Master Maths

Student feedback on courses: anonymously contact us to submit your feedback
STEP : 2017 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011
Oxbridge : 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010

Anonymous feedback on the courses for the MAT paper and Oxbridge interviews 2017

• Feedback : "Can I just say thank you for all the resources and help you have given me along the way. I will be predicted A*A*AA in Maths, FM, Physics and Economics respectively and will be applying to Oxford, Warwick, Imperial, Bath and Nottingham as my 5 choices. I will keep you updated with how my application pans out (hopefully good :) )"
  Our comments : Thank you for finishing the MAT course in September, faster than any other student this year!

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Anonymous student feedback on the distance courses for the STEP exams 2017

• Feedback : "Liked the way it gave a range of different types of questions and then if you were finding the question tricky then it started to 'walk you through' part of the problem and not just give away the answer straight away".
  Our comments : Thank you for highlighting the most valuable content of the notes, namely step-by-step hints to problems.

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Anonymous feedback on the courses for the MAT paper and Oxbridge interviews 2016

• Feedback : "I had 4 interviews in 3 different colleges. I really enjoyed this experience as I managed to answer all the questions they asked after guiding me. They were like small tutorials. I just received a conditional offer from Oxford the day before yesterday. I was so happy and I have really appreciated your help!"
  Our comments : It's great when students get questions that are similar (or even identical) to the problems in the course. That's why using all available resources really help.

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Anonymous feedback on the courses for the MAT paper and Oxbridge interviews 2015

• Feedback : "I liked the fact that there was a large number of questions on each topic in the notes. This helped build my confidence for the exam and gave me plenty of practice. Also I liked the fact that there were full solutions for all the questions and for many questions multiple solutions were given, so that, I was able to see multiple methods of solving the same question, which helped my understanding of the topic."
  Our comments : Yes, it is the important feature of mathematics that one problem can be solved in many correct ways, however one solution is always enough. Hence we try explaining different approaches to the same problem.
• [What I disliked] : "Occasionally, some questions on the notes were a bit too computation heavy for a non calculator exam, and used awkward numbers."
  Our comments : Yes, all questions in the Oxbridge course are exact problems from past interviews, hence sometimes Oxbridge candidates are expected to deal with awkward numbers. The questions in all other courses are modified from original exam problems. After handling awkward numbers for training, you will be more comfortable at your real exam.
• [My advice] : "Include some more Olympiad and STEP style questions in the notes, as these type of questions featured quite a bit on the 2015 exam."
  Our comments : Yes, all problems from MAT 2015 will be in the next MAT course 2016.

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Anonymous student feedback on the distance courses for the STEP exams 2015

• Feedback : "I just wanted to say that I am very grateful for all of your help over this course; were it not for the course I think I would be much more apprehensive and far less prepared for STEP 1. Given how useful this has been, if I take the STEP 2 and STEP 3 exams next year I will certainly be very interested in the corresponding courses, and if any others at my school take STEP next year I would definitely recommend the course to them. Once again, thank you for all of your help!"
  Our comments : We are happy to receive such a positive statement even before the actual exam. Our strongest students take the STEP I exam one year earlier to gain the necessary experience before attempting the harder STEP II and III exams later.

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Anonymous student feedback on the distance courses for the STEP exams 2014

• Feedback : "Additionally, and while I know I have yet to reach the end of the course, I would like to thank you so much for the fantastic course you have provided so far. Of course, I remain very nervous for the exam but your help has been absolutely invaluable and I cannot thank you enough."
  Our comments : If students submit all homework in our STEP courses, at a real STEP exam they confidently choose 4-5 problems that they can complete quickly for a grade 1.
• Feedback : "The STEP course was a brilliant resource that improved my confidence, and made me a better mathematician. I am very excited to continue learning maths at a higher level at Cambridge and continue to develop my skills. The course is very well laid out with a good sense of progression from fairly straightforward problems to more difficult ones, and Dr Anosova was incredibly quick to respond to any queries, and also had a great deal of sensible advice to offer. My improvements in rigour, clear writing and logical thinking can be directly attributed to the course. Thank you very much for all of the help and encouragement throughout the course! I wish you continued success with your Master Maths course and any mathematics you are working on yourself!"
  Our comments : Thank you for the highly positive testimonial. We shall keep working hard making our courses even better!

Read success stories of the students who entered top UK universities in 2014.

