Midterm Exam — Instructions

Overview

This is the scored midterm for Introduction to Statistics. It checks the first half of the course, Weeks 1 to 7: where data come from, how to describe one variable, how two variables move together, and how to put numbers on chance.

The midterm has 25 questions, and every question counts the same. Most questions ask you to select exactly one option (18 questions). Four ask you to enter a short accepted response, such as a number. Two ask you to judge a true/false statement, and one asks you to select every applicable option.

Every question practices a skill you have already used in the weekly quizzes, tutorials, and Data Labs. Nothing on the midterm comes from outside Weeks 1 to 7.

Coverage and scope

The midterm covers Weeks 1 to 7 and four of the course objectives. Here is how the 25 questions divide among them:

• Where the data came from (7 questions). Taught in Week 1 and used again in Week 2. Expect a population versus a sample and a parameter versus a statistic. Expect variable types, levels of measurement, and sampling methods, including the two that build in bias. Expect why only a randomized experiment supports a cause-and-effect claim.
• Describing one variable (6 questions). Taught in Weeks 2 and 3 and used again in Week 4. Expect frequency and relative-frequency tables, choosing a graph, and naming a shape by its tail. Expect the measures of center and spread, and how skew pulls the mean toward the tail.
• How two variables move together (4 questions). Taught in Week 4 and used again in Week 5. Expect what the correlation coefficient r can and cannot tell you, and how to read a conditional distribution from a two-way table. Expect why an association is not proof of cause.
• Probability and random variables (8 questions). Taught in Weeks 5 to 7. Expect probability as a long-run share, the complement, addition, and multiplication rules, and conditional probability. Expect random variables and expected value. Expect the binomial setting, its four conditions, and its probabilities.

Probability and random variables carry the most questions, so give them the most review time. Week 7's large-counts rule of thumb and its first look at the normal curve are not scored on the midterm. The practice exam includes one question on the rule of thumb, and both ideas return in Week 9. The z-score from Week 8 is not on the midterm either.

These notes map the skills the midterm checks. The questions themselves are drawn from the course's question bank and are not listed here.

Instructions

• Attempts: one. The midterm is a single scored attempt.
• Time limit: there is no time limit. Take the time you need, as long as you submit before the exam closes.
• Window: the midterm opens in the Week 8 module and closes at the due time your instructor sets. Start early enough to finish comfortably inside that window.
• Navigation: the questions appear one at a time, and once you move on you cannot go back to an earlier question. Settle each answer before you click to the next one.
• Materials: a basic calculator, or a spreadsheet used only as a calculator, is allowed. Every question gives you the data it needs. Unless your instructor announces otherwise, the midterm is closed-note.
• After you submit: Canvas shows your score. The keyed answers stay hidden so the midterm stays fair for every student.

Academic integrity

The midterm is an individual, scored assessment, and it is closed to AI. Do not use a chatbot or any other AI tool, do not get help from another person, and do not share or post the questions during or after your attempt. These rules come from the course syllabus, which explains why: the midterm confirms that you personally understand the concepts, notation, procedures, and interpretations.

The honest way to prepare is open to you. The study guide, the practice exam, and the exam-prep tutorial rehearse the same skills with fresh variants, and nothing on them appears on the midterm word for word.

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