STEP study timeline: a 12-month plan

STEP rewards steady practice over many months more than cramming. This plan assumes you sit STEP in June of Year 13; move it earlier if you start sooner.

12 months before (June of Year 12). Find out exactly which papers and grades your chosen courses ask for. Start the free STEP Support Programme from the Cambridge Faculty of Mathematics. Make sure your A Level Pure is secure.
Summer before Year 13. Work through our topic guides one at a time: two or three problems a week, writing full solutions. Keep a log of ideas that unlocked a problem.
September to December. Keep going with topics as you meet them in Further Maths. If you also need the TMUA or another test in the autumn, prepare for that first and come back to STEP afterwards.
January to March. Start official past papers question by question (not whole papers yet). Mark your work honestly against OCR's mark schemes and read the examiners' reports.
March to April. Make sure your school has entered you before OCR's registration deadline (it closed on 4 May in 2026). Begin full 3-hour papers, choosing six questions.
May. One or two timed papers a week alongside A Level revision. Practise choosing questions in the first ten minutes.
June. Sit STEP 2 and STEP 3 (in 2026: 4 and 10 June). Rest between them; the papers are long.
August. Results come out on A Level results day and go to universities through UCAS.

Dates are OCR's 2026 dates (OCR key dates , checked 5 October 2026). Each year's dates are set by OCR; check before you plan.

Each week

Two or three problems from one topic guide, with full written solutions.
One problem from a topic you did a month ago, to keep it fresh.
Ten minutes reading back through your log of ideas that worked.

Also sitting the TMUA? Its sittings are in October and January: see TMUA preparation. Writing your UCAS application at the same time? See the maths personal statement guide and interviews.

STEP is run by OCR. A Level Math Revision is independent: it is not affiliated with or endorsed by OCR, the University of Cambridge or any university. Every problem here is our own, written in the style of STEP; for real papers use OCR's official past papers.