From Matemática A
to Cambridge STEP 3
A complete preparation course for a Portuguese student who has finished 11.º ano and is aiming at STEP 3 — the hardest school-level mathematics exam in the UK.
The Bridge Course
Everything on the STEP 3 syllabus that Matemática A doesn't teach you — full lessons with theory, worked examples and exercises with solutions. Complex numbers, matrices, integration, hyperbolics, Maclaurin series, differential equations and more.
Section 2 · TrainingSTEP 3 Training
Everything about the exam itself: format and strategy, a study roadmap from where you are now to exam day, ten fully worked STEP-style problems with the thinking spelled out, practice lists, past papers and the best free resources.
What is STEP?
STEP (Sixth Term Examination Paper) is a 3-hour proof-based mathematics exam used by the University of Cambridge (and valued by Warwick, Imperial and others) as part of conditional offers for Mathematics. STEP 3 is the harder of the two current papers and is based on the full A-level Mathematics and Further Mathematics syllabus — which is why a bridge course is needed: Matemática A, even completed through 12.º ano, covers only part of that material.
STEP questions are long, multi-part problems: you answer your best 6 of 12 questions, with no calculator and no formula booklet. The skill it tests is not speed but the ability to sustain a long, rigorous argument — exactly what this site trains.
How to use this site
- Work in order. The bridge lessons are sequenced so each builds on the previous ones; calculus comes early because everything else uses it.
- Do the exercises on paper. Reading mathematics is not learning mathematics. Attempt every exercise before opening the hint, and the hint before the solution.
- Track your progress. Every lesson and worked problem has a "mark as complete" button; the section pages show progress bars. (Progress is stored in this browser.)
- Study the roadmap to see how the bridge course, your 12.º ano year, and past-paper practice fit together month by month.