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STEP Support Programme

General discussion

Assignment 5 warm down

29 July 2017

For the proof for 4 iii i wrote "for n pair of socks you need at least 2n socks. However if we take 2n socks there can be 2 unmatched colours. Therefore we need to take 2n+1 socks. The next one we choose has to match with one of the unmatched ones." Would this be enough? Should i add something else?

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Tiny erratum in Feedback 7 Q1 ii) b) missing sign

27 July 2017

At the very bottom of page 1 of the feedback https://maths.org/step/sites/maths.org.step/files/Feedback_A7_0.pdf , for
$ \frac 12 \le x<0$
read
$ - \frac 12 \le x<0$
Either that, or I completely fluffed this warm-up question. :-)

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Assignment 4 warm up

24 July 2017

Hey, I've been struggling to work out the proof for assignment 4 question 1 part 2. I got the first part and the rest of the assignment already but I just can't work this one out. Thanks for any help

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Using hints/answers

23 July 2017

I have used the hints and answers quite a bit, mostly for the actual STEP questions, once for the warm down as well.

One time I had to look up some stuff for the warm up, but this was me not knowing the standard trig things off by heart, which I admittedly should.

After using the hints, I try to understand why the answers are what they are. My thread of assignment two shows that. Moreover, if I have a lot of trouble on one assignment, I plan to finish the foundation course and then go back to do that assignment again, so I know I can do it.

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Assignment 2 Q1 iv (why not simplify answer?)

22 July 2017

Hi, could someone please explain why the given answer to this question does not simplify the two $ \frac {\sqrt{2}} {2} $ into $ \frac {{1}} {\sqrt{2}} $ ?
The answer I found was $ x = \frac {\pm 1 \pm i} {\sqrt {2}} $ which is equivalent to the answer in the hints unless I'm missing something deep and meaningful for which I should be very glad to be enlightened :-)

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Assignment 2, q3

22 July 2017

I completed part one fine, but had absolutely no clue how to do the next part. Looking at the hints didn't solve anything. I've seen the answers and I have no idea how anyone got to them. Is there a video walkthrough or something like that?

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Universities requiring or recommending STEP

20 July 2017

Besides Cambridge, there are several other universities who recommend STEP, or will give you a reduced offer if you take STEP.

These include:

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Interview Example

20 July 2017

Thinking ahead here, but if you want to see what a Cambridge interview is like you can see an example from Emmanuel college here.

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Step support assignment 4

18 July 2017

Could anyone tell me from which years step paper, question 3 in assighnment 4 is taken.
I just want to check the solution for the last part of the question.

Regards /
Rohan

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Started preparing late?

16 July 2017

I've only found out about these assignments at the end of Year 12 and I'm worried that I've started too late to prepare. I'm taking Further Maths at A level and I think I'll be doing Paper 2 and 3.

Have I started too late? If so, what can I do? My plan is to do one assignment every 2 days.

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Useful Links

Underground Mathematics: Selected worked STEP questions

STEP Question database

University of Cambridge Mathematics Faculty: What do we look for?

University of Cambridge Mathematics Faculty: Information about STEP

University of Cambridge Admissions Office: Undergraduate course information for Mathematics

Stephen Siklos' "Advanced Problems in Mathematics" book (external link)

MEI: Worked solutions to STEP questions (external link)

OCR: Exam board information about STEP (external link)