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Anonymous student feedback on the distance courses for the STEP exams 2013

• Feedback : "The course you provide is fantastic and I am sorry he abandoned it for his own personal reasons, but I do hope he has the courage to try again because I think he can get a good grade in it which will give him his confidence back in maths. We were also very impressed with your speed and thoroughness in returning the homework scripts, which were helpfully annotated, and would recommend your course to anyone seriously considering taking mathematics at any of the top uk universities. Thank you for all your help and support and I hope your other students performed well this year."
  Our comments : Thank you for the kind words despite your son withdrew from STEP this year. Some of our past students took a gap year and then successfully entered Oxbridge. So we are happy to mark any (not yet submitted) homework from the past course and wish your son best of luck with new applications!
• Feedback (from a parent) : "My daughter has got 1 in s2 and s in s3. She has tried 5 questions only in step 2 then got 98 marks. 4-5 questions are not enough to get S in step 2 this year!"
  Our comments: Our students (and their parents) can easily give their anonymous feedback and may also choose not to publish their names even in a success case.

Read success stories of the students who entered top UK universities in 2013.

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Anonymous feedback on the courses for the MAT paper and Oxbridge interviews 2012

• Feedback : "The master maths course was a great way to help structure my preparation for university applications. I was finding the style of the Oxford MAT very different to A level maths and the master maths course really pointed my revision in the right direction. Having my work marked every week really helped me to realise where my weaknesses were and made sure I really understood all the topics covered. I have now accepted my place to study mathematics at Oxford University so I very much thank master maths for all their help!"
  Our comments : Yes, Oxbridge questions are more focused on rigorous proofs and logical arguments than A level maths.
• Feedback : "I liked that the questions could be done in our own time, and the feedback on homework was extremely helpful! I also liked that previous interview questions are given, in fact I actually got asked one I had done before in my own interview! Of course I told the interviewers I had done it before, but I found it very helpful then using the ideas this course had given me to then answer more extended questions on the same topic. I disliked nothing, it was a wonderful resource!"
  Our comments : At a real interview, if you get a question from our course, we would advise not to claim that you know the question, but show how you are thinking and explain all logical steps.
• Feedback : "I am to delighted to say that I have received a conditional offer from Emmanuel college, Cambridge! At the time I thought my interviews went quite badly, because the interviewers kept having to give me pointers and I found the questions difficult, but I remembered the hints and comments from this course and it seems to have paid off! Thank you so much for all your help, I would recommend this course to anyone with a Maths Oxbridge interview."
  Our comments : Our hints and tips on interviews are based on the actual student feedback from previous years, so we are improving every year.
• Feedback : "I liked the fact that the solutions to the problems were very detailed. I had 5 interviews at Oxford and found that my questions were much easier than the ones in the course. It was good practice to try problems at a higher level but I found that I had to look at the solutions for most of them. I received an offer from Keble college which was my first choice; they've asked for 2 A*s in maths and further maths and an A in either Spanish or physics."
  Our comments : Congratulations on the Oxford offer with only standard A-levels! Our students try harder questions for their interview preparations and later feel more confident at real interviews.
• Feedback : "I got an offer from Cambridge! the conditions are A*AA with 11 in STEP 2 and 3. Thank you very much for your help and support over the last few months. It certainly really helped, and without it i really would've struggled!"
  Our comments : We are happy when our students receive standard Cambridge offers, easier than an extremely hard grade S in both STEP II and III.
• Feedback : (from a parent) "My son got a conditional offer from Trinity College, Cambridge to read mathematics. I know he took part in your training in preparation for his interview which, he said, is quite helpful. I want to thank you for the excellent mentoring that you provided."
  Our comments : Congratulations on the Cambridge offer with a standard grade 1 in both STEP II and III, which is luckily easier than the really hard top grade S.
• Feedback : "Thank you very much for your support before Christmas leading up to my Oxford interviews; the preparation was invaluable! Unfortunately, my application was unsuccessful to Oxford for Mathematics and Statistics, but I would like to thank you for helping me get to the interview stage and for providing me with the opportunity to test my mathematical capability outside the syllabus at A-level."
  Our comments : Thank you for your kind words. We hope that the problem-solving skills that you gained by thoroughly studying our challenging problems will have a life-long positive impact on your future career.

Read success stories of the students who entered top UK universities in 2013.

