Statistics Independent Study

AP-Style Free-Response Practice, Part 2

Study Sheet

Page 1 of 2

As you answer these questions, be sure you explain each step of your solution. Justify
any statistical procedures you use.
1. The following stemplot gives the percentage of students from 20 high schools who
say they have cheated on a math exam in the past year:
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

7
2
1
4
2
1
3

3
1
6
3
4

9
458
99
6

A. Indicate with an "x" the median in the above stemplot.

B. Draw a boxplot of the data given in the stemplot.
C. Based on this data, what is the largest cheating percentage a school could
have reported without being considered an outlier? Explain your answer.
2. A high-school teacher suggests that girls' achievement in math courses could be
improved if they enrolled in an experimental program that would teach them to be
more assertive in class. To test this suggestion, researchers compare the final exam
scores of a group of girls who participated in the program to the final exam scores of
an equal number of girls who did not (all were from the same grade and from similar
socio-economic backgrounds). The average score of the girls who underwent training
is found to be significantly higher than that of the girls who did not. The school
administration, assuming that this study provides convincing evidence that the
training is effective, concludes that all girls should undergo this training, and
allocates a sizeable sum of money to hire trainers.
A. Did the researchers in this scenario conduct an experiment or an
observational study? Explain.
B. The school administration concluded that the differences in the scores were
directly attributable to the training. Describe a possible confounding
variable in this study that might suggest another interpretation of the
results.
C. The school administration acted on the hypothesis that the training was
effective. What type of error did they make? For this scenario, what are
some risks associated with making this type of error?
3. A researcher obtains a random sample of 14 AP Statistics students. Their final exam
scores are: 65, 76, 88, 79, 94, 79, 72, 83, 92, 68, 75, 81, 82, and 90.

Statistics Independent Study

AP-Style Free-Response Practice, Part 2
Study Sheet

Page 2 of 2

A. If you were constructing a 95% confidence interval for the mean score of all
AP Statistics students, would you use a t procedure or a z-procedure? What
assumption must you make in order to use the procedure you selected?
Explain.
B. What is the critical value of the test statistic you would use to construct a
95% confidence interval?
C. The 95% confidence interval for the population mean is (80.3, 85.3).
Explain what it means when we say, "We are 95% confident that the
population value lies in the interval (80.3, 85.3)."
D. Other research claims that the population value in this example is very close
to 85. Based on the confidence interval, is this statement reasonable?
Explain.
4. This table shows the sums possible from a roll of two dice:

1
2
3
4
5
6

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

2
3
4
5
6
7
8

3
4
5
6
7
8
9

4
5
6
7
8
9
10

5
6
7
8
9
10
11

6
7
8
9
10
11
12

A. Construct the probability distribution for the possible sums of two dice.
B. What is the mean sum when two dice are rolled? Explain.
C. Suppose we know that S, the sum of the two dice, is at least 5. What is the
probability that at least one of the two dice shows a 4?
5. The AP Statistics Exam was first offered in 1997. That year, 7,646 students took the
exam. The exam is scored on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis, where 5 means "extremely well
qualified" and 1 means "no recommendation." The average score in 1997 was 2.97
with a standard deviation of 1.33. By 1999, the number of students taking the exam
grew to 25,240. The average score in 1999 was 2.78 with a standard deviation of
1.30.
A. Does it appear that the average performance declined significantly from
1997 to 1999? Use statistical evidence to justify your response.
B. Suggest one possible reason for the decline in average score from 1997 to
1999.

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