AP Statistics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Advanced Placement Statistics (AP Statistics or AP Stats) is a high school mathematics course offered by the College Board that, upon successful completion, will provide college credit or higher college course placement for the student. This course is equivalent to a non-calculus-based introductory college statistics course. However, there are schools that are able to integrate AP Calculus BC into this course, offering an even greater challenge.
One of the College Board's more recent offerings, the first AP Statistics exam was administered in May 1997. It has set records for the fastest growing AP course.
Contents |
[edit] Topics covered
- Exploration and Interpretation of Data (Categorical, Quantitative, Univariate, Bivariate)
- Graphs to represent Statistics (Bar graphs, Pie charts, Histograms, Ogives, Scatterplots)
- Normal Distributions
- Sampling Methods
- Experiments and Design
- Simulations
- Probability
- Random Variables
- Binomial and Geometric Distributions
- Sampling Distributions
- Statistical Inference
[edit] The exam
The AP Statistics exam is three hours long with 90 minutes on each of its two sections: Multiple Choice and Free-Response. The multiple choice portion of the exam is graded with 0 points for blank answers, -1/4 points for incorrect answers, and +1 point for correct answers. The free response section contains five questions and one investigative task. Questions typically relate two or more areas of study (such as probability and statistical inference), while the investigative task requires the integration and appliance of several statistical concepts. The multiple choice and free response sections each count equally towards the final grade. Each student is expected to bring a graphing calculator to the exam. The list of acceptable graphing calculators is available here.
[edit] Grade distributions
In the 2006 administration, 88,237 students took the exam from 4,464 schools. The mean score was a 2.86, and the standard deviation was 1.32.
The grade distribution for 2006 was:
| Score | Percent |
|---|---|
| 5 | 12.6% |
| 4 | 22.2% |
| 3 | 25.3% |
| 2 | 18.3% |
| 1 | 21.6% |
[edit] References
[edit] Popular textbooks
The Practice of Statistics by Daniel Yates, David Moore, and Daren Starnes.
Stats: Modeling the World by David Bock, Paul Velleman, and Richard DeVeaux.
Introduction to Practice of Statistics by David Moore and George P. McCabe.
Introduction to Statistics & Data Analysis by Roxy Peck, Chris Olsen, and Jay Devore.
Statistics in Action: Understanding a World of Data by Ann Watkins, Richard Scheaffer, and George W. Cobb.
