Aea maths 2026

Anyone taking the exam this year? Year 12 or 13? How much prep have you guys done, and how are you guys prepping/going to prep?

im deciding between step 2 and aea (maybe both lol) and im in y13. wish i took the aea in y12 but yeah thats something to not think about
im prob gonna prepare by doing past papers and looking for the specific question techniques that differ from a level and will get me most marks.
how about you?

Hi! Nice to meet you! I'm taking the AEA in Year 12, and so far I have prepped by just doing some past papers, and a bit of STEP but not that much tbf. I need to do much more. I've heard the Madas Maths' Special/Special Extension papers are also really good practice so I might give those a go! Nice to see you're taking STEP 2. You doing that for fun or for a reduced offer for one of your courses?

i think especially being in y12 its good to get ahead of the game by doing more work. i dont find it tooooo much harder than the maths/fm stuff we do in alvls but some preparation would be necessary lol.
ive heard about madas maths so that would be interesting to look into!
im doing step 2 mostly for fun but in the case i get a UCL maths offer, it'll give me a reduced offer by 1 grade (i'd get that with the aea too, so thats why im thinking between them too haha)
what are u thinking of applying for?

the one thing i struggled with the most is discipline honestly its so hard to keep up with the work and actually be motivated even though i actually really enjoy maths
i havent been revising enough honestly, maybe only 2-3 hours a day which isnt great but hopefully will start integrating more and more time into revision as i get closer to exams
the only thing i would say is that AEA does do reduced offers if u get a distinction, but im not entirely sure whether it would still apply if you sat it in y12 compared to when most applicants would sit it in y13, maybe something to look into just in case

I feel the exact same as you lol , i've just realised how much time i have wasted that i could have used to become so much more better, which makes me feel really bitter sometimes. Also, I emailed Warwick for MMathStat and UCL for BSc Maths and they say a distinction will still reduce an offer if i sit it in y12, even though it isnt my main goal to get reduced offers, i just want to do it for fun and try and get a perfect score lol

you have a lot of time! dont fret haha
ive also applied to warwick and ucl (tbc...) so lets see how that pans out. im in a similar position to you in that i hopefully dont need the reduced offer, but it would be a nice thing to have just in case yk
honestly all the best! applying is super stressful and then waiting on offers is too, especially for maths. i applied in october, and i applied to kings as well, and people around me are getting kings offers left right and centre whilst im sitting here like... but maths is surprisingly one of the most competitve courses so it deffo takes a lot longer for decisions, esp from top institutes.
hope all goes great haha

Anyone taking the exam this year? Year 12 or 13? How much prep have you guys done, and how are you guys prepping/going to prep?