STEP 2025: Grade Boundaries and How to Prepare

STEP (Sixth Term Examination Paper) 2025 was sat as two papers, STEP 2 and STEP 3, each marked out of 120 and delivered by OCR, and it is the additional mathematics examination used in conditional offers for mathematics and related degrees at Cambridge and some other universities. This page collects the official grade boundaries for the year, explains what grades S, 1, 2 and 3 mean, summarises topic and difficulty statistics from the questions FrontierVue has catalogued, and shows how to practise both papers on the platform.
STEP 2025 Boundaries at a Glance
Papers in 2025
STEP 2 (9470) and STEP 3 (9475) only, each marked out of 120
STEP 2 boundaries
S at 92, grade 1 at 75, grade 2 at 61, grade 3 at 35
STEP 3 boundaries
S at 86, grade 1 at 61, grade 2 at 49, grade 3 at 27
How the marks work
12 questions per paper, 20 marks each, only your best 6 count
Was it hard
No official difficulty commentary; on FrontierVue's own tagging, 11 of 12 STEP 2 and 10 of 12 STEP 3 questions are labelled HARD

The paper line-up, marking scheme and boundaries are official, with the boundaries taken from the official Explanation of Results for STEP 2025 published by OCR; the difficulty labels are FrontierVue's own tagging, not an official analysis of the papers.

4 sections836 words5 min read4 official sources
01

Which papers ran in STEP 2025, and the official grade boundaries

The 2025 STEP season kept the two-paper format in place since 2021: STEP 2 (paper code 9470) and STEP 3 (paper code 9475), STEP 1 having been discontinued from 2021. Since 2024 the examination has been delivered by OCR, part of the same Cambridge group, and OCR also published the official results documentation for 2025.
SGrade 1Grade 2Grade 3
STEP 2 (9470)92756135
STEP 3 (9475)86614927

Source: the official Explanation of Results for STEP 2025 published by OCR; each paper is out of 120.

Format

3-hour written examination

The same for both STEP 2 and STEP 3

Questions per paper

12 questions

8 Pure Mathematics, 2 Mechanics, 2 Probability and Statistics

Marks per question

20 marks

Only your best 6 answers count towards the total

Maximum mark

120

Each paper is marked out of 120 on its own

There were no structural changes this year: the paper line-up, the marking scheme and the awarding body were all the same as in 2024.
02

How to read the boundaries

STEP results are reported on five grades. The scoring rules behind the boundaries are simple: each question carries 20 marks, only your best 6 questions count, the maximum is 120, and a fully correct answer earns full marks whatever method you use.

S

Outstanding

In 2025: 92 on STEP 2, 86 on STEP 3

1

Very Good

In 2025: 75 on STEP 2, 61 on STEP 3

2

Good

In 2025: 61 on STEP 2, 49 on STEP 3

3

Satisfactory

In 2025: 35 on STEP 2, 27 on STEP 3

U

Unclassified

Anything below grade 3

Against 2024, the two papers moved in different directions, and both years' figures here are official: on STEP 2 every boundary except S sat higher, while on STEP 3 every boundary sat lower.
20242025
STEP 2, grade S9392
STEP 2, grade 16975
STEP 2, grade 25161
STEP 2, grade 32635
STEP 3, grade S9386
STEP 3, grade 17061
STEP 3, grade 25749
STEP 3, grade 33427

Both years are official figures; each paper is out of 120.

Boundaries are set afresh each year in the light of how demanding the questions turned out to be and how candidates actually performed, so year-to-year movement is normal and last year's boundary is not a target for next year. One further note: Cambridge offer conditions vary by college and by year, so always go by the wording of the offer itself.
03

Topic emphasis and difficulty in 2025 (FrontierVue database view)

The statistics in this section describe the STEP 2025 questions catalogued by FrontierVue and reflect the platform's own tagging, not an official analysis of the papers. In the database, STEP 2 and STEP 3 each have 12 questions, in both cases 8 Pure Mathematics, 2 Mechanics and 2 Probability and Statistics, matching the official paper structure.

11 of 12

STEP 2 questions tagged HARD (FrontierVue difficulty labels)

10 of 12

STEP 3 questions tagged HARD (FrontierVue difficulty labels)

8 + 2 + 2

Pure, Mechanics and Probability questions catalogued per paper, matching the official structure

The remaining questions are tagged MEDIUM: 1 on STEP 2 and 2 on STEP 3. Across the two papers together, still on FrontierVue's tagging, the topic tags appear as follows.

Pure Mathematics

16

Curve Sketching

5

Induction and Recursion

4

Integration Techniques

4

STEP Probability

4

Coordinate Geometry

4

STEP Mechanics

4

Complex Numbers

3

Inequalities

3

Differential Equations

2

Read these as a map of where the year's questions clustered under the platform's tagging scheme rather than as a syllabus weighting.
The practical takeaway: question types that reward careful written argument, such as curve sketching and induction, featured prominently this year, so it pays to practise them to the standard of a full written solution rather than just reaching the answer.
04

How to practise the 2025 papers on FrontierVue

FrontierVue's STEP collection runs to 111 papers from 1987 to 2025, 1,532 questions in total, and 2025 is the most recent year in the collection. The resource library also carries the official OCR specification and STEP Support Programme materials.
01Step 1

Open the 2025 sitting

In the STEP past paper library, pick the 2025 sitting: both STEP 2 and STEP 3 can be attempted in full in the timed interface.
02Step 2

Review question by question

After submission you get question-by-question analysis, with a full worked solution for every question.
03Step 3

Place your mark against the boundaries

After finishing a 2025 paper, place your mark against the boundary table on this page: judging yourself by grade band is closer to how the real examination is assessed than a raw accuracy rate.
04Step 4

Pair the papers with the guides

The STEP 2 guide, the STEP 3 guide, writing solutions that score, choosing questions in the exam and how grades and boundaries work.
Under the free-access policy the latest two past papers in each subject are free to attempt, and 2025 is the most recent year in the collection.
FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Was STEP 2025 hard?
There is no official difficulty commentary, but two signals help. First, the official boundaries: the grade 1 line on STEP 2 was set at 75, above the 69 of 2024, while on STEP 3 it was set at 61, below the 70 of 2024, and lower boundaries generally go with lower overall scoring. Second, FrontierVue's own difficulty tagging: 11 of the 12 STEP 2 questions and 10 of the 12 STEP 3 questions catalogued are labelled HARD. Neither paper was gentle, STEP 3 in particular.
What were the STEP 2025 grade boundaries?
STEP 2: S at 92, grade 1 at 75, grade 2 at 61, grade 3 at 35. STEP 3: S at 86, grade 1 at 61, grade 2 at 49, grade 3 at 27. Each paper is marked out of 120 with only the best 6 questions counting, and the figures come from the official Explanation of Results for STEP 2025 published by OCR.
Why were there only STEP 2 and STEP 3 in 2025?
STEP 1 was last sat in 2019, was cancelled in 2020, and was then formally discontinued from 2021. Every sitting since 2021, including 2025, has consisted of STEP 2 and STEP 3 only.
Where can I attempt the STEP 2025 papers?
In FrontierVue's STEP past paper library: choose the 2025 sitting to sit either paper in the timed interface, with question-by-question analysis and full worked solutions included; under the free-access policy the latest two past papers in each subject are free to attempt. For official free preparation material, the STEP Support Programme run by the Cambridge Faculty of Mathematics is also worth using, and FrontierVue's resource library carries its materials alongside the official OCR specification.
Sources

Official sources

By year

Other STEP years

STEP 2024STEP 2023STEP 2022STEP 2021STEP 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 2025 online

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

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