Source
These Freedom of Information (FOI) requests are sourced from What do They Know. Here you can ask questions and request data from government-run organisations, such as cambridge. Below is an archive and summary of all STEP related FOIs I could find.
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Request
All mark schemes that were held, but not already publically available, before 2016. This is included in the Table on this website.
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Results Summary:
There are still missing mark schemes, as some were never archived, and were originally used only as a guide by the chief examiner. As such, mark schemes from 2014 and earlier may contain mistakes.
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Request
The results of applicants who applied for cambridge having already sat STEP prior to 2018.
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Results Summary:
Extremely variable. There is not a lot people in the middle however; most people may have entered STEP early knowing they have almost genius-level intellect, scoring S grades, and others may have underestimated its difficulty, scoring 3s.
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Request
The results of applicants who applied for Cambridge after achieving A-Level results (2017-19)
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Results Summary:
Almost all reapplied with straight A*s, perhaps over-achieving for less-popular universiities, and wishing to try their luck with something harder. However, the success rate does not seem to be much different to ordinary applications.
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Request
The offers and results from 2016-19 for STEP papers (no information about acceptances).
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Results Summary:
3 times as many boys than girls (not formatted very well so difficult to analyse).
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Request
The results of applicants who applied for Cambridge from China having already sat STEP from 2018-22
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Results Summary:
Chinese students do incredibly well on STEP, gaining many S and 1 grades
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Request
The offers, results and STEP grades of all applicants from 2010-2020, inlcuding whether they were accepted
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Results Summary:
Not much to say; you'd have to read the data.
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Request
Same as above but with disnction to the type of subcategory (e.g maths with physics) and whether other conditions were met
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Results Summary:
Not much to say; you'd have to read the data.
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Request
2014-2020 entrance data for mature students (stratified by college).
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Results Summary:
As expected, mature colleges have the most offers for mature students.
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Request
2014-2020 entrance data for gap year stduents (with indication of STEP retakes and pooling). Does not show unsuccessful gap year students.
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Results Summary:
Not particularly useful, but many successfl gap year students achieved As and A*s
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Request
The success rates of re-appplications from 2015-17
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Results Summary:
Most reapplications were unsuccessful
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Request
The success rates of re-appplications from 2018-20
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Results Summary:
The STEP requirement tends to increase when you re-apply. In a rare case you can still get admitted with a 2,1 a second time around.
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Request
The STEP grades and university grades of the second year of Cambridge's Tripos for St John's
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Results Summary:
By basic observation, there is not that strong a link.
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Request
For any subject, the number of offers made compared to total applications by number of A-levels taken (not specific for maths) from 2014-18
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Results Summary:
There is strong correlation to suggest the more A-levels you take, the more likely you are to get in (but there could be other factors involved such as smarter applicants tending to take more A-levels anyway). However, for maths, Further Maths is often considered an extension of Single maths, so a bias against 3 A-levels containing the two may occur.
Due to the high number of college-specific requests, they are listed below:
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GCSEs A*s, A-level subjects and predicted grades, interview scores, offers made, pools made, and pooling success all for the 2018-2019 application cycle.
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STEP conditions, and scores for the 2010s, acceptance and pooling rates, distinguishing from gap-year students
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STEP results and acceptence rates from 2013-2015