Stat 2000, Section 001, Final Exam Preparations

• 1) Final Exam: Content
  
  The final exam is comprehensive and will cover material from Chapters 1 to 7, 9, and 12 of the Moore/McCabe/Craig textbook. The following topics will not be tested in the final exam:
  
  • Parts of Section 4.5: "Bayes's rule" and "Independence again" (pages 288-289)
  • Entire Section 6.4: "Power and inference as a decision" (pages 389-397)
  • Parts of Section 7.1: "The power of the t test" and "Inference for non-Normal populations" (pages 419-425)
  • Parts of Section 7.2: "Software approximation for the degrees of freedom" and "The pooled two-sample t procedures" (pages 445-451)
  • Entire Section 7.3: "Optional topics in comparing distributions" (pages 459-465)
  • Entire Section 9.3: "Goodness of fit" (pages 530-534)
  • Parts of Section 12.1: "Inference for one-way analysis of variance" (attend lecture on Fr 4/27/2012 for details)
  • Entire Section 12.2: "Comparing the means" (pages 642-655)
    
    
  The final exam will consist of:
  
  • 30 multiple choice (MC) questions: 10 questions from online quizzes, 10 questions from past exams (final exams from past semesters and this semester's midterms), and 10 new questions. Numerical values and answer orders may be changed, so you need to know and understand the principle how each question can be answered.
  • At least one question from this semester's midterms (same principle, but new numbers) and some "shorter" questions related to Chapters 1 to 4.
  • Some "longer" statistical inference questions, such as sampling distributions, confidence intervals, and hypothesis testing, based on Chapters 5, 6, and 7.
  • Chapters 9 and 12 will be examined via MC questions only.
    
    
  Note: You will be given about 110 minutes to complete the final exam. The exam will be a closed-book exam, which means that you are not allowed to use the textbook or the lecture notes. You can only have one formula sheet (see below for details). All required tables (such as for the normal curve) will be provided. You should bring your calculator!
  
  The final will be comparable in length with previous finals. You have to work efficiently. Read carefully whether you have to "Show your work" or "Circle your answer" (and whether some further explanation is needed or not). Check solutions for old exams (midterms and finals) to determine how much of a calculation you have to write down to obtain full points in "Show your work" questions.
  
  
• 2) Final Exam: General Study Suggestions
  
  
  • Work through the posted old finals from Fall 2009, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, and Spring 2011 (in 2 hours each!).
  • Work through all old midterms (from our semester and past semesters) as about 50% of the final will be new material after Midterm 2, but about 50% will be material up to Midterm 2. Don't forget that I promised that at least one of our midterm questions will show up in the final in a modified form.
  • Work on the online quizzes (see below for additional details). As in the midterms, 1/3 of the MC questions will be taken from the online quizzes (possibly after modifying some values or changing the answer order).
  • Don't forget to look at the homeworks and homework solutions.
    
    
• 3) Final Exam: Preparation via Online Quizzes
  
  As part of your preparation for the final, go to the IPS7e Web Page at http://www.whfreeman.com/ips7e and work on the "Online Quizzes" for Chapters 5, 6, 7, 9, and 12. You can safely leave out questions that deal with content not discussed in class. Submit your answers via the "Submit" button at the bottom of the page. Carefully check which questions you answered correctly and which questions you answered incorrectly.
  
  Be warned that our actual final will reuse several of these questions - either as stated in the "Online Quizzes" or with some minor numerical modifications. You may also want to revisit the "Online Quizzes" for Chapters 1 to 4 as some questions in the final may also be taken from this pool of questions.
  
  
• 4) Formula Sheet
  
  In the final, you will be allowed again to use a formula sheet (1 sheet only, letter size, handwritten, text on both sides). This formula sheet can contain all useful information such as formulas, definitions, sample calculations, and solutions or solution outlines (from homeworks, past exams, the Web, etc.). Your name must appear in the upper right corner. There is no need to copy tables (such as the normal table, t-table, Chi-Square table, etc.) as those will be provided during the exam when needed. Before the final, add missing information from Chapters 5, 6, 7, 9, and 12 (as far as discussed in class) to your sheet - or create a completely new formula sheet that covers Chapters 1 to 7, 9, and 12.
  
  
• 5) Final Exam: Time and Location
  
  The final will take place on Mon 4/30/2012, 9:30am-11:20am, in our usual classroom. In addition to your formula sheet, you are only allowed to use a stand-alone calculator. Immediately follow our seating rules that require you to align in columns and leave at least three unused seats between any two students. In particular, use the outermost seats (left and right), leave three empty seats, and then use the fifth seat (left and right) in each row. You can also use the center seat in each row. This will allow us to align in just five columns.