STEP Revision Notes
Tips & Tricks
Before we begin lets just start by making clear that these papers are hard. Even the best mathematicians find them hard and they take a lot of practise before you’ll be able to tackle the questions effectively. So don’t be put off if you can’t answer any of the questions initially. Also bear in mind that the questions are meant to take on average half-an-hour, but it can be worth spending up to an hour on a question to get it right. They only mark your best 6 answers, each worth 20 marks, and to get a decent grade you only need to answer about 3 questions.
Let’s take a quick look at the grade boundaries for 2006.
| Paper |
Maximum Mark | S | 1 | 2 | 3 | U |
| Paper 1 | 120 | 82 | 67 | 50 | 38 | 0 |
| Paper 2 | 120 | 85 | 60 | 49 | 31 | 0 |
| Paper 3 | 120 | 80 | 60 | 49 | 31 | 0 |
Source: http://www.stepmathematics.org.uk/marking.html
For Warwick and Imperial the standard offer is a level 2 in STEP I, for Cambridge the standard offer is a level 1 in STEP II and a level 2 in STEP III.
Useful links
http://www.stepmathematics.org.uk/
Has all of the past exam papers for download
http://meikleriggs.org.uk/
Solutions to some of the more recent exam papers (note: requires you to
create an account)
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/STEP_Solutions
Some STEP solutions in particular for some of the older papers
http://www.maths.cam.ac.uk/undergrad/admissions/step/advpcm.pdf
A fantastic booklet with help preparing for STEP
MORE TO COME...