Ezak Posted June 9, 2013 Report Share Posted June 9, 2013 Heya! I can't be alone in taking STEP in a couple of weeks, so I was thinking of having a STEP prep thread where we can help each other out! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ezak Posted June 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2013 (edited) First off, get this pdf, it's essential: advanced problems in core mathematics. Edited June 10, 2013 by Ezak Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
elaifyanre Posted June 26, 2013 Report Share Posted June 26, 2013 Hi,I will be taking the STEP test next year and I have a few questions towards it.Do you think the content that math HL covers is enough for the test?(I don't have any clue about the questions in the mechanics part)Also, how long does it takes for you to finish one question in average?The questions (especially in STEP II and III) are all soooo long that I don't know if I can finish 6 (or 5) of them in time... Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Saint... Posted June 26, 2013 Report Share Posted June 26, 2013 Cool.. So...1. Do you think the content that math HL covers is enough for the test?In terms of syllabus coverage it'll be okay. But in terms of the question type, they're completely different. Much longer and demanding in fact. If you take physics, then the mechanics part shouldn't be a problem. And there are only 2 or 3 questions on mechanics, you don;t necessarily have to answer them.2. Also, how long does it takes for you to finish one question in average?Like 20-30 mins.3.The questions (especially in STEP II and III) are all soooo long that I don't know if I can finish 6 (or 5) of them in time...Is that a question? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
elaifyanre Posted June 28, 2013 Report Share Posted June 28, 2013 2. Also, how long does it takes for you to finish one question in average?Like 20-30 mins.3.The questions (especially in STEP II and III) are all soooo long that I don't know if I can finish 6 (or 5) of them in time...Is that a question?Um actually 3 is just addition information to Q2 Usually I spend a LONG time doing one question like this:2 minutes: OK I know how to do this5 minutes: Wow this is harder than I thought but it's alright10 minutes: Q.E.D. What? This is only the first half of the first part of the question?17 minutes: answer=xxx. Solved What? Only done half of the question?30 minutes: Finally done No--oops still one part to go...35 minutes: Finally done, this time really.37 minutes: Checked.↑I really have to do the questions faster... Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Saint... Posted June 28, 2013 Report Share Posted June 28, 2013 Haha it's okay... STEP questions are supposed to be hard and are meant to take long.I think the exam is three hours, so if you're taking 40 mins for one question, you should probably try cut it down to 30 mins.You also have a year till you take the exam, so there's enough time.Just as a by the way, where are you planning on applying? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctrls Posted June 28, 2013 Report Share Posted June 28, 2013 I was also thinking of taking STEP next year, but there's one thing that I've been somewhat worried about.Should I bother with learning any of the additional content? I don't take FM so there seems to be quite a lot that I'm missing out on, especially with STEP III I haven't done the majority of what's listed on the syllabus (I do take physics HL though, plus my maths teacher is planning on doing the statistics options so that should be ok). After skimming a couple of threads on TSR it seems like it's typically better to focus on the content I already know, but I feel being unable to do half of the questions from the beginning may put me at quite a disadvantage.I've only just started preparing at this point, but I've been planning on attempting the questions of unfamiliar topics, to at least familiarize myself with the topics. It seems like common topics such as differential equations may be worth studying it detail though, so I may do that with a couple of other topics. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
elaifyanre Posted June 29, 2013 Report Share Posted June 29, 2013 Haha it's okay... STEP questions are supposed to be hard and are meant to take long.I think the exam is three hours, so if you're taking 40 mins for one question, you should probably try cut it down to 30 mins.You also have a year till you take the exam, so there's enough time.Just as a by the way, where are you planning on applying?Warwick and Cambridge which require the STEP, and some other universities...I was also thinking of taking STEP next year, but there's one thing that I've been somewhat worried about.Should I bother with learning any of the additional content? I don't take FM so there seems to be quite a lot that I'm missing out on, especially with STEP III I haven't done the majority of what's listed on the syllabus (I do take physics HL though, plus my maths teacher is planning on doing the statistics options so that should be ok). After skimming a couple of threads on TSR it seems like it's typically better to focus on the content I already know, but I feel being unable to do half of the questions from the beginning may put me at quite a disadvantage.I've only just started preparing at this point, but I've been planning on attempting the questions of unfamiliar topics, to at least familiarize myself with the topics. It seems like common topics such as differential equations may be worth studying it detail though, so I may do that with a couple of other topics.I think knowing more is better, because you can have more options when you take the test.So for example, if what I know covers 10 of the 13 questions, that will be much more advantageous than only knowing 6 of the 13 questions as I can choose the ones I'm most confident with.I'm self-studying the FM content (borrowed 8 books from school counselor... 28.2cm). It seems that the calculus part and the statistics part are much related to the STEP, so maybe learning the calculus option by yourself along with taking the statistics option at school will be helpful. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctrls Posted December 19, 2013 Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 Thought I'd bump this thread with a bit of an update (might be useful for future STEPers), considering it's been around 5 months, It seems like HL maths does cover the syllabus of STEP I/II pretty well, at least with the STEP I questions I've been doing so far. There's the odd question which isn't accessible (cumulative distributions, method of differences, generalized binomial theorem, etc), but for the most part it seems to be fine. I've noticed geometry questions are harder since it's not covered in class (albeit generally accessible with MYP/GCSE/Pre-IB knowledge), but that might just be me. Naturally mechanics questions tend to be rather inaccessible, with the exception of the odd question. I just realized that I never replied to your post ssy, but I also agree that covering more content is likely the better choice. Actually covering the topics don't seem to take too long either, at least relatively speaking. Given the amount of time to prepare for it, I don't think time will be too much of an issue. I'm currently focusing on the pure and stats questions of STEP I, but I'm planning to move to II and III after the new year. Hoping to have finished the calculus option by then too, I'll probably start mechanics after that (perhaps M1-M3?). Also planning on getting matrices and a few other topics done by June, if I get around to it. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
