STEP Exam - Question for Maths teachers

[marcopront]

I teach in an international school and have a student applying to Cambridge. He has to fill an extra form in, I think this is just for overseas applicants. It asks if he will get help with the application for example preparation for the STEP exam. I have taught him most of the content as part of IB Further Maths and will help him with the rest but it is not specific Cambridge/STEP help.

Does anyone know what, if any, difference it will make if he says no.

If he was from a UK state school that did not provide help with STEP (as many don't) they may take that into account if he misses the grades. Also if a student is at a UK school that qualifies for contextual offers they sometimes do some mentoring to those who get offers.
None of this would affect whether he got an offer though, that depends on his interview and grade predictions.

Thanks that helps. They will know from the courses he has done that he has covered most of the Pure, all of the Stats and done of the mechanics unless he did it in Physics. It isn't just a yes or no question, so I think he can go for yes and explain.

STEP's content, in theory, is just A Level Maths and Further Maths, which is equivalent to IB but doesn't mean a normal IB candidates can just turn up to the exam and do it. It does require preparation and practice and if you haven't specifically trained your student to do STEP and entrance exams then you can say no. The form is the same for UK candidates as they have to fill in the same thing.

I think unless you are teaching the STEP content specifically to a level where he would be prepared to get the top grade on STEP you should say no. Not a maths teacher but I did STEP English years ago with no specific teaching and got the lowest pass grade. It did irk me to find out later that some private schools teach I t.

There was some overlap with the A level English syllabus I was doing, but not complete overlap iyswim.

That's really helpful. I will tell him to say no then.

Thanks

Also, visit maths.org/step for the (free) course designed by Cambridge to help students prepare for sitting STEP!