Step. Is it impossible for me?

All A level papers do is test that you know a certain set of formulae and thus how to do certain types of questions.

STEP papers actually make you apply your knowledge of the formulae to solve any range of problems.

Think of A level as the education and STEP as the real world.

Reply 3

As far as mathematical knowledge goes, STEP I and II require nothing more than A Levels Maths knowledge (+ simple proof by induction). What is different, however, is the level of thinking required. I've found by doing A Level past papers is that they are very mechanical, and you could get an A without really thinking for yourself.

With STEP, you need to think 'outside the box'. This sometimes means returning to first principles. Also, you'll see that first 'half' of the question is quite simple and sometimes guided, and that this will link up to second half which is more independent. Another point is that your arguments are expected to be technically sounder, so when proving something implication signs and justifying assumptions is required.

Reply 4

OP

ic ...but this still leaves my question unanswered. When step is beyond a level maths then how do they expect us to do it?

Reply 5

It isn't

. Unless you were looking at an old one, which would be based on a different A Level maths syllabus. It requires thinking beyond A Level, but not maths beyond A Level. And of course, they don't expect the average A Level to do it since it's aimed at the top 2%.

Reply 6

OP

Glutamic Acid

It isn't

. Unless you were looking at an old one, which would be based on a different A Level maths syllabus. It requires thinking beyond A Level, but not maths beyond A Level. And of course, they don't expect the average A Level to do it since it's aimed at the top 2%.

ah..so this january, i will be doing C4 which would finish my maths a level. Then, will i be able to do STEP?

Reply 7

qgujxj39

STEP is NOT beyond A-level maths. Look at the specification: http://www.stepmathematics.org.uk/doc/Specification.pdf
As you can see, it's pretty much single A-level Maths for STEP I and II, and Further Maths for III.

The difference is that STEP questions are bloody hard. If you want to see the kind of stuff on them, look here: http://www.stepmathematics.org.uk/doc/AdvancedProblemsInCoreMathematics.pdf

Reply 8

hasnain721

ah..so this january, i will be doing C4 which would finish my maths a level. Then, will i be able to do STEP?

Yes. (I and II.) Although to be honest, a large amount of questions don't even require C4 knowledge.

Reply 9

OP

Glutamic Acid

Yes. (I and II.) Although to be honest, a large amount of questions don't even require C2 knowledge.

not really!

Reply 10

hasnain721

not really!

Sorry, I meant C4. No idea why I typed C2.

Reply 11

kcfch

14

if you want to read physics at uni, then i would suggest AEA physics over step. what are your other subjects, out of interest?

Reply 12

OP

karmenchiu

if you want to read physics at uni, then i would suggest AEA physics over step. what are your other subjects, out of interest?

chemistry and ict.

Physics aea...how do u prepare for that again?

Reply 13

kcfch

14

hasnain721

chemistry and ict.

Physics aea...how do u prepare for that again?

ahh good combination of subjects you have there :wink:

ermm well you could just get some past AEA papers and work through them thats the main way really. obviously learn all of A2, know it all, so that you can apply it to different types of questions. At my school, we have 40 minutes a week for AEA class, and we just go through questions that we wouldve done for homework.

Reply 14

coldfish

12

40 minutes a week? This is why I'm against AEA's being used at all as part of an offer... some schools don't tell anybody about them and just leave the candidates to do it entirely on their own, whilst others provide weekly teaching.

Reply 15

Zhen Lin

12

But then it's the same for STEP - some schools have classes for it, some don't.

Reply 16

generalebriety

hasnain721

ah..so this january, i will be doing C4 which would finish my maths a level. Then, will i be able to do STEP?

Eh? No no no.

STEP is bloody difficult. It's no more than C4 knowledge but it's very difficult. Do you remember back to your GCSEs? There was always a piss easy 10-mark question on solving a quadratic equation or finding the angle in a triangle or something towards the beginning, and then towards the end they had some really difficult extension question on turning points or finding a certain angle made in two concentric circles. STEP is similar. It's A-level material, but much harder.

Your teacher is right when he says it's not C4 questions. You don't need more than C4 to do the questions, but you do need a lot of experience with their question style, which you don't have and won't have until you do tons of practice and ask your teacher a million times. In the same way, if you'd just been given the formula book for C1-C4 and then handed a C3 paper, you wouldn't be able to do it without a lot of scratching around. Expect each STEP question to take you between half an hour and an hour, whereas you'd normally expect an A-level question that was taking you any more than 10 minutes to be either far too difficult or just something you'd neglected to learn.

In conclusion: STEP is impossible for everyone at the start. Get practising and it won't be. But don't sit there in your little A-level box and expect it to get easy - it never gets easy, it only ever gets more familiar. A few hundred people pass it every year - I don't see why you can't be one of those.

Reply 17

eulerwaswrong

13

id like to do step. I dont think i will end up doing maths at uni but i would still like to do it.
I wouldnt say i was an amazingly talented at maths - but i am quite good.

How much time would STEP (just 1) take. Id be willing to put the effort in plus my dads a maths teacher and has done step with pupils before so hes got solutions to every step questions before 2002

Is there any point me doing it?

Reply 18

generalebriety