STAT1060

WEEK 13

FINAL EXAM INFORMATION

AND PRACTICE EXAM
QUESTIONS
 Course Overview
Business Decision Making

Weeks 1-4 Weeks 5-12

Single Two
Week 1 Variable variables
Research in Weeks 5-6
Business for Measurement
Decision Making
& Sampling
Week 2
Research Weeks 7-8
Objectives and Normal dist.,
Design Quantitative
techniques
Week 3
Qualitative
Research 1 Hypothesis
Hypothesis
Tests &
Week 4 Tests &
Confidence
Wks 9, 11 Confidence Wks 10-12
Qualitative Intervals
Research 2 Intervals

Week 13: REVISION 2

 Weeks 1-4

1. Research in Business for Decision Making

2. Research Objectives and Design
3. Qualitative Research 1
4. Qualitative Research 2

See “Week 1-4 Final Exam Review” slides

referring to these weeks
 Weeks 5-12

See “Week 5-12 Final Exam Review” slides

referring to these weeks
Key messages:

 There are other beneficial courses you may like to consider post-exams
 Ideas for how to prepare for exams
 Ideas for how to make good use of the sheet of your notes that you can
take into the exam
 Exam technique:
 where to start
 how it is not simply about seeing a solution to a practice question…
how will you decide on a solution to a future question?
 how to rule out possible responses for MC
 the importance of seeing ‘the generic’ in a question
 the importance of the wording of responses
 The style and layout of the exam and the questions

5
Final Exam…
 3 hours (+ 10 mins reading time)

 20 multiple-choice questions in Part A (total 40 marks); and

 7 short-answer style questions in Part B (total 62 marks).

 YOU WILL NEED PENS AND LEAD PENCILS AND ERASER – PREFERABLY 2B
PENCIL

 One A4-sized sheet of notes double-sided is permitted

 Any non programmable calculators are permitted

 Materials To Be Supplied To Students:

 1 x GPAS
 Two 12 page booklets for the short answer questions

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Final Exam…
Special Instructions:

 Part A: Answer all multiple-choice questions on the GPAS supplied.

 Use only lead pencil, pencil heavily and erase any stray marks outside the circle.
 Each multiple-choice question is worth 2 marks.

 Part B: Answer all short-answer style questions. You will be given two 12 page exam
booklets.
 The 8 questions in Part B are not of equal value; available marks are provided
with the question.

 The first 4 questions, corresponding to the Week 1 to 4 material, are to be

answered in a separate booklet. Start the 5th question in a new booklet.

 The examination paper, the three exam booklets, the GPAS sheet and your A4
handwritten or typed notes must be handed in at the conclusion of the examination.
7
Final Exam…

 Tests entire course:

 Qualitative and quantitative elements; marks awarded

are in relatively similar proportions to the course content
(approx. 33% qual, 66% quant)

 While you will not be sitting in front of a computer, you will

be required to interpret/use provided Excel output

8
Exam preparation…
 For each topic: Revise, recognise then summarise
 Keep it simple – see the similarities rather than only differences

 Don’t just study to the questions we’ve provided, study the course
understanding the types of questions likely to be asked for any topic
 Workshop exercises, assignments, quizzes, sample exam questions
 Consider examples given – see how they are similar to the quizzes
or workshop exercises

 Summarise each topic

 Review key messages, read through slides and connect
 Review workshop exercises, recognise the repeat-testing and
connection with workshop objectives, and how similar the
wording is for like questions/examples and their responses
….there must be a reason for this
 Consider what to place on your sheet to take into exam. 9
Exam preparation…

 Reattempt the workshop exercises, assignment questions,

quizzes: review your previous errors

 Attempt the sample exam questions (on BB)

 use them to check your exam preparation;

 only look at them AFTER you have prepared.

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Exam preparation…handwritten or typed notes
 How to make use of the sheet you create for the exam
 Handwritten or typed A4-sized sheet of notes, double-sided; no flip-ups
or flip-out pieces

 What do you have difficulty remembering…

 Assumptions and how to test?
Put them on your sheet
 How to recognise style of question and/or which technique to apply?
Put examples of questions and responses on your sheet
This is where a good summary and recognising the similarity in
wording (and the subtle differences in wording) amongst similar
questions is important – revise, recognise then summarise
 Wording of responses
Put examples on your sheet
 Where to look in Excel output?
Put examples of questions and responses on your sheet
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Exam preparation… handwritten or typed notes
 must be submitted with your exam.

 include your name on top left corner.

