Pembroke College Cambridge

Mathematics

UCAS Code G100. Cambridge admits c. 252 students a year for Maths.  Pembroke seeks to admit c.8 students a year. STEP is required. No written work required. Maths and Further Maths are required. A Level typical offer A*A*A, A* in Maths and Further Maths. Scottish advanced highers typical offer A1 A1 A2. IB typical offer 40 - 43 points with 776-777 at higher level. 7 in Maths

Mathematics at Pembroke

Pembroke has a rich tradition in Mathematics having had mathematicians as eminent as William Hodge and George Stokes as Fellows. Recent years have seen the flourishing of a vibrant mathematics community within the College along with the development of close academic and social interaction between students of the various year groups and Fellows.

Although Pembroke is a medium sized College, the number of mathematicians, at all levels, is comparable with those in much larger Colleges. Most supervising in the first and second year is undertaken by Fellows of the College. In the third year, because of the broad range of options available to students, like every other College we join with a group of ten colleges in the organisation of supervisions.

Mathematics at Cambridge has a particularly high reputation world-wide. At Pembroke we seek to admit around eight mathematicians each year from a very wide range of school backgrounds, from both the UK and abroad. Moreover we also admit students from other non A-level backgrounds and have had successful applicants from several countries across the world.

Pembroke College is also very well situated in Cambridge for those who wish to study mathematics. All lectures for the first two years are held in lecture theatres close to the College, and the University bus service, that links the Centre of Mathematical Sciences (www.maths.cam.ac.uk) with the city, has a stop directly outside the College. Many students also travel to their third-year lectures at the Centre for Mathematical Sciences by bike or on foot.

Further Mathematics

In order to keep up with the pace of the first year course, it is essential that A-level students are fluent with the content of the Further Mathematics A-level syllabus before arriving at Cambridge. If this is not offered at your school then there is help available from the AMSP (Advanced Mathematics Support Programme). You can get free help for studying independently to prepare for A-level Further Maths at Resources for A level Further Mathematics students - AMSP, and see also Resources for A level Mathematics students - AMSP for A-level Maths.

More information is available on the Faculty Website: FAQ | Undergraduate Admissions (cam.ac.uk)

What are STEP?

The STEP are administered by the Cambridge Assessment on behalf of the Cambridge Colleges. There are two papers in Mathematics: offers require candidates to take both Papers II and III. These papers are intended to be of A-level standard, but not based on A-level syllabus. Hence they have a large number, currently 14, of questions from which you are asked to select just six. You can find out more about past STEP papers from the Faculty of Mathematics’ website. From these you will be able to see which are the questions you are likely to be able to answer on the basis of your particular syllabus. You will also be able to get a feeling for the style of question favoured by the STEP examiners, which in general will be somewhat different from what you are used to.

A word of warning: you will also find, particularly in the earlier years, that the questions are a good deal harder than you would expect. Don’t be misled by this. They are hard for everybody and that simply means that a grade’1′, for example, would be awarded for the equivalent of two or three correct answers, rather than the four or five which you might expect from your A-level experience. There is an excellent booklet available containing solutions to 42 STEP-type questions, complete with a general discussion ahead of each proof and comments during it on the less obvious points. This will give you a good idea of how to approach STEP questions and what is expected from you. It is available from the Faculty of Mathematics’ website.

So why do I have to take the STEP?

There are two main reasons why we ask you to do the STEP. We are trying to reach a fair and accurate assessment of your ability and aptitude for the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos. This is much easier if all of the candidates have taken at least one common paper, even if we do still have to make allowances for the different backgrounds from which they approach it. It is also the case that in Mathematics an A* or A grade can cover a wide range of abilities. A great advantage of the STEP, and the major reason for their introduction, is that we have access to your scripts which is denied to us in the case of the public examinations. This is particularly important if you do not quite get the grades required.

The Faculty offers a number of free online resources to help potential Mathematics applicants prepare for sitting STEP. These include online resources for individual additional study, starting in Y12 (first year of A-level), and a new online discussion forum. Further details are given below. All the resources can be accessed via a new portal at http://maths.org/step. The free online resources include:

  • a series of linked modules developed by our NRICH project. Each module focuses on a specific mathematical topic or technique, and the programme is designed to provide an accessible and supportive introduction to advanced problem-solving
  • a new pilot project funded by the DfE, the STEP Correspondence Course, launched in January and run by Dr Stephen Siklos, providing structured fortnightly assignments through which to work. Each assignment starts with preparatory work, and leads to a STEP question. Feedback is published on each assignment after the closing date to help users learn and assess progress
  • NRICH has just launched a new discussion board to support Y12 and Y13 students preparing for STEP: users can ask for help and hints if stuck, share what they’ve tried so far, and get guidance from Cambridge students who have taken STEP themselves (http://maths.org/step/forum).

If you are from a non-A-Level background, you may find this additional information helpful.

Pembroke Mathematics Teaching Staff

Prof Nilanjana Datta - Director of Studies

Nilanjana is a member of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. Her current research interests are Quantum Information Theory and Mathematical Physics. 

Go to Mathematics faculty website

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