject - all sorts of stuff you can put in your personal statement that they will like. Maybe enter the UKMT challenges and the BMO if your school/college allows it. That sort of stuff will be much better for you this year - panic about STEP as soon as you have an offer from Cam, or maybe even in the summer after year 12, but certainly don't take the exams till year 13 in June.

Reply 2

OP

now this may sound REALLY big headed but i do think that with some practice i would be able to get a 1 or S a year or 2 early. without any real practice at the moment i can get about 3 or 4 good questions in step I and 2 or 3 in step II. what i was wondering was would doin step in year 11 make any difference to step in year 12? i have done some BMO maths aswell and shall continue to read around the subject but i am determined to get o cambridge and would not like to think that i got rejected without interveiw whereas if i had done step before they would have something to judge me on and accept me.

Reply 3

No one does STEP before the interview. If you're that good at STEP now, then congrats, you're guaranteed an easy S, S in year 13 when you do take it, but Cambridge won't care much if you take STEP I and get a 1 in year 12. Of course it's quite impressive, but you could be doing much better stuff with your time - they'd like you much more if you'd taken the BMO or done some UKMT challenges or read a few maths books... the offer they give you is your chance to prove how clever you are, that's not what the interview and personal statement are for. They're for showing your interest and motivation in the subject.

Trust me, read some maths books, do a UKMT challenge and maybe BMO1 and BMO2 if you can... it'd be much more worthwhile than doing STEP. Put another way, they don't want to know you've been wasting your time on STEP when you're gonna do that in year 13 anyway and you could've been reading books and so on.

Reply 4

nota bene

15

generalebriety

No one does STEP before the interview.

Well, Simba and *bobo* has done...

Reply 5

coffeym

10

If you are 100% satisfied that you will get S or 1, then I suppose it would be alright. However, nothing would be worse than showing up to interview with a 3: it would show you had wasted your time (no offense to people who work hard to get a 3 grade), and there would also be doubts raised as to whether you could actually attain higher than a 3. Think very carefully, and if I were you, I'd follow GE's advice.

Reply 6

coffeym

However, nothing would be worse than showing up to interview with a 3: it would show you had wasted your time (no offense to people who work hard to get a 3 grade)

Yep; and what is possibly worse is that you're gonna do STEP preparation in year 13 anyway, so doing it in years 11 and 12 shows that you're not really bothered about reading around your subject and so on, just about getting into Cambridge, and that's not what they want. Maths is meant to stir up some passion in you, it's not meant to be a case of "how many exams can I take to make myself look clever?" - as I said, if you get an interview, you're just meant to show them who you are and how interested you are in the subject (and of course prove your competence a little bit with some graph sketching) - the real academic part comes in meeting that offer after you've got it.

Edit: marmeduke, what year are you actually in right now?

Reply 7

OP

im in between year 10 and 11 at the moment.

i do have a passion for maths. i do alot of maths around school maths. there are two reasons i want to do step early. one because i would like to get to cambridge and 2 because i love maths and find step maths enjoyable.

i wouldnt be bothered about getting into cambridge for maths if i did not love maths

Reply 8

marmeduke

im in between year 10 and 11 at the moment.

i do have a passion for maths. i do alot of maths around school maths. there are two reasons i want to do step early. one because i would like to get to cambridge and 2 because i love maths and find step maths enjoyable.

i wouldnt be bothered about getting into cambridge for maths if i did not love maths

Sure, but that's not the point. You're gonna be doing STEP practice in year 13 anyway, which is when you'll take STEP II/III if you get an offer, so doing STEP practice now just means you're doing less to show your mathematical interest on your personal statement. It'd be like you studying AS maths now - you're gonna do it later on anyway, why bother doing it now when you're only going to repeat it and could be doing more, different things?

STEP is purely and simply an entrance exam. If you want to show your interest, read books (I could recommend several excellent books myself, as could others), do UKMT challenges, go on short maths courses that are held at universities over the holidays, generally read round your subject. If you're absolutely desperate, and you're sure you'll do well, prepare for and take the AEA in year 12. Anyone who does this stuff really can't fail to be interviewed at Cambridge, and you sound like the sort of person who'd do well at interview. Just don't waste your time saying "I did stuff a year too early which means I'm clever"... they don't want to know that yet. There's tons of equally interesting stuff you could do... but you really don't need to sit STEP exams yet, it will give you no advantage whatsoever and may even put you at a disadvantage because of the amount of time you'll need to prepare which could've been spent doing other relevant things.

