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Applications are welcomed from women and non-binary students who meet all of the following criteria:

• at the time of application, are in Y12 (England and Wales), Y13 (Northern Ireland), or S5 (Scotland);

• if doing A Levels, plan to complete A Levels in Maths and Further Maths (it is fine if study of Further Maths will not commence until the second year of A Level study);

• if doing IB, are studying Higher Level Maths;

• if doing Scottish Highers, are studying at least Higher Mathematics, and plan to study Advanced Higher Mathematics if available;

• are strongly considering applying to study mathematics at the University of Cambridge or other institutions requiring STEP. 

We ask that students only take up a place if they can commit to the full programme.

To submit an application, please click .

To apply to attend the She Talks Science STEP summer school, you must submit an online application by 9am on Wednesday 23rd April 2025. Then, the Â鶹ƵµÀ Access and Student Recruitment Team will contact the teacher you have listed in your application for a reference and some further information. 

Once the application window has closed, all applications will be carefully assessed and confirmation emails will be sent out by Friday 16th May 2025. 

If you have not received an update by 5pm on Friday 16th of May, please check your spam folder and email Â鶹ƵµÀ (outreach@murrayedwards.cam.ac.uk) and we will clarify the status of your application.

To submit an application, please click

We judge applications on academic merit in mathematics.

As there are only 50 places available on the summer school, we unfortunately cannot accept all applicants. In the case two students have indistinguishable academic profiles and there is not space to admit both of them, we will prioritise students from groups that are underrepresented at the University of Cambridge.

To submit an application, please click

Most of the summer school time is spent with the students doing maths problems. The core sessions of the summer school are:

• Four STEP workshops - imitating time spent on STEP preparation when a student is preparing on their own; with tutors focussing on helping students build confidence; and methods to get themselves unstuck. Each workshop lasts for two hours, and focuses on a small set of problems on a particular topic. In the workshops, groups contain around 10 students.

• Supervisions (one per workshop) - a tutor leads one or two students at a time to turn the ideas they came up with in the workshop into full solutions. As well as developing problem solving, the supervisions give some insight into how mathematics is taught at Cambridge.

• Mathematical writing seminars (one per workshop) - the aim of these is to improve mathematical exposition, and ensure that students understand the clarity with which their ideas must be presented in order to gain full marks in STEP. Students read through several different solutions to one of the questions from the workshops, of varying quality and containing various defects in explanation, and work together to identify the problems. Afterwards, they reflect on their own and each others' solutions. The writing seminars are given to all of the summer school students together (about 50).

Additionally we have:

• Plenary - we finish the summer school with a talk. Previous speakers include Dame Athene Donald, Professor Holly Krieger, and  the late Dr Vicky Neale. The plenary is given in seminar style to all of the summer school students together (about 50).

• Lectures - these are talks on completely different content, with the intention of giving students a bit of a break from doing all of the thinking themselves. These enrichment talks are given in seminar style to all of the summer school students together (about 50).

• Combinatorics sessions - shorter one-hour sessions in a larger group, attempting to demystify some of the concepts used in Olympiad maths and which may help with STEP probability questions. Combinatorics sessions are given to groups of 25.

• Mechanics sessions - shorter one-hour workshops in a larger group, focussing on a single type of problem in each session. Mechanics sessions are given to groups of 25.

• Admissions talk - given by a college admissions tutor and mathematics director of studies. These outline the admissions process at the University and are an opportunity for students to ask questions. 

• Social activities - organised in an evening.

This is an example timetable for the She Talks Science STEP Summer School

For students with particular widening participation criteria, travel support is available. These criteria include - 

• Free School Meals
• Pupil Premium
• Care-experienced
• In receipt of the 16-19 Bursary

If you are think you may be eligible for travel support, please contact outreach@murrayedwards.cam.ac.uk