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.
STEP 2021 at a Glance
Papers sat
STEP 2 (9470) and STEP 3 (9475) only, the first sitting after STEP 1 was withdrawn
STEP 2 boundaries
S 92, grade 1 at 67, grade 2 at 54, grade 3 at 28 (out of 120)
STEP 3 boundaries
S 89, grade 1 at 67, grade 2 at 54, grade 3 at 29 (out of 120)
Format and marking
12 questions per paper, 3 hours, free choice, best 6 answers count
Against 2020
STEP 2 boundaries moved up across the board; STEP 3 was almost unchanged

Boundaries from the official Explanation of Results for 2021, each paper out of 120; the paper format and the withdrawal of STEP 1 are official too. The difficulty and topic figures elsewhere on this page are FrontierVue's own tagging and are not in this card.

4 sections846 words5 min read4 official sources
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.
SGrade 1Grade 2Grade 3
STEP 2 (9470)92675428
STEP 3 (9475)89675429

Each paper is out of 120. The figures come from that year's official Explanation of Results.

Papers sat

Two: STEP 2 and STEP 3

The first year after STEP 1 was permanently withdrawn

Questions per paper

12: 8 pure, 2 mechanics, 2 probability and statistics

The specification introduced in 2019

Time limit

3 hours

With a free choice of questions

Marking

20 marks a question, best 6 only, 120 in total

Any further answers do not count towards the total

02

How to read the boundaries

A boundary is a mark, not a count of questions. Start with what the grades mean and how the mark is built up, then look at how 2021 sits against the previous year.
The grade scale
STEP results are reported on a scale of S (Outstanding), 1 (Very Good), 2 (Good), 3 (Satisfactory) and U (Unclassified).
What a boundary is a mark on
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.
How the boundaries get set
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.
SGrade 1Grade 2Grade 3
STEP 2 · 202192675428
STEP 2 · 202077544225
STEP 3 · 202189675429
STEP 3 · 202088675330

Each paper out of 120. STEP 2 boundaries moved up across the board in 2021, while STEP 3 was almost unchanged. Boundaries are set separately each year, so read this table for direction of travel only, never as a way of converting a raw mark from one year into another.

Raw marks are only meaningful against that year's own table, so cross-year comparisons of marks say little. 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 in this section describe the STEP 2021 questions as catalogued in FrontierVue's question bank. They reflect our own tagging, not any official analysis of the papers.
MEDIUMHARDQuestions held
STEP 24812
STEP 311112

The difficulty labels are FrontierVue's own. We hold all 12 questions from each paper, in the standard split of 8 pure, 2 mechanics and 2 probability and statistics.

Pure mathematics

14 tagged questions

The tag that dominates across the two papers

Curve sketching

4 tagged questions

Its visibility that year is worth noting

STEP probability

4 tagged questions

STEP mechanics

4 tagged questions

Coordinate geometry

3 tagged questions

Induction and recursion

2 tagged questions

Integration techniques

2 tagged questions

Complex numbers

2 tagged questions

The visibility of curve sketching that year is worth noting: brushing up your graph-sketching habits before attempting these papers pays off. If you want a gradient, working through STEP 2 before STEP 3 is the natural order, since by our difficulty labels STEP 3 is clearly the steeper of the two.
04

How to practise the STEP 2021 papers on FrontierVue

Open the 2021 entry at /papers/step to sit STEP 2 and STEP 3.
01Step 1

Open the 2021 entry

Go to the 2021 entry in the STEP past papers at /papers/step, where STEP 2 and STEP 3 are each a complete paper.
02Step 2

Sit it under time

Work through it in a timed interface that mirrors the 3 hour exam.
03Step 3

Review question by question

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.
04Step 4

Pair it with the guides

There is a guide for preparation, for writing solutions, for choosing questions in the exam and for how grades and boundaries work; the links are below.
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

STEP 2025STEP 2024STEP 2023STEP 2022STEP 2020STEP 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 2021 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