Test taken: Sixth Term Examination Paper (STEP)

Number of interviews: 2

Skype interview: no

Time betwen interviews: 4 hours

Length of first interview: 30 minutes; Length of second interview: 30 minutes

When I was sitting outside the interview room, I put my headphones on and listened to some music to try to keep myself calm. In each interview, the interviewers came out to meet me and brought me inside the room, showed me where to sit down and asked about my day to get me comfortable. In my first interview I had bought a pencil case because I wasn't sure what was needed, but they provided a pen and paper - I remember the interviewer joking that I could use my own if I had a 'lucky pencil' that I wanted to use and we laughed at that. The interviewers were all really nice and friendly - I got the feeling that they were there to chat to me, not interrogate me. The interview focused on maths problem solving questions, which the interviewers would write at the top of a piece of paper while asking for my thoughts. I tried to answer it while writing down my workings on the papers and talking through my thought processes. If I got stuck or seemed to be going in the wrong direction, the interviewers gave me hints to help me get back on track. There were several distinct questions in each interview, starting with something easier before asking related questions to increase the difficulty.

The second interview was also predominantly focused on maths problems, although at the end I was asked to explain something I had written in my personal statement. This did not feel like an ‘interview question’ in the typical sense, but it was seemingly just to make sure the interviewers had understood what I had written. Different interviewers took charge of different questions, and I got the impression that one interviewer was more senior and the other was being trained, which made me less nervous because I felt like I wasn’t the only one being watched!

To prepare for the Sixth Term Examination Paper (STEP), I used the free online STEP support programme (maths.org/step). In particular, the STEP II & III modules were really good because they contained topic notes on all the content you needed to learn, then at least four past STEP questions on that topic to do with hints if necessary. I would highly recommend avoiding looking at the hints for as long as possible, and timing how long it takes you to do questions. I went to a STEP preparation day organised by Cambridge for state school students. It was very good for exam technique and motivation, although I was slightly intimidated by the amount of preparation work that other candidates seemed to be doing. I also had a mock interview at school, although this wasn’t very usefulbecause to be honest I knew more about the interview process then my mock interviewer did, so it was often inaccurate in terms of the questions that were asked.

When preparing for the STEP, remember that the paper is based on A Level content, so don’t attempt to prepare for unfamiliar topics until you've covered it in your normal classes. A mock interview could be useful if you're not confident explaining your methods. I think the most useful preparation I did was reading articles and advice online, as well as watching YouTube videos about interviews - particularly on the official Cambridge YouTube channel. During the interview, try to be relaxed and open to enable the interviewers to find out what they want to know.