STEP Examiners’ Report 2016

Mathematics

STEP 9465/9470/9475

November 2016


 STEPIII2016REPORT

GeneralComments

Asubstantiallylargernumberofcandidatestookthepaperthisyear:14%morethanin2015.
However,themeanscorewasvirtuallyidenticaltothatin2015.Fivequestionswerevery
popular,withtwobeingattemptedbyinexcessof90%ofthecandidates,butonceagain,all
questionswereattemptedbysignificantnumbers,withonlyonedippingunder10%attempting
it,andeveryquestionwasansweredperfectlybyatleastonecandidate.Mostcandidateskept
tosixsensibleattempts,althoughsomedidseveralmorescoringweaklyoverall,exceptinsix
outstandingcasesthatearnedveryhighmarks.

Commentsonindividualquestions

Question1
Thiswasthemostfrequentlyattemptedquestionwithmorethan93%ofcandidatesattempting
it.Itwasalsosuccessfullyattempted,thesecondmostinthisrespectandonlybyasmallmargin,
earningtwothirdsmarksonaverage.Themajorityofcandidatescompletedparts(i)and(iii)with
littletrouble,withvariousalgebraicmistakesoccurringthroughout,andafewcandidates
forgettingtosubstituteforthelimitsinpart(i).Manygotstartedonpart(ii)usingthe
substitutionfrompart(i),andthengetstuckfacedwiththeconsequentintegral.

Question2
Thisquestionwasquitepopular,beingattemptedbyjustoverthreeͲquartersofthecandidates,
butsuccesswasmoderate.Mostgotunderwaydifferentiatingimplicitly,ratherthan
parametrically,andwereabletofindequationsoftangents,normalandchords,butnotalways
simplifyingbyfactorisingtomaketheirliveseasier;thosewhocouldfactorisemadegood
progress,whilstthosewhodidnotstruggledtofind(i).Otherweaknesseswerenotappreciating
thattheycouldfindr+qandrq,whichthenledtonotfindingthecertainpointin(ii).Inthefinal
part,squarerootingtheinequalityandonlyconsideringthepositivecasewasnotuncommon.

Question3
Marginallylesspopularthanquestion2,thiswasveryslightlybetterattempted.Inbothparts,
candidatessuccessfullyequatedthedifferentialoftheexpressionsontherightoftheequations
totheexpressiontobeintegrated,withtheexponentialfunctioncancelled.Inthefirstpart,
manyobtainedP(x)inthegivencaseofQ(x),buttheattemptedproofsthatthedegreeofP(x)is
onemorethanthatofQ(x)andforpart(ii)thatnosuchpolynomialsexistledtomanyillogical
steps.Manywouldhavebenefitedbymultiplyingupbydenominatorsandusingthe
remainder/factortheorem,ratherthanattemptingargumentsbasedondegreesofrational
expressions.Somesubvertedpart(i)bysuccessfullyintegratingthefirstexpression.










Question4
Veryslightlymorepopularthanquestion2withfourfifthsattemptingit,theydidsowithslightly
lesssuccess.Thefirstpartofthequestion,beingwellsignposted,wasprettywellattempted,
althoughtherewassomeverypoornotationforlimitargumentsasNwascommonlytakento
equalinfinity.Inpart(ii),itwasquitecommonforcandidatestowritetheexpressionforsech(ry)
intermsofpositivepowersofexponentialswhichmadeattemptstoapply(i)invalid.Few
candidatesfullysimplifiedthefinalresult,andpriortothat,manydidnothandlethepositiveand
negativepartsofthesumcorrectlywithsomejustdoublingthesumfrom1toinfinity.

Question5
Thiswasattemptedbyhalfthecandidature,scoringsimilarlytoquestion2.Thebinomial
expansionanditssymmetrywerewellͲhandledinthefirstpart,aswasapplyingtheresultof
(iii)inpart(iv).Part(ii)wasnotwellͲansweredastheretendedtobecavalierstatements
regardingdivisibility,andinpart(iii),fewnoticedthatthecondition ൅ ͳ ൑ ʹwas
requiredinordertouse(ii).

Question6
Justunder40%attemptedthisquestion,anddidsowithoutgreatsuccess,scoringaboutoneͲ
thirdmarks.Themajorityknewtheformulaforcoshofasum,orifnot,couldusedefinitionsand
comparecoefficientstoobtainthefirstresultinthestem.However,theywereveryweakonthe
 ൌ case.
Explanationforpart(i)waspoor,andtheplusorminuswasfrequentlynotproperlyunderstood;
asaconsequence,aspeciousplusorminusoftenappearedinpart(ii).Arguingnecessaryand
sufficientconditionsin(iii)and(iv)wasweak.However,asmallnumberofgoodcandidatesdid
completethisquestion.