 NOTE: If you do not intend to bring such a sheet you must bring a
blank A4 piece of paper and submit that, with your name on it.

 suggest you keep/scan copy of summary sheet (REMEMBER: KEEP

THE COPY AT HOME AND BRING THE ORIGINAL TO EXAM)

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Exam preparation…
 What type of question is this?
 Which topic is it testing?

 Become familiar with the process

 How do I decide what type of chart to use?

 …depends on variable type/s
 How do I decide what analysis to perform?
 …depends on variable type/s

 How do I perform the correct hypothesis test?

 ...depends on variable type/s, then use the 5-steps applied to the
situation

 So think generically
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Exam preparation… think process
 Hypothesis Testing (fair part of the course: Weeks 8-12)
 Recognise the scenario….think generic (types of variables involved)
 Get the Null hypothesis right (then alternative is opposite)
 You can then ‘forget’ the null until later
 Know where to look for the p-value.
 Know how to use the p-value to make decision whether or not to reject the
null hypothesis, and state correctly.
 Now go back to null and see what you are rejecting OR not rejecting
(remember . . . you NEVER, EVER, accept the null hypothesis)
 Then write statement of conclusion, aware of the key elements of such a
statement

 Be aware of the above process based upon using the CI rather than p-value.
 Testing whether a value (or difference) is inside interval or not.

 All interpretations re Hypothesis Tests and Confidence Intervals are for the
POPULATION
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Exam preparation…reminders
 Infer about POPULATION not SAMPLE
 Hypotheses in terms of parameters; must include population in
descriptions and conclusions etc

 WORDING
 hypotheses; decisions; conclusions; etc
 see assignment solutions for examples of expectations
 understand what we are trying to say given the provided wording

15
Exam technique…
 Reading time:
 Assess entire exam – identify your strengths and perhaps start there
to increase your confidence

 Where to start?
 MC questions have the solution before you … this can help with
building your confidence
 If you have identified your strengths during the reading time then
perhaps start there
 Its completely up to you, but the key thing is to . . .
 Make good use of your time . . . allocate time according to your
strengths and your weaknesses
 Building confidence builds marks and gives you more time to do
those questions that you need to think more deeply on
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Exam technique…
 Assessing how to address a question
 What type of question is this?
 Which topic is it testing?

 Think generically: identify the style of question, the types of variables

involved (don’t get too caught up with the actual variables rather focus
on their types as this dictates the type of analysis/method)
Then respond specifically

 General, re multiple choice

 Try to determine the answer before looking at all possible answers in the
list
First do a brief check of the style of answers (to ensure you are
correct in what you think the question is requiring of you)
E.g., if interpreting a CI you may get muddled if you see very similar
wordings with small (but important) differences in words (e.g.,
reference to sample mean rather than population mean) 17
Exam style questions…MC section

Section A: Multiple-choice questions

12 questions – 2 marks each

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Exam style questions…MC section
Question 1 (2 marks)
Consider the following three statements:
i. The collection process associated with secondary data is relatively slow
and difficult compared with that for primary data.
ii. The cost of collecting secondary data is relatively high compared with that
for primary data.
iii. The collection process associated with primary data is relatively slow and
more involved compared with that for secondary data.

Select the best response:

a) Only statements i. and ii. are true

b) Only statement ii. is true
c) Only statement iii. is true
d) Only statements ii. and iii. are true

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Exam style questions…MC section
Question 2 (2 marks)

Which type of interview requires the least amount of skill and creativity on the
part of the interviewer?

a) Unstructured
b) Structured
c) Semistructured
d) Exploratory
e) Briefing

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Exam style questions…MC section
Question 3 (2 marks)

Which one of the following statements about parameters and statistics is

correct?

a) We estimate statistics using parameters.

b) A parameter refers to a numerical characteristic of the population, whilst a
statistic is a numerical characteristic of the sample corresponding to the
parameter that needs estimating.
c) A statistic is the same as a parameter
d) A statistic refers to a numerical characteristic of the population, whilst a
parameter is a numerical characteristic of the sample corresponding to the
statistic that needs estimating.

