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STEP level at the end of year 12

13 replies

FiveFoxes · 08/07/2024 08:29

Cambridge Mathematics needs a level 1 in both STEP II and III to be sat with A levels at the end of year 13.

To make it worthwhile applying for Cambridge Mathematics, is there a measure of where a student should be achieving at the end of year 12?

He is taking maths and further maths A levels, but obviously hasn't finished the course yet. There is no point applying to Cambridge IMO if he can't be fairly sure of getting the STEP grades, but how can we judge this now?

I know Cambridge have interviews and only 50% get the grades in STEP because Cambridge set the boundaries that way. But he needs to know if taking this punt is worth it. Worse case scenario is getting through application and interview, having Cambridge as firm choice and then failing to achieve the STEP grades by some distance. Insurance choices will not guarantee accommodation!

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Bunnyannesummers · 08/07/2024 09:34

Does his school have any history of sending students to Oxbridge?

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IThinkIMadeItWorse · 08/07/2024 09:52

Has he had a look at the foundation modules on the step support programme website? They suggest you cover these in year 12 https://maths.org/step/welcome

How has he done in UKMT challenges over the years? Are the school confident he is heading for Astars in maths and further maths? If he is at a state school and gets a Cambridge offer he should be able to attend the webinar series to help him prepare. My DS was getting STEP questions from his further maths teacher from year 12 (I assume STEP 1 questions to begin with).

Welcome | STEP Support Programme

https://maths.org/step/welcome

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FiveFoxes · 08/07/2024 10:09

He's at a State 6th form college and they have sent students to Cambridge to study maths. They run STEP/MAT/TMUA preparation classes (which he obviously goes to). He's on course to be predicted A Stars in Maths and FM. So that's all good. He has done the maths challenges, but hasn't done brilliantly at them.

But it's really hard to know what level he should be at STEP now (end of yr 12) to decide whether it's worth applying to Cambridge.

Is not doing well on maths challenges a good indication that it's not worth it with STEP?

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IThinkIMadeItWorse · 08/07/2024 10:52

I am going to tag @Pallando who is the STEP expert. I would have thought that the school would have a good idea of his level if they have sent people to Cambridge for maths before.

My DS has Warwick as his insurance and has to fill in a form about his accommodation preferences by mid August, they don't allocate accommodation until after results and they have plenty so not worried about him getting somewhere if he ends up there. Of course it is a high offer to have as your insurance choice!

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Pallando · 08/07/2024 11:40

Hi @FiveFoxes - I will respond properly at some point, very busy this week for some reason :-)

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FiveFoxes · 08/07/2024 13:00

Thank you Pallando! It is much appreciated whenever you can.

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FiveFoxes · 08/07/2024 13:03

IthinkImadeitworse - I would imagine the college does have an idea, but they've either not told him or not told him so he's heard!

Thank you for the information about Warwick (unsurprisingly also on his shortlist). He really liked it there.

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piisnot3 · 08/07/2024 14:16

predicted A-stars are not a good indication.
He should by now have covered the material on the MAT syllabus. As an indication, it'd be worth doing several MAT papers from 2015 or later under timed exam conditions, and comparing with the released results statistics for each paper.
If he's scoring in the upper third of the distribution, and within the range of the offer holders, that's a positive sign as far as it goes, though STEP is still tougher. If he's not (i.e. after some practice is still scoring in the bottom 2/3 or below the range of the offer holders, excluding the low tail which will be mainly contextual offers) he may need to adjust his expectations / reconsider.
AEA or old STEP 1 papers would also be a better guide than performance on A level papers.
FWIW the admissions process for Oxford, Imperial etc. is more humane and less risky.

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lanthanum · 08/07/2024 17:54

Some universities will not guarantee accommodation for insurance offers, but some do. With some, that might be "last pick" of what's left, but some don't do the allocation until after results. It was one of the important columns on DD's spreadsheet.

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Bunnyannesummers · 08/07/2024 18:15

If the college has experience it’s worth speaking to them to get their take - this shouldn’t be the whole picture but it’s useful.

In terms of insurance, unfortunately lots of places won’t offer accom for insurance. If they don’t, you could try focusing on a big student city or area where there’s plenty of private accom if that’s a worry.

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TaggieMCS · 08/07/2024 21:48

DS was getting 2s and 3s at this stage and went on to get strong 1s in both STEP II and III as well as high A star in both maths and f.maths. A lot of it was exam technique - much better to get 3 questions out fully than 6 out partially. he had to learn to persist and not panic! Although his school offered STEP classes, DS didn’t attend regularly until March of year 13, so he didn’t have that much help. So overall - if your DS is a keen mathematician and predicted A in maths and further maths, definitely worthwhile going for the STEP and applying for Cambridge, even if he isn’t yet getting the required marks.

Also DS never did particularly well on the ukmt challenges. He got a mix of silvers and golds over the years - never made it through to the next round. He couldn’t work fast enough (slow at writing and arithmetic) and got flustered.

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Pallando · 15/07/2024 09:39

@FiveFoxes Sorry - busy week last week! I will also DM you.

As suggested above, one of the best ways to prepare is to work through the foundation assignments over the summer (if he has not already done them through the STEP classes at school - some schools use them as part of their preparation). https://maths.org/step/assignments

It is really hard to judge "where you should" be - some of our undergraduate helpers were getting grades 2/3 when they did timed papers in April of year 13, but still went on to get their offers. STEP is very holistic in nature and even when you have covered all the specification it still takes some getting used to.

However we (the STEP Support Programme) are considering introducing some sort of "check" for when students have completed the foundation assignments, it sounds like it might be beneficial!

Don't worry too much about Maths Challenges - these are very different to STEP which requires more considered responses.

STEP Support Foundation modules | STEP Support Programme

https://maths.org/step/assignments

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FiveFoxes · 15/07/2024 19:32

@Pallando Thank you so much for your reply! I hope you are now having a quieter time.

He has done weekly university maths entrance test preparation at college all year 12. I am not sure if any of it is specifically STEP though.

He is going to try some papers in the summer and see how he gets on. Reassuring he doesn't need 1s now!

However it would be useful if there was a suggested grade on foundation level STEP that you should be achieving end yr 12/ beginning yr 13 so you knew you had the potential to achieve the level 1 or whether you should probably think about applying elsewhere.