STEP 2020: Grade Boundaries, the Remote Sitting, and Practice

STEP 2020, that year's sitting of the Sixth Term Examination Paper (the additional mathematics exam used in offers for mathematics and related degrees at Cambridge and some other universities), was unlike any other in the exam's history: STEP 1 was cancelled because of the pandemic, and STEP 2 and STEP 3 ran under remote proctoring instead of at test centres. This page collects the official grade boundaries, the facts of that unusual sitting, topic and difficulty statistics from the questions FrontierVue has catalogued, and how to practise both papers.
STEP 2020 at a Glance
Papers that ran
STEP 2 (9470) and STEP 3 (9475) only, each out of 120; STEP 1 was cancelled
STEP 2 official boundaries
S 77, grade 1 54, grade 2 42, grade 3 25
STEP 3 official boundaries
S 88, grade 1 67, grade 2 53, grade 3 30
Against 2019
STEP 2 came in below 2019 (S 77 against 90); STEP 3 rose (S 88 against 77)
How it was sat
No test centres: remote proctoring on 15 and 19 June, results on 13 August

Boundaries and grade bands come from the official Explanation of Results for STEP 2020; the 2019 boundaries are likewise official published figures, and the remote sitting and results date come from that year's official announcements. Nothing on this card is FrontierVue catalogue data.

4 sections805 words5 min read4 official sources
01

Which papers ran in 2020, and the official grade boundaries

Because of the pandemic, only two papers ran in 2020: STEP 2 (paper code 9470) and STEP 3 (paper code 9475), each marked out of 120. STEP 1 was cancelled outright, with fees refunded to registered candidates; the withdrawal was later made permanent from 2021, which left 2019 as the last year STEP 1 was ever sat.
SGrade 1Grade 2Grade 3
STEP 2 (9470)77544225
STEP 3 (9475)88675330

Each paper is marked out of 120; the source is the official Explanation of Results for STEP 2020.

The sitting itself was organised like no other year. There were no test centres: both papers were delivered through the Mercer Mettl remote-proctoring platform.

STEP 2 sitting

15 June 2020, 9:00 BST

STEP 3 sitting

19 June 2020, 9:00 BST

Delivery

Remote proctoring on the Mercer Mettl platform

No test centres

Who could register

Only candidates contacted directly by Cambridge, Imperial College London or Warwick

Fee

99 GBP per paper

Results and appeals

Results released on 13 August 2020

No reviews of marking or appeals were offered that year

02

How to read the boundaries

STEP results are reported in five bands: S (Outstanding), 1 (Very Good), 2 (Good) and 3 (Satisfactory), with U (Unclassified) below that. Those numbers make sense only inside the best-six frame, not spread across the whole paper.
The scoring rule: 20 marks a question, best six count
Each question is marked out of 20 and each paper out of 120, but only your six best answers count towards the total; a correct answer earns full marks whatever method you use. So the 54 needed for grade 1 on STEP 2, or the 67 on STEP 3, is a total built out of those six answers.
What the five bands mean
S is Outstanding, 1 is Very Good, 2 is Good and 3 is Satisfactory; anything below grade 3 is recorded as U (Unclassified). What the exam publishes are the S, 1, 2 and 3 boundaries.
What score does Cambridge require
STEP publishes only the S/1/2/3 boundaries. Cambridge offer conditions vary by college and by year, so the wording of the offer itself is the only reliable reference; there is no universal safe score.
20192020
STEP 2, S9077
STEP 2, grade 16854
STEP 3, S7788
STEP 3, grade 15767

Set against the 2019 official boundaries, the two papers moved in opposite directions.

