STEP (Sixth Term Examination Paper) is unlike any maths exam you will have sat before. The questions are long, multi-part and require genuine mathematical insight rather than the application of learned techniques. Almost no one who walks into STEP without dedicated preparation does well. Almost everyone who prepares seriously and consistently improves significantly.
Start early
The students who perform best at STEP typically start preparing in January of Year 13 at the latest — many start in Year 12. The exam is in June. That gives you five to six months of serious preparation, which is what it takes. Starting in April is too late.
Work through past papers, not textbooks
The best way to prepare for STEP is to do STEP questions. Not exercises from textbooks, not A-Level further maths papers — actual STEP questions from past papers. They are all freely available from the Cambridge Assessment website. Work through them slowly, without time pressure at first, and try to understand every step of every solution.
Focus on understanding, not memorising
STEP questions are designed so that memorised approaches do not work. Every question requires you to see something — a substitution, a connection, a pattern — that is not immediately obvious. This only comes from spending a lot of time with difficult problems and developing mathematical intuition. There are no shortcuts.
The STEP Support Programme
Cambridge's free STEP Support Programme is excellent. It provides structured preparation modules that build the skills needed for STEP systematically. Work through it alongside past papers.
Get help with the questions you cannot do
When you are stuck — genuinely stuck, after spending real time on a problem — get help. Understanding a solution you could not find yourself is far more valuable than moving on and hoping the next question goes better. This is where working with a tutor who has sat STEP themselves is particularly valuable.