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Exam style questions…MC section
Question 4 (2 marks)

Which of the following are the outcomes of a focus group least likely to directly
contribute towards?:

a) helping to define objectives

b) developing generalisable estimates about the population of interest
c) helping to define the problem
d) generating hypotheses for further research

22
Exam style questions…MC section
Questions 5, 6, and 7 in the multiple choice section relate to the following
information: (2 marks)
Air Traffic Control at an Australian airport collected data on domestic Australian
flights over a 52–week period to assist with an inquiry into risk and safety. Each
week data were collected on 30 randomly selected flights arriving at the airport,
resulting in 1560 records. A selection of the variables are as follows:
 
DELAY : the difference between the expected time of arrival and the actual
arrival time (recorded in minutes).
AIRLINE : A numerical code representing each airline is used to record the data.
e.g. 1 = Jetstar 2 = Virgin Blue 3 = QANTAS etc.
DAY : The day of the week
e.g. Monday, Tuesday,… Sunday
AIRCRAFT SIZE : The classification size of the aircraft
e.g. Boeing-737, Boeing-747, etc
DISTANCE : The distance (in kilometres) from most recent airport departure
(ORIGIN) to current (DESTINATION) airport. 23
Exam style questions…MC section
Question 5 (2 marks)

Which one of the following sets of statements about the above variables is most
correct?

a) DELAY is continuous ; AIRLINE is nominal ; DAY is ordinal

b) AIRLINE is discrete; DELAY is continuous; AIRCRAFT SIZE is categorical
c) DELAY is continuous ; AIRLINE is discrete; AIRCRAFT SIZE is ordinal
d) DISTANCE is continuous ; AIRLINE is ordinal ; AIRCRAFT SIZE is continuous

24
Exam style questions…MC section
Question 6 (2 marks)
To graphically represent the distribution of DELAY in the sample it is most
appropriate to use a:
a) Pareto chart
b) bar chart
c) histogram
d) Scatterplot

Question 7 (2 marks)
To graphically represent the relationship between the variables AIRCRAFT SIZE
and the DELAY time, it is most appropriate to use a:
e) Pareto chart
f) bar chart
g) side-by-side boxplot
h) scatterplot
25
Exam style questions…MC section
Question 8 (2 marks)
The following cross tabulation displays, for a sample of 561 employees, the
numbers of employees having a particular Pay Type (Monthly/Weekly) and
Number of Sick days.
Employee no. of days off sick
Pay Type <5 5 or more Total
Monthly 95 65 160
Weekly 143 258 401
Total 238 323 561
The percentage of ‘Weekly’ paid employees who had ‘<5’ days off is
approximately (to 1 decimal place):
a) 60.0% (143/238)
b) 71.5% (401/561)
c) 35.7% (143/401)
d) 64.3% (258/401) 26
Exam style questions…MC section

Question 9 (2 marks)

A fast-food chain wishes to test whether the mean waiting time at its drive-through
service is 1 minute. A random sample of 250 service times realised a 95% confidence
interval for the mean waiting time, in minutes, of (0.9, 2.8). Using the confidence interval
to test the fast-food chain’s claim, it would be appropriate to conclude:

a) we are 95% confident that the fast-food chain’s claim is wrong.

b) we would not reject the fast-food chain’s claim at the 5% significance level.
c) the null hypothesis would be rejected at the 95% confidence level.
d) we would reject 95% of the interval’s times.

27
Exam style questions…MC section

Question 10 (2 marks)

The confidence interval for a population mean is calculated as the sample mean plus/minus
a margin. This margin depends on the

a) sample mean, standard deviation and chosen confidence level

b) sample size, standard deviation and p-value
c) chosen confidence level, sample size and standard deviation
d) sample size, standard error and p-value

28
Exam style questions…MC section

Question 11 (2 marks)

A correlation coefficient of -0.7 for two variables based on 200 data points is
most likely to indicate :

a) a very weak relationship exists between the two variables.

b) a non-linear relationship must exist.
c) an error in calculation has occurred because correlation coefficients cannot
be negative.
d) a strong relationship exists and, on average, the value of one variable
decreases as the value of the other variable increases.

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Exam style questions…MC section

Question 12 (2 marks)

Consider the following simple linear regression model between the dependent
variable, AUDIT_TIME (reflecting time in minutes taken to conduct a particular
type of audit), and independent variable, YEARS (representing the years of
experience conducting such audits):

Expected(AUDIT_TIME) = 48.2 - 0.6YEARS.

