Continuing Year 13: January 2016

Not true I don't think- not when giving offers anyway.DD has a standard offer for Cambridge maths and she is state school through and through.

As somebody who has given offers, I can say that it is true that offers vary. There is no such thing as a completely "standard offer" for Cambridge maths - the STEP grades required do vary, although many candidates are asked to take STEP 2 and 3, and to get 1,1.

BTW there is not a straight state v private difference - only the very top private schools offer significant support for STEP and teach maths at a higher level. It is not unusual for applicants from such schools to be asked for S grades at STEP.

Don't think DD has a step password? Her school entered her so maybe they have it

Chem 4 - last question was difficult DD thought

Cambridge also adjusts STEP offers and acceptances according to the amount of STEP support given i.e. students from top private schools are asked to obtain higher STEP grades than those from state schools which provided little to no STEP support

Not true I don't think- not when giving offers anyway.DD has a standard offer for Cambridge maths and she is state school through and through.

She doesn't strictly need STEP 1 but thought it would be a good arm up for STEP 2 & 3. her school don't provide any help
She thought today's step 1 was much more difficult than previous STEP 1 papers.
similar to the poster upthread 3 solid answers , another completed but a bit dodgy , one half done and the last he only did a couple of minutes of.

Ellen - DD needs an A* in 1 subject.....and I don't think it will be chemistry now! Fingers crossed for maths.
My gin is very tasty

Thank you, hellsbells, gin here, too. I hope Chemistry went better than OK!

DS says no-one is allowed to discuss STEP on the student room until 9.00am tomorrow, due to lots of exam clashes and different time zones!

Ellen - hopefully your DS' step went better than he thought.
Northern - I think I need a gin or glass of wine!

DD is home. She said it wasn't a good paper (AQA chemistry) compared to previous ones but she did finish it and check it.

Aargh dd was doing chemistry today and said it was 'ok' - which means she felt in control. Usually a good sign but mention of the student room is stressing me now.

I bloody HATE exam time!

DS1 found STEP 1 quite hard, he answered 3 questions fully, but with some errors 2 questions 3/4 complete and about 1/4 of a sixth question. They give marks for the best 6 questions I believe. DS thinks he's done enough for a grade 2 but maybe not enough for grade 1, so will need to get an A* in further maths for Warwick.

He's been given a log in code for the results as SecretMcSquirrels said earlier in the thread, so will find out his STEP result a few hours before anything else in August. He's feeling a bit down, I think, but concentrating on Stats 2 for tomorrow.

I hope everyone had a good French/Chem/Psychology exam.

Happy birthday Master Dunlurking!

It was dd's birthday yesterday (no exam fortunately) - had a nice evening, with dd1 on Skype for present-opening

Busy exam day today - she had French (demanding, but everyone thought it was hard, so she's pretty happy). Hope everyone else's went ok!

Oh dear - feedback on Student Room about the AQA chem4 paper is very negative. I won't see DD until later as she was going to the gym after the exam.
It is thundering very loudly here ....or that could be DD stamping her feet after the exam!

Good Luck to all those doing Chemistry, Psychology and STEP papers today.

And thanks for the birthday wishes for ds - I'll pass them on. all round to us supportive mums, I think!

DD2 is also in chemistry now. Hope they all do well.
I remember from DD1 last year that one paper was more difficult than normal.
Happy Birthday to Dunlurking's DS - not the best way to be spending your 18th!

Yes DS doing Chemistry today too.
Happy Birthday to DS Dunlurking!

DS doing Chemistry today as well, in fact happening at this very moment.

Hope exams go well for all DC today.

Useful information re NUS card & STEP results.

Glad DS liked nutribullet dunlurking, hope he enjoys his birthday.

MyVisions we'll be suit buying tomorrow. Thanks for the M&S recommendation.

Ds's 18th today. Nutribullet went down well, along with all his other presents. He's gone into school as all his friends have exams today at various points so he will have mini parties all day with birthday cake be revising in company.

The difference in helping with Step seems very unfair to me.

But evidence shows that having a few STEP sessions doesn't make a difference to the results - results are strongly correlated with ability and individual study/practice. Cambridge also adjusts STEP offers and acceptances according to the amount of STEP support given i.e. students from top private schools are asked to obtain higher STEP grades than those from state schools which provided little to no STEP support.

Warwick gives standardised offers but I believe they do take into account school background when looking at those who missed the required STEP grade.

BTW STEP papers are difficult for teachers to mark as detailed mark schemes are not available and it can be hard to work out how partially correct but incomplete or going off on the wrong track answers would be graded.

Chemistry AND Psychology here today . Last Psychology paper went well, although several of DDs friends went home in tears after it (and the Student Room general consensus was that it was quite tough).

Then next week is exams Tue/Wed/Fri/Mon with two days of work in amongst that, which personally I think is stupid, but as DD is 18, her health is all her own responsibility and I'll just carry on picking up the pieces.

Would second/third recommendations for M&S suits, particularly buying two pairs of trousers per jacket - DH started off his working life in M&S suits, as has DD1s boyfriend, and they're still decent quality for the money AND lots of them can be washed in the machine rather than having to be dry cleaned.

Good Luck toyour DC, Coconutty. Chemistry here ........

Interesting, secret. DS1 was assuming he'd get the STEP results from school (as was I!) DS has one friend doing STEP at his sixth form, but they are doing STEP1, 2 and 3 for Cambridge and have a clash tomorrow (doing a silly number of A levels) and are being supervised tomorrow night and doing STEP1 the next day.

They have had a STEP session once every two weeks after school with some mathematicians from Bath Uni. This has been based at his school (lucky for him) but has included students from quite a few nearby schools so they've had pretty good preparation in general. It's just the mock that DS1 did off his own back that hasn't been marked by his maths teacher.

Best of luck to your DS tomorrow Ellen, and others doing STEP.
This time two years ago DS1 was doing STEP. He did lots of practise papers but no one from his college could mark them. I remember when I asked whether there was any possibility of help preparing for him preparing for STEP his teacher actually laughed and said he couldn't understand it himself .
In the end just doing endless past papers for months taught him a lot. He did okay in STEP 1 and 2 but not so well in 3 and missed his Cambridge offer.
Not sure if this is the same now but the STEP results were available on the same day as A levels BUT not through school. Instead you are given a log in when you take the exam to get the results. They come online at midnight so you know the STEP grades a few hours before the A levels.

All this extra curricular stuff is what makes them rounded adults in the end. Qualifications are very useful, there's no getting away from it, but what they'll look back on fondly will be the gigs they've gone to, the friends they've made and the experiences they've had.

DS1 has his first exam in over three weeks tomorrow, STEP 1. Apparently he did a mock but has never had the results back. So that's useful!