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Anonymous student feedback on our distance courses for the STEP exams 2012

• Feedback : "I liked that the course gave structure to my revision. Also beginning revision for the STEP exam can be daunting so it gave me a good starting place. Because I started the course late, I found it hard to catch up and do the current weeks work so when I handed the questions in late, the tutor was still quick at marking them and handing them back with detailed and specific feedback. Also the topics in each weeks work were all very different and relevant and was a good overview of the exam.
  [What I disliked] : There was nothing really about the course which I disliked! I definitely think it is worth the money because on top of the given questions, the tutor was also good at marking extra questions which I asked. [My advice] : The only advice to other students considering taking the course would be to take it! It helped as a point of contact for me about STEP as I didnt have anyone else to ask."
  Our comments: We are happy to accept any late students at least two weeks before exams. However, students who start their preparations in advance have a clear advantage.
• Feedback: "I really liked the weekly notes, and I enjoyed doing the training & homework problems. Having never looked at STEP before (none of my school teachers can do STEP, so weren't much help!), I found most of the questions too difficult to do without the hints, so I found the general & step-by-step hints really useful, as it allowed me to answer the question without having to just look at the solution straight away. When I still couldn't work out what to do even after using hints, I emailed and the tutor always replied very quickly which was really useful! [What I disliked:] Nothing, I just regret not doing a similar course last year!!"
  Our comments: The idea to give general hints and more specific step-by-step hints actually emerged from student requests on our earlier courses. So we like learning from any constructive feedback and encourage our students to do the same and even better.
• Feedback: "I did the Step 1 Course which involved the weekly tutorials and the mock exam. I liked that the course gave structured to my revision because with my other exams, doing a little bit for each tutorial a week was enough to tick my revision over during busy periods. Also the tutors were very flexible when my tutorials were late and always responded very quickly with very in depth feedback and solutions. [What I disliked:] The only thing I didnt like was that I found it hard to find out about the course but even when I started 8 weeks late, the tutors helped me catch up and were very helpful about marking my late tutorials. [My advice:] Advice about the course to students considering it would be to get a head start and know that it is worth the money!! I am very glad that I did the course because in addition to the tutorials, it gave me a point of contact for any other past paper questions etc because I was an independent scottish student who had no-one else to ask for help. It was well structured!"
  Our comments: When a student e-mails us a question on our notes or hints, we try replying as soon as possible to keep learning smooth. Then we update the notes to make them clearer. Students who start later or next year will work on the last improved version.
• Feedback: "I wanted to say thank you for the help you've given me with my Cambridge STEP papers. Although I did not return all the papers to you I found them extremely useful whilst revising and did work through all of the questions. The STEP exams went well for me (I hope), I fully completed five questions in both of the papers. Thank you again. I would not hesitate to recommend your course to anyone taking STEP."
  Our comments: It could be enough for strong students to independently work through the notes, although we always advise submitting written homework as a mock preparation for written exams.
• Feedback: "I would just like to thank you for all the support you have provided. Without the help and the notes, I doubt I could have done as well as I feel I have. If I proceed to take the STEP 3, you can expect an email in about 8 months time! After the advice on the mock, I was able to work on my timing greatly and pulled through well in the exam."
  Our comments: Our experience shows that students who actively work through the homework and the mock receive higher grades at real exams.

Read success stories of our students who entered top UK universities in 2012.

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Anonymous feedback on our courses for the MAT paper and Oxbridge interviews 2011

• Feedback: "What makes this course special is simply the sheer quantity of questions that really develops one's problem solving strategies and techniques in preparation for the Oxford MAT and interviews. I think simply having these to work with, in addition to it being laid out systematically thanks to the structure of the course and also the hints provided, has been tremendously helpful."
  Our comments: Oxbridge candidates on our courses share with us their first hand experience including actual questions from Oxbridge interviews. That's why our resources are growing and are improving every year.
• Feedback: "I really liked having some alternative questions to do and I think it helped me in my interview. Thank you very much. I sometimes thought that the hardest question in the worksheets wasn't the last one. I think the one to be marked should be the hardest, but it might be down to opinion on what is hard and what isn't."
  Our comments: Thank you for this useful feedback. We generally try to choose hardest problems for the homework. However, some students prefer a bit easier questions to boost their confidence. That's why we give hints on all problems in the notes and encourage our students to independently attempt all problems. Actually, if a student e-mails us an alternative solution to any non-homework problem, we are always happy to advise.
• Feedback: "Although I didn't receive an offer, I think that the course has been great and I definitely think that my maths has improved, and have so far got offers from Bristol, Warwick and Nottingham. On the day of the test I was unwell and left the exam with over one hour still to spare, so I think that not getting an interview must have been down to my score on the test. However, I am still glad that I did the course and recently achieved a gold in the UKMT maths challenge and qualified for the Senior Kangaroo, which I think I wouldn't have achieved had I not done the course. I think that the course has really made me think more about the different ways of approaching questions, and it has made me take a step back before answering questions to try to find the most efficient way to tackle a question, rather then just using the first way I think of. Also I liked the flexibility of the course and the way there were no deadlines in terms of when homeworks could be handed in, and I was amazed at just how quickly I got feedback from the homeworks. I think that the course is well structured and I can't think of any way it could be improved! Thank you for providing such a great course!"
  Our comments: Thank you very much for the kind words!