If you've really got ten hours a day to burn - I envy you - try doing other stuff that'll make your personal statement look good. Get a job, do voluntary work... all you seem to be worried about here is getting an interview, and STEP won't help you with that, your GCSEs, AS-levels and personal statement will.

Reply 9

calcium878

I ditto generalebriety, bascially ;yes;

Reply 10

OP

thanks. i'll continue doing bmo maths and such like leaving step for when/if i get an offer.

Reply 11

Totally Tom

Books books books.

I have read a few on the history of pi and e i have gone through a book on the reinman hypothesis and i understood much of that

err i have 'what is mathematics' and god created the integers whcih i haven't gone through yet

any of suggestions? im applying in september

Reply 12

calcium878

^ Change your sig to "module", not "modual".

Reply 13

Totally Tom

I have an staunch inability to spell.

Reply 14

DFranklin

marmeduke

hi im new to this forum and it seems to be a good one.
anyway im just wondering whether people think that doing step I and II in year 11 and then III in year 12 would make an application to cambridge any more succesful than doing step II and III in year 12.I'll agree with the others that I don't think this is a great plan, but probably not for the same reasons. I don't really see anything wrong with taking the exams early (assuming you'll do well in them), but I think it makes a lot of sense to take STEP II and STEP III at the same time.

I would say you are pretty much certain to get an interview whichever approach you take (unless you manage to get a U in STEP I or something similar), so you shouldn't let that sway your choices.

Something you should start thinking about now is that whatever you do, you will probably have finished the A-level syllabus before you get to Cambridge, so you should look at how to continue your studies. Personally, I recommend having a look at analysis and group theory, as these were the things I think most people found the biggest 'shock to the system' at university.

Reply 15

DFranklin

Something you should start thinking about now is that whatever you do, you will probably have finished the A-level syllabus before you get to Cambridge, so you should look at how to continue your studies. Personally, I recommend having a look at analysis and group theory, as these were the things I think most people found the biggest 'shock to the system' at university.

Woah... three years early there, Dave? :wink:

The OP is going into year 11 this year.

Marmeduke: a good book I recommend you buy is "Mathematical Puzzling" by A. Gardiner. Gardiner also has a couple of similar books, but that's the one I have; I got it when I was 13, and it was accessible then but is still quite challenging now. Definitely recommended. Something slightly heavier - might be better in a year or two rather than now - is "What is Mathematics?" by Courant and Robbins. Any popular books by Simon Singh, Ian Stewart etc. are bound to be good - "From Here to Infinity" by the latter, and "Fermat's Last Theorem" by the former, are both very good. Also "(A Brief History of) Infinity" by Brian Clegg. (Got a spare £100 or so? :p:

)

Reply 16

Chewwy

17

yeah, do it. if you think you'll do well, go for it. it'll impress cambridge greatly, and certainly make you stand out.

Reply 17

Chewwy

17

generalebriety

Marmeduke: a good book I recommend you buy is "Mathematical Puzzling" by A. Gardiner. Gardiner also has a couple of similar books, but that's the one I have; I got it when I was 13, and it was accessible then but is still quite challenging now. Definitely recommended. Something slightly heavier - might be better in a year or two rather than now - is "What is Mathematics?" by Courant and Robbins. Any popular books by Simon Singh, Ian Stewart etc. are bound to be good - "From Here to Infinity" by the latter, and "Fermat's Last Theorem" by the former, are both very good. Also "(A Brief History of) Infinity" by Brian Clegg. (Got a spare £100 or so? :p:

)

you're crazy. i'm in no doubt that having paper qualifications to show your talent in maths, which almost nobody else will have nor be able to achieve at this stage, are far more impressive to a cambridge admissions tutor (and anyone else for that matter) than stating that you've read some books which you may or may not have, and which many other people will have done anyway.

indeed, if the OP is as good as they make out, telling them to read Fermat's Last Theorem verges on being an insult.

Reply 18

Chewwy

you're crazy. i'm in no doubt that having paper qualifications to show your talent in maths, which almost nobody else will have nor be able to achieve at this stage, are far more impressive to a cambridge admissions tutor (and anyone else for that matter) than stating that you've read some books which you may or may not have, and which many other people will have done anyway.

indeed, if the OP is as good as they make out, telling them to read Fermat's Last Theorem verges on being an insult.

Heh. If the OP is as good as they make out, even implying there's a chance they may not get an interview verges on being an insult. As hard as I find it to believe that a 15-year-old could get a 1/S on any STEP paper now, I still stick by what I said: no point in doing the same thing twice.

Reply 19