Question7
ThiswastheleastpopularquestioninthePuresectionofthepaperbeingattemptedbyless
than30%ofthecandidates,andwhilstthereweresomeverygoodsolutions,thestandardof
attemptswasgenerallynotgood,andinfact,onlyoneoftheMechanicsquestionswaslesswellͲ
answeredinthewholepaper.Ingeneral,thestemwasprettywellanswered,butevenhere,
havingappreciatedthateachfactorontheLHSwasafactoroftheRHS,frequentlytherewasno
considerationgiventothe,admittedlysimpletoobtain,scalarfactorbeingone.Inspiteofthe
stem,mostdidnotappreciatehowtoproceedwithpart(i),andsowentlittlefurther.

 


Question8
Attemptedbynearlyasmanyasattemptedquestion1,itwasmarginallymoresuccessful,anda
goodnumberachievedfullmarks.Generally,theideaofrepeatedlyapplyingafunctiontocreate
acyclewaswellͲspotted.However,candidatesdidsometimesfalldowntryingtofind‰ሺšሻin(ii)
andsomesubstitutedthegiven‰ሺšሻratherthanfindingit.Inpart(iii),somestoppedhaving
madethefirstsubstitutionandsocouldnotfindthesolution.Also,someguessedthesolution
forpart(iii)but,ofcourse,thisdidnotdothefulljob.

Question9
Althoughnotoverlypopular,beingattemptedbylessthanafifthofcandidates,thisquestion
wasmoderatelysuccessful,alittlebetterthanquestion3.Findingtheextensionsandtensionin
thefirsttwopartsofthequestionwascompletedbymostcandidates,buthavinggenerally
writtendowntheequationofmotion,veryfewthoughtofapplyingthebinomialexpansionand
socouldnotproceedtothefinalresult.

Question10
Oneoftheleastpopularquestions,beingattemptedbyaboutaseventhofthecandidates,itwas
theleastsuccessfullyansweredwithjustunderquartermarksscored.Asever,thereweresome
verystrongsolutions.Generally,thefirstresultofthequestionwasdonewellastheycould
resolveaccuratelyandidentifythecondition,൐ Ͳ.Forthefinalresult,notmanyidentifiedthe
condition ൐ Ͳ,andsocouldnotproceed.Generally,energywasconservedwell,thoughsome
omittedoneorotherofthekineticenergyterms.Asfarascircularmotionwasconcerned,some
treatedtheradiusasƒratherthan ‘• Ⱦ.

Question11
ThemostpopularofthenonͲPurequestions,itwasattemptedbyathirdofthecandidates,but
generally,onlyaboutaquarterofthemarkswerescored.Alargenumberattemptedtouse
constantaccelerationformulae,oriftheyrealisedthatcalculuswasrequired,failedto
appreciatethattheyneededtouse“ƒ ൌ ˜†˜Ȁ†š̶.Forthosethatseparatedvariables,the
integrationscausedfewproblems.Part(iii)causeddifficultiesascandidateswerenot
comfortableusingthebounds;hadtheyconsideredɉଵ െ ɉଶ theymighthaveencountered
fewerproblems.


Question12
Whilstaspopular(orratherunpopular)asquestion10,attemptsatquestion12weremore
successfulthanallbutquestions1and8withonaveragehalfmarksbeingscored.Part(i)was
generallywelldoneusingthebinomialdistribution,andthosethatspottedtheyshouldusethe
Poissondistributioninpart(ii)usuallydidwelltoo.However,candidateswereoftensloppyin
theirexplanationsoftherearrangementsofChebyshev,andalsoquiteoftencandidateshada
fixationwiththeNormaldistributionwhichdidnothelp.

 


Question13
Thiswastheleastpopularquestionbeingattemptedbyonlyhalfthenumberattempting
question12,andwithslightlylesssuccessthanforquestion11.Mostcandidatespickedupa
fewmarksatthestartofthequestionandthenasmallnumberusedintegrationbypartsin(i),
butothersattemptedthisunsuccessfullytryingintegrationbychangeofvariable.The
multiplicationofͶwassurprisinglybadlydone,andtheexpectationofaconstantbeingzero
wassimilarlysurprisinglycommon.