# Master Maths

## Blog, distance courses and web tutorials for maths candidates to top UK universities

### Offers for maths candidates to top UK universities

• What kind of offers does Cambridge give to maths candidates?
Strongest students receive unconditional offers, e.g. the British team at the International Mathematical Olympiad. We know university professors who received offers with E at A-level. Most candidates are asked to gain good STEP grades. The usual offer is a grade 1 (very good) in both STEP II and III. Cambridge has recently started to issue offers with a grade S (excellent). Your performance at interviews in December is crucial for gaining an easier offer with lower grades.
• I'm a year 12 student dreaming about Oxbridge. How can I increase my chances?
Start your preparations in advance. Best Oxbridge candidates take the STEP I exam in June before applying in October. A grade 1 in STEP I is usually accepted by Oxford instead of the MAT paper. Cambridge candidates with a grade 1 in STEP I have a good chance to get an easier offer in January. If you achieve a lower grade, then you know that extra work is needed to succeed. Taking the STEP I exam by year 12 students is a win-win case.
• I'm applying to Cambridge. May I start preparing for STEP II and III?
Before you could start preparations for STEP II and III, your first aim is to get a Cambridge offer with STEP grades. That is why it is essential to make a good impression at interviews in December and gain an offer with lower grades, e.g. lower than a grade 1 in both STEP II and III, simply because gaining a grade 1 in both STEP II and III can be quite hard. The past experience shows that many Cambridge candidates may struggle with the easier Oxbridge course. Our STEP II and III preparation courses start in January.
• What non-Oxbridge universities have entrance exams in mathematics apart from A-levels?
Warwick asks for STEP or AEA for many years. Imperial College London requires MAT since 2013. Many Russell group universities are now thinking about MAT or STEP as their entrance exams in the near future.

### Content and materials of Master Maths courses

• Is your Oxbridge course a sufficient preparation for Oxbridge interviews?
In 2010-2012 all our students who submitted almost all homework and gained more than 80% on average actually received their Oxbridge offers. So we give you all resources and help that we can provide, however your contribution is still crucial for your success. That is why we encourage our students to make serious efforts, e-mail us questions (if something seems unclear) and submit solutions to our homework problems on all topics.
• Why do your STEP courses cover only the pure maths syllabus of STEP papers?
Each STEP paper contains 8 pure maths questions, 3 mechanics questions and 2 statistics questions. However, only 6 best solutions are counted. You can still choose 6 (of 8) pure maths questions. Mechanics is often based on vectors, probably the hardest topic in pure maths. Statistics usually requires (apart from pure maths) good understanding of deep probability concepts. Seriously, to study the full STEP syllabus, many students need at least one full year.
• May I buy only the notes without your homework and support by e-mail?
Driving schools offer the practice in driving, bookshops sell a highway code. Similarly, we offer the training in rigorous mathematics, others sell notes. Our past experience shows that if you complete our weekly homework, learn from our feedback on your scripts and organise your revision according to our advice, then you are well-prepared for a real exam.
• I'm unsure if your course can benefit me. Can you e-mail me a sample?
• What would be an approximate workload in hours every week?
The actual workload depends on your self-organisation and effectiveness. The STEP III course may require up to four hours per week. Two hours can be enough for studying the STEP I course.
• Can I take all three STEP training courses in parallel?
We start the STEP I training course in September, so you could choose an easier transition to the harder STEP II and III programmes. All three STEP courses together provide a more coherent coverage of the full STEP programme.

### How we run distance courses and how to enrol

• I am an international student. Can I enrol on your courses?
Absolutely, the key advantage of the distant courses is their flexibility. You can receive our notes by e-mail almost everywhere on the planet. We have taught students from Bahrain, China, Dubai, France, Malaysia, Singapore, Switzerland. You could work through the homework problems at your own pace. Moreover, our training in writing maths solutions in English is especially important for international students. Please contact us if you wish to enrol.
• Do you run on-site or on-line sessions for STEP exams?
Initially we started our STEP training from 2-hour face-to-face sessions. We quickly realised that our students prefer the active learning by trying STEP-like problems themselves (with our hints) rather than the usual passive listening in a class. The STEP exams are written assessments, hence our students practice in writing justified mathematical arguments without wasting their time (and money) on travel. Every homework is considered as a mini mock exam and is marked as a real STEP problem: the full mark is 20. We are happy to arrange on-line tuition on a one-to-one basis if any extra help is needed.
• How shall I receive weekly notes and how can I submit my written homework?
The notes in pdf are e-mailed to a whole class always as a blind copy. Your e-mail will not be visible to other students. Ideally, you could scan your homework and e-mail a pdf file. Instead of scanning, you may use a photo camera to produce a digital image. Alternatively, you may simply post a hard copy to our office address. We shall scan your script and shall e-mail you our feedback.
• I like when a teacher talks through a solution step-by-step. How can you help?
If you prefer talking through solutions, we may arrange on-line sessions via Blackboard (like Skype plus an interactive board to write formulae). You will need a headphone set and (not essentially) a graphics tablet with an electronic pen. Please contact us to discuss more details.

### How to access and use interactive web tutorials

• Can I try your free tutorial Beyond Pythagoras' theorem and applications right now?
First we advise to read our blog post How to properly state mathematical theorems: 3 key parts. Then you could prepare your pencil, draft paper, go to the tutorial and click on "Enrol me on this course" in the left hand side menu. Goof luck!
• Why do your web tutorials contain on-line quizzes, not videos?
Videos are not interactive. Our students actively learn by solving problems.
• What browsers can display mathematics like $a^2+b^2=c^2$ in your interactive web tutorials?
IE 6.0+, Firefox 3.0+, Chrome 0.3+, Safari 2.0+, Opera 9.5+ should work using MathJax, MathML.
• If I log into your tutorials site as a guest, then what can I see or use?
Guests have the read-only access: you can read an introduction and descriptions of all activities.
• Can a guest (without any registration) take a quiz in your tutorials?
Technically, all quiz attempts are recorded in the internal database, so a valid username is needed.
• May I simply read solutions to tutorial problems without taking quizzes?
Reading our step-by-step solutions without trying questions seems a lost learning opportunity. However, if a question seems hard, you may finish the quiz, read our solution and then later try a similar question with different randomised parameters.