Submitted by dtaylor401 on Fri, 02/08/2019 - 09:09
Forums:
My Further Mathematics modules are M1 and D1, and therefore my base statistics knowledge isn't typically up to the standard that's required to answer a STEP question.
Is it recommended to learn it regardless to have the opportunity to answer more questions and possibly get a better mark in one, or to focus on the topics that I'm already strong in given that only the six best answers are marked?
Thanks in advance.
Statistics
Probably the best idea is to have a look at some past papers at the statistics questions (as well as looking at the new specifications - though there are some bits in there such as hypothesis testing which do not come up in STEP very often!). Some of them can be done with just probability knowledge from GCSE (plus a load of algebra).
If you have a basic understanding of probability, expectation, variance, binomial, poisson distributions there are quite a few questions that you can do. Very often there is little "Stats" in the Stats questions.
My advice would be look at the Statistics STEP 1, 2 and possibly 3 modules on this site (the topic notes for STEP 2 and STEP 3 summarise what you need to know) and then keep an open mind when working through past papers and the exams, but don't spend too long learning new stuff.