STEP 2021: Grade Boundaries and the First Year Without STEP 1
STEP 2021, that year's sitting of the Sixth Term Examination Paper used in mathematics admissions at Cambridge and some other universities, was the first sitting to consist of just two papers, STEP 2 and STEP 3. The official boundaries were S 92 and grade 1 at 67 on STEP 2, and S 89 and grade 1 at 67 on STEP 3, each paper out of 120. This page covers the official 2021 boundaries, why STEP 1 disappeared, what the papers emphasised according to FrontierVue's question bank, and how to practise both papers under timed conditions.
01
The STEP 2021 papers and official grade boundaries
Only two papers were sat in 2021: STEP 2 (paper code 9470) and STEP 3 (paper code 9475). This was the first sitting after the awarding body permanently withdrew STEP 1, announcing on its About STEP page that "From 2021, STEP 1 will no longer exist". Early in 2021 the exam dates and arrangements were also published later than usual because of the pandemic.
Both papers followed the specification introduced in 2019: 12 questions per paper (8 pure mathematics, 2 mechanics and 2 probability and statistics), a 3 hour time limit, and a free choice of questions with only your best 6 answers counting towards the total. Each question is marked out of 20, so each paper carries a maximum of 120.
The official grade boundaries for 2021, taken from that year's Explanation of Results (each paper out of 120):
| Paper | S | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| STEP 2 | 92 | 67 | 54 | 28 |
| STEP 3 | 89 | 67 | 54 | 29 |
02
How to read the boundaries
STEP results are reported on a scale of S (Outstanding), 1 (Very Good), 2 (Good), 3 (Satisfactory) and U (Unclassified). Each question is marked out of 20 and only your best 6 answers count, giving a paper total out of 120; a correct answer earns full marks whatever method is used. A boundary is therefore a mark on that best-6 total, not a count of questions answered.
Compared with the previous year, STEP 2 boundaries moved up across the board: S 92, grade 1 at 67, grade 2 at 54 and grade 3 at 28 in 2021, against S 77, 54, 42 and 25 in 2020. STEP 3 was almost unchanged: S 89, then 67, 54 and 29 in 2021, against S 88, 67, 53 and 30 in 2020.
Boundaries are set each year in the light of how hard the paper turned out to be and how the cohort performed, so they drift from year to year and raw marks are only meaningful against that year's own table. There is no official "safe score" either: Cambridge offer conditions vary by college and by year, so the wording of your own offer is what counts.
03
Topic emphasis and difficulty in 2021 (FrontierVue database view)
The figures below describe the STEP 2021 questions as catalogued in FrontierVue's question bank. They reflect our own tagging, not any official analysis of the papers.
We hold all 12 questions from each paper, in the standard split of 8 pure, 2 mechanics and 2 probability and statistics. By our difficulty labels, STEP 2 breaks down as 4 questions tagged MEDIUM and 8 tagged HARD, while STEP 3 is steeper: 11 of its 12 questions are tagged HARD and only 1 MEDIUM. If you want a gradient, working through STEP 2 before STEP 3 is the natural order.
By topic tag, pure mathematics dominates across the two papers with 14 tagged questions, followed by curve sketching, STEP probability and STEP mechanics on 4 each, and coordinate geometry on 3. Induction and recursion, integration techniques and complex numbers appear on 2 tagged questions each. The visibility of curve sketching that year is worth noting: brushing up your graph-sketching habits before attempting these papers pays off.
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How to practise the STEP 2021 papers on FrontierVue
Open the 2021 entry at /papers/step to sit STEP 2 and STEP 3 in a timed interface that mirrors the 3 hour exam. After submitting you get a question-by-question breakdown, and every question comes with a full worked solution, so you can see exactly where an attempt went off the rails.
FrontierVue's STEP library holds 111 past papers from 1987 to 2025, 1,532 questions in total, and the two most recent papers in each subject are free to try. The resource library also includes the official OCR specification and STEP Support Programme materials.
Pair the papers with the guides: preparing for STEP 2, preparing for STEP 3, writing solutions that score, choosing questions in the exam and how grades and boundaries work. Question choice matters enormously in STEP: since only your best 6 answers count, knowing when to abandon a question is as valuable as knowing how to finish one.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How hard was STEP 2021?
The official boundaries are the most reliable reference point. Grade 1 on STEP 2 sat at 67, against 54 the year before; grade 1 on STEP 3 was 67, level with the 67 of 2020. Boundaries reflect both how the paper played and how the cohort performed, and the awarding body does not break down the causes, so read them lightly. In FrontierVue's tagging, 11 of the 12 STEP 3 questions are labelled HARD, while STEP 2 is gentler at 4 MEDIUM and 8 HARD.
What were the STEP 2021 grade boundaries?
Each paper is out of 120. STEP 2: S at 92, grade 1 at 67, grade 2 at 54, grade 3 at 28. STEP 3: S at 89, grade 1 at 67, grade 2 at 54, grade 3 at 29. The figures come from the official Explanation of Results for that year.
Why were there only STEP 2 and STEP 3 in 2021?
STEP 1 was last actually sat in 2019 and was cancelled in 2020 during the pandemic; the awarding body then announced its permanent withdrawal from 2021 onwards. From 2021 the exam has consisted of STEP 2 and STEP 3 only, and that remains the format today.
Where can I sit the STEP 2021 papers?
Both 2021 papers, STEP 2 and STEP 3, are available at /papers/step on FrontierVue, with a timed interface, question-by-question analysis and a full worked solution for every question. The STEP library covers 111 past papers from 1987 to 2025 with 1,532 questions, and the two most recent papers in each subject are free to try.
Sources
Official sources
By year
Other STEP years
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Practise STEP 2021 online
Timed interface, worked solutions and per-question analytics. The two most recent past papers are free to try.