The value 48.2 in the above regression model represents:

a) the value of AUDIT_TIME, on average, when YEARS is zero.
b) the change in AUDIT_TIME following a unit increase in YEARS.
c) a ratio of AUDIT_TIME over YEARS as a percentage.
d) the proportion of the variation in AUDIT_TIME explained by using YEARS in
the regression equation.
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Exam style questions…Short-answer style section

Section B- Short-answer questions

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Exam style questions…Short-answer style section
Question 1 (Total: 10 marks)
Accounting, Finance, Management, Claims
Economics, Actuarial, Business Risk
An insurance company is interested Mean 14.88
in an early assessment of the likely Standard Error 0.53
material cost of a recent major Median 15.03
bushfire which lightly affected many Mode #N/A
nearby residences. Someone within Standard Deviation 2.92
the agency had suggested that, from Sample Variance 8.50
their experience, the mean cost of a Kurtosis - 0.60
claim resulting from such an event Skewness - 0.03
will be $13,000. A random sample Range 14.22
of bushfire related house insurance Minimum 7.82
claims was collated (recorded in
Maximum 22.04
thousands of dollars) and analysed,
Sum 446.30
producing the following Excel
Count 30.00
output:
Confidence Level(95.0%) 1.09
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Exam style questions…Short-answer style section

a) Use the Excel output in the table above to obtain the 95% confidence interval
for the mean cost of a claim. State the 95% confidence interval, i.e., simply give
the lower & upper limits in the brackets below:
[2 marks]

( , )

b) Interpret the 95% confidence interval (i.e., give a statement) relating it to the
context of the scenario. Ensure you appropriately and accurately word your
response.
[4 marks]

33
Exam style questions…Short-answer style section

c) Explain, using support from the 95% confidence interval, what you would
conclude about the individual’s suggestion that the mean cost of a claim
resulting from such an event would be $13,000. Ensure you appropriately and
accurately word your response.
[4 marks]
 

34
Exam style questions…Short-answer style section
Question 2 (Total: 13 marks) Human Resources Management, Management
A random sample of 67 employees from a large organisation were surveyed and
an hypothesis test was conducted at the 5% significance level to consider
whether Employee Satisfaction (Low, Medium, High) was associated with
Position within organisation (Management, Non-Management position). The
results of the chi-square analysis are provided below (and next slide).
Bar Chart
25

20

15

10

0
Management Non-management

Low Medium High 35

Exam style questions…Short-answer style section
Question 2 ctd (Total: 13 marks) Human Resources Management, Management

Actual
Row Labels Low Medium High Grand Total
Management 3 12 8 23
Non-management 18 20 6 44
Grand Total 21 32 14 67

Expected
Row Labels Low Medium High Grand Total
Management 7.2 11 4.8 23
Non-management 13.8 21 9.2 44
Grand Total 21 32 14 67

p-value 0.028
36
Exam style questions…Short-answer style section
a) State the null and alternative hypotheses for the test conducted.
[3 marks]

b) Identify how the assumptions for the conducted test have been met.
[3 marks]

37
Exam style questions…Short-answer style section
c) Should you reject the null hypothesis based on the output? Explain.
[3 marks]

d) Provide a clear and informative conclusion regarding whether Satisfaction was

associated with Position. Ensure you support your decision in the statement/s.
[4 marks]

38
 Exam style questions…Short-answer style section
Question 3 (Total: 20 marks) Finance, Economics, Management, Business
A financial investment model assumes that the returns on the broader financial
market drives the returns on a particular portfolio based upon stocks from within
that broader market. We can thus fit a regression model having Portfolio Return
(%return on portfolio using a value investment strategy) as the dependent variable
and Market Return (%return on investment based on broad market investment) as
the independent variable. Based on a random sample of %returns, a simple linear
regression model was calculated producing the following output:
Scatterplot of Portfolio against Market returns

Portfolio Return
10 Market Return Residual Plot
8 1
0.8
6 0.6
0.4
Residuals 0.2
4 0
-3 -2 -1-0.2 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
2 -0.4
-0.6
0 -0.8
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Market Return
-2

39
Exam style questions…Short-answer style section

SUMMARY OUTPUT

Regression Statistics
Multiple R 0.987
R Square 0.975
Adjusted R Square 0.974
Standard Error 0.498
Observations 19

ANOVA
Significance
  df SS MS F F
Regression 1 164.368 164.368 662.276 0.000
Residual 17 4.219 0.248
Total 18 168.587     

  Coefficients Standard Error t Stat P-value Lower 95% Upper 95%

Intercept 2.138 0.138 15.451 0.000 1.846 2.430
Market Return 1.119 0.043 25.735 0.000 1.028 1.211

40
Exam style questions…Short-answer style section
a) Use the output above to write the simple linear regression equation linking
the two variables.
[2 marks]

b) Based on the Scatterplot and Residual Plot, why does it appear reasonable to
use the simple linear regression model? Explain.
[3 marks