STEP exams are a pair of 2 exams run by The University of Cambridge used to test the aptitude for undergraduate maths applicants for places at Cambridge, UCL, Warwick and various other universities.
STEP technical details:
There are two STEP exams. STEP II covers A level maths content and AS level Further maths content. STEP III covers both the entirety of A level Further and Single Maths; both exams are designed to be equally difficult.
There are 12 questions; 8 pure, 2 mechanics and 2 statistics & probability.
Students choose 6 of these 12 questions to do, with no restriction of choice
The paper is 3 hours long, and each question is worth 20 marks; the distribution of these marks within these questions are not shown
The paper is graded with grades U 3 2 1 S, with S being the highest.
Results of STEP are released the midnight of A-Level results day.
Calculators, and formulae booklets are not permitted in STEP
History of STEP:
STEP stands for 'Sixth Term Examination Paper' and was originally part of a wide group of STEP papers for various subjects.
However, only the mathematics paper has remained since 2002. Most archives have STEP papers dating from 1987.
STEP had 16 questions per paper until 1994. From 1994 to 2007 (inclusive), it had 14 questions. From 2008 to 2018 (inclusive), STEP had 13 questions.
2019 not only saw the loss of a 13th question, but also the removal of a formulae booklet, and the discontinuation of STEP I, which was based solely on the Single Maths A-Level.
Stephen Siklos, the founder of STEP, ran the paper until his unfortunate passing in 2019.
Historically, the grade of 'S' was to indicate a scholarship for applicants in the past; it no longer holds this value. STEP also has a notoriety for having very
few mistakes in its papers. The earliest there was a misprint for STEP was in 2015.
Contact
Feel free to contact me on my blog. If you are interested behind the making of, and history of this site, see my project here
FAQs
You can find further information on the official STEP website.
No. The booklet is 22 pages large (44 sides); it is highly unlikely you will run out of space. The official STEP website has a sample page if you wish to practice with them.
Your notation does not have to be top-notch; so long as it is clear what you intend when you write something, you shall not be penalised
No, you are not allowed a calculator or formula booklet. Although the latter was used in earlier papers.
Yes you are, so long as it scans. Never use yellow.
Yes you are.
Cambridge requires both, but different universities require different things. Anyone can sit any STEP paper, regardless of whether they have a university offer.
No rough paper is allowed. If you have submitted any, it won't be marked.
You can, but it is not reccommened.
Yes you can, as alternate mark schemes are generated as methods submitted are made. Some questions can have up to 15 different solutions
If a question is legible, crossed out, and not replaced. It will be marked. If there are two solutions to a question, unless one is obviously the more prominent, the first will be marked.
No, there are no bonus marks.
No, STEP III often conflicts with Chemistry A-Levels; your institution should place you as a clash candidate (whereby you complete one exam after the other, being isolated between them).
Approximately 2000 for STEP II, and 1000 for STEP III. Despite both being equally difficult, less people know the content for STEP III (as it is A-level Further Maths).
Many people get a tutor for STEP, and it is important you ensure that you (a) pick a good tutor (because a lot of tutors charge a lot of money for giving freely available information) and (b) that you pick a tutor for the right reason. The best use of a tutor is likely to help teach you topics you don't know (e.g stats if you don't do it in further maths). Content specific skills and exam technique varies from person to person or is freely available online.