Submitted by 6sigma on Wed, 04/19/2017 - 17:05
Forums:
We have to answer 6 questions in 3 hours, which gives us 30 minutes per question. How is this supposed to work? It seems like a lot of the STEP III questions are designed to take 2 hours each. :(
You don't have to answer 6
You don't have to answer 6 questions. 4 good answers is usually enough for a 1 in STEP III. (note: good, not perfect)
That said, with practice you'll be able to cut down on time per question. It's normal for questions to take an hour or two to do when starting STEP - after practice it cuts down to 20 or 30 minutes.
Grade Boundaries
Over the past 6 years the Grade 1 Boundary for STEP III has varied from 59 to 65 marks (though it can of course vary out of this range for next year). This is where the "4 good answers" comes from (though I would suggest always answering the first part of 2 other questions in order to claim a few more marks).
With practice you will find the questions are quicker to answer, you will also start to recognise questions that you will probably be able to answer in a shorter time than others. There are very very very few people out there who can answer *any* STEP question in 20-30 mins!
In summary - do lots of practice, don't worry if they are taking a long time, through practice you will learn about your strengths and weaknesses and so be able to select questions in the exam which you have a good chance of answering within 30-40 mins.
Warning - knowing your strengths is a good thing, but occasionally an innocent looking question can have a sting in the tail. Don't feel down hearted if you think one of your strengths is differential equations and you come across a particularly difficult differential equation question whilst practising (and if in the exam, probably best in this situation to try another question).