Boundaries are set each year in light of how demanding the papers were and how the cohort performed, so year-to-year movement is normal and one year's boundary is not a target for the next.
03

Topic emphasis and difficulty in 2020 (FrontierVue catalogue statistics)

Everything in this section is FrontierVue catalogue statistics, based on our own question-by-question tagging of that year's papers; it is not an official analysis.
FrontierVue holds all 12 questions from each of STEP 2 and STEP 3 that year, both papers structured as 8 Pure Mathematics, 2 Mechanics and 2 Probability and Statistics questions. In our difficulty grading, STEP 3 is the tougher paper in our catalogue.

3 Medium + 9 Hard

STEP 2's 12 questions, as tagged in our catalogue

11 Hard + 1 Very Hard

STEP 3's 12 questions, as tagged in our catalogue

8 / 2 / 2

Both papers alike: Pure / Mechanics / Probability and Statistics

By topic tag, on the same catalogue basis, Pure Mathematics leads.

Pure Mathematics

10 tagged questions

Integration Techniques

5 tagged questions

Mechanics

4 tagged questions

Probability

4 tagged questions

Induction and Recursion

4 tagged questions

Curve Sketching

4 tagged questions

Differential Equations

3 tagged questions

Inequalities

2 tagged questions

Complex Numbers

2 tagged questions

Coordinate Geometry

2 tagged questions

If your STEP 3 preparation leans on pure technique, the 2020 paper is a demanding check of integration and curve-sketching fluency in particular.
04

Practising the 2020 papers on FrontierVue

Both 2020 papers live in FrontierVue's STEP past-paper library, and getting started takes three steps.
01Step 1

Open the STEP library

Go to /papers/step and find the 2020 entry by year.
02Step 2

Sit STEP 2 or STEP 3 under time

Complete that year's STEP 2 or STEP 3 in the timed interface.
03Step 3

Work through the analysis

After submitting you get a question-by-question analysis, with a full worked solution for every question.
The guides at /exams/step/guides/ cover exactly what this year rewards.

step-2 and step-3

Paper-specific preparation

writing-solutions

What a complete written answer looks like

choosing-questions

Picking the six questions that will carry your score

grades

How marks turn into bands

111

STEP past papers held on the platform

1,532

Questions across those papers

1987 to 2025

Years the library spans

On the free tier, the two most recent past papers in each subject are free to try. The resource library also includes the official OCR specification and STEP Support Programme materials.
FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Why was there no STEP 1 in 2020?
STEP 1 was cancelled because of the pandemic: it did not run, and registered candidates were refunded. The cancellation then became permanent, with STEP 1 withdrawn from 2021 onwards so that only STEP 2 and STEP 3 remain, making 2019 the last year STEP 1 was actually sat.
What were the STEP 2020 grade boundaries?
Out of 120 per paper: STEP 2 required 77 for S, 54 for grade 1, 42 for grade 2 and 25 for grade 3; STEP 3 required 88 for S, 67 for grade 1, 53 for grade 2 and 30 for grade 3. The source is the official Explanation of Results for STEP 2020.
How hard was STEP 2020?
There is no official difficulty rating, so the boundaries are the closest objective reference: STEP 2's boundaries came in well below 2019's (S at 77 against 90), while STEP 3's rose (S at 88 against 77). In FrontierVue's catalogue statistics, 11 of STEP 3's 12 questions are rated Hard and 1 Very Hard, against 3 Medium and 9 Hard on STEP 2.
Where can I practise the STEP 2020 papers?
Both papers are in FrontierVue's STEP library at /papers/step, with a timed interface, question-by-question analysis and a full worked solution for every question. The two most recent past papers in each subject are free to try.
Sources

Official sources

By year

Other STEP years

STEP 2025STEP 2024STEP 2023STEP 2022STEP 2021STEP 2019STEP 2018STEP 2017STEP 2016

FrontierVUE is an independent practice platform. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by UAT-UK, Pearson, OCR, the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, or any official admissions-test owner.

Practise STEP 2020 online

Timed interface, worked solutions and per-question analytics. The two most recent past papers are free to try.

Practise STEP papersAll STEP past papers