Read success stories of our students who entered top UK universities in 2012.

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Anonymous student feedback on our distance courses for the STEP exams 2011

• Feedback: "The questions are modified from real ones so when you try out practice papers you know more about how to attempt them. If you are stuck you can look at the tip for that 'step' and try and complete the question yourself instead of having to look at the whole solution to find where to go next. You learn about the structure of a good answer and learn to provide a good answer yourself. "
  Our comments: We are happy that our general hints and step-by-step hints really help students to learn how to independently solve hard problems.
• Feedback: "In general it increased my confidence and showed me that I can do the questions if I try hard enough and that they are not impossible as they seem at first. The course is very flexible: I handed in some homeworks on later weeks than specified but the tutors are fine with this (thank you.)"
  Our comments: We encourage our students to submit homeworks: later is better than never!
• Feedback: "The solutions to the first problems on the sheets really helped me as well as the extra emails answering any questions i had with homework problems."
  Our comments: We usually answer student questions by e-mail within few hours in (British) day time.
• Feedback: "Thank you and all at Master Maths for this course which has been invaluable."
  Our comments: The key value is our detailed feedback on your regular written homework.
• Feedback: "Possibly sent out questions in the style of a past paper at the end and state the rough grade it would of received?"
  Our comments: Thank you for this fruitful advice. Now we offer a mock exam at the end of each course.
• Feedback: "I had less time while preparing for my A levels and felt slightly stressed so would have preferred to have a week or two off from the course in June before the exam."
  Our comments: Thank you for this constructive criticism. We have shortened our STEP courses by two weeks.

Read success stories of our students who entered top UK universities in 2011.

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Anonymous feedback on our courses for the MAT paper and Oxbridge interviews 2010

• Feedback: "The problems and solutions were clear and detailed enough. The topics covered a wide range of Mathematical aspects as it should be in such a preparation course."
  Our comments: Examiners' solutions often contain only formulae without much details. Our aim is to explain in words all mathematical ideas that can be used in any similar challenging questions.
• Feedback: "My only suggestion is that it may be more efficient and challenging if you either increase the difficulty of homework questions or give fewer hints. Sometimes I felt that the homework questions were surprisingly too easy compared to the instructive questions and it was possible to write a complete solution just by following the hints given. "
  Our comments: This feedback was extremely useful. In addition to step-by-step hints, we are now designing general (less specific) hints. Now students could first try an original problem, then general hints and finally step-by-step hints.
• Feedback: "I would like to thank you for your time and efforts in helping me to prepare for my interview, and in helping me further myself as a mathematics student. It has been incredibly useful to have a source of learning outside of my school environment, and I am very grateful for all your notes."
  Our comments: We have a lot of university experience, so our students gain the necessary extra leverage to enter top universities.
• Feedback: "All problems were clear and useful. No topics were asked at interview that were not covered in the course. All solutions were sufficiently detailed. Face-to-face tutorials may be useful, but unsure how much more beneficial it would be. Very happy with communication through email."
  Our comments: If students do prefer talking through problems, we are happy to offer on-line tutorials via Elluminate: like Skype and the video stream is replaced by an interactive white board.
• Feedback: "Thank you for the time and effort that you put into the course, I feel that it really helped to set me up with the right skills and mentality for STEP and beyond."
  Our comments: We do care about all our students and do teach how to master maths!
• Feedback: "This course has been extremely helpful and interesting, thank you very much for running it."
  Our comments: Thank you for taking our course. Mathematics should be easy and powerful!

Read success stories of our students who entered top UK universities in 2011.

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