elaifyanre Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 Thought I'd bump this thread with a bit of an update (might be useful for future STEPers), considering it's been around 5 months,It seems like HL maths does cover the syllabus of STEP I/II pretty well, at least with the STEP I questions I've been doing so far. There's the odd question which isn't accessible (cumulative distributions, method of differences, generalized binomial theorem, etc), but for the most part it seems to be fine. I've noticed geometry questions are harder since it's not covered in class (albeit generally accessible with MYP/GCSE/Pre-IB knowledge), but that might just be me. Naturally mechanics questions tend to be rather inaccessible, with the exception of the odd question.I just realized that I never replied to your post ssy, but I also agree that covering more content is likely the better choice. Actually covering the topics don't seem to take too long either, at least relatively speaking. Given the amount of time to prepare for it, I don't think time will be too much of an issue.I'm currently focusing on the pure and stats questions of STEP I, but I'm planning to move to II and III after the new year. Hoping to have finished the calculus option by then too, I'll probably start mechanics after that (perhaps M1-M3?). Also planning on getting matrices and a few other topics done by June, if I get around to it.Sorry for not seeing this earlier.The calculus option was very helpful, actually understood what to do for the questions involving more than a bit of calculus now.Currently doing the statistics option.Mechanics... my physics class is tooooooooo slow to even cover the physics HL content in time, not sure of what I should do now... Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctrls Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 Sorry for not seeing this earlier. The calculus option was very helpful, actually understood what to do for the questions involving more than a bit of calculus now. Currently doing the statistics option. Mechanics... my physics class is tooooooooo slow to even cover the physics HL content in time, not sure of what I should do now... Yeah, I agree with the calculus option. It seems to be rather satisfying to have a better understanding of those topics, since a lot of STEP I/II questions like to touch upon those topics. I've mostly finished it now, though I need to do a bit more practice on DE's (especially second order stuff). I haven't started mechanics either, to be honest. I got an A-level textbook that covers most of the topics, but I've been rather busy with other work recently so I just haven't got around to it. Hoping to start in February, once the final wave of internal assessments are over. Admittedly not looking forward to it, but I'll have to give it a try. My physics class probably won't finish the syllabus until sometime in March, but I'll be doing the mechanics stuff independent of those classes - I don't think it's relevant for anyone else in my class anyways. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
elaifyanre Posted January 14, 2014 Report Share Posted January 14, 2014 Yeah, I agree with the calculus option. It seems to be rather satisfying to have a better understanding of those topics, since a lot of STEP I/II questions like to touch upon those topics. I've mostly finished it now, though I need to do a bit more practice on DE's (especially second order stuff).I haven't started mechanics either, to be honest. I got an A-level textbook that covers most of the topics, but I've been rather busy with other work recently so I just haven't got around to it. Hoping to start in February, once the final wave of internal assessments are over. Admittedly not looking forward to it, but I'll have to give it a try. My physics class probably won't finish the syllabus until sometime in March, but I'll be doing the mechanics stuff independent of those classes - I don't think it's relevant for anyone else in my class anyways.Second order DE...Got some help from my friend in UK for the mechanics part, at least now I know what the modules are supposed to cover.Not sure about when to start though, not finished with FM yet and don't want to rush through it. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctrls Posted January 14, 2014 Report Share Posted January 14, 2014 Second order DE... Got some help from my friend in UK for the mechanics part, at least now I know what the modules are supposed to cover. Not sure about when to start though, not finished with FM yet and don't want to rush through it. I'm also not really sure about the timings of covering mechanics myself, to be honest. I don't have FM to cover so it's admittedly quite a bit easier for me, but it still seems to be a lot to manage. Especially since I really need to start picking up my pace with doing the actual questions, I'm not sure how much time I should spend on STEP and how much to spend on covering content. I'm not worrying about it too much though, since there is an additional month after the IB exams in which I'll dedicate all my time to STEP-related stuff. By the way, I found a guy on youtube who covers a few of the harder mechanics stuff. I haven't got around to that yet, but I watched his first video on SHM which I found to be rather useful. He also does a few worked STEP questions, though I don't think you'll really need that at this stage. http://www.youtube.com/user/ataggake Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
elaifyanre Posted January 16, 2014 Report Share Posted January 16, 2014 I'm also not really sure about the timings of covering mechanics myself, to be honest. I don't have FM to cover so it's admittedly quite a bit easier for me, but it still seems to be a lot to manage. Especially since I really need to start picking up my pace with doing the actual questions, I'm not sure how much time I should spend on STEP and how much to spend on covering content. I'm not worrying about it too much though, since there is an additional month after the IB exams in which I'll dedicate all my time to STEP-related stuff.By the way, I found a guy on youtube who covers a few of the harder mechanics stuff. I haven't got around to that yet, but I watched his first video on SHM which I found to be rather useful. He also does a few worked STEP questions, though I don't think you'll really need that at this stage.http://www.youtube.com/user/ataggakeI think I'll at least finish FM first as finishing FM means I can do pure and statistics with (mostly) no problem, then doing mechanics is just opening to more choices, also there will be some overlap between mechanics and physics anyways.Lucky you... I'm in Canadian system so I'll have to take my IB exams in May and the school (final) exams in June, so I have to go back to class after I finish the IB exams...:\ Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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