Submitted by William17 on Wed, 05/09/2018 - 21:43
Hi, i'm currently in year 12 at the moment and i'm preparing for step paper 2 and 3 in the summer of 2019. The STEP website has advised me that if i am going to do step 2 and 3 in year 13, that i should start working through the foundation assignments this year. I started the foundation assignments at the end of last year and have now gotten near to the end of the foundation modules; the point where the STEP questions go beyond what i have currently learned in my a level Maths and further Maths studies.
My question is this: should i carry on with the STEP questions and teach myself new concepts in assignment 24 (the assignment i'm currently on) not encountered in lessons yet such as further calculus and calculus with trig? Or should i take a break and resume with the harder foundation step questions at the start of year 13 once I've learned the content? Which way would best prepare me for the STEP exams?
Many Thanks, William
Preparation
I would continue with the assignments now - when designing them we decided to introduce some of the calculus and trig stuff that you learn in the second year of A-level maths (C3/C4 in old money). Once you have met these you can work through lots of STEP I (and STEP II) questions, but if you are in a school which teaches Maths and Further Maths simultaneously then you might not cover these subjects in lessons until near the end of year 13 - which doesn't leave much time for preparation.
If you are studying the whole of A-level maths in year 12 followed by A-level further maths in year 13, then waiting to cover the content in class is less of an issue (as hopefully you will have learnt all of A-level maths by the end of year 12).
If you want a bit of a break from the modules you could work through some of the TMUA or MAT papers.
Hope that helps - please feel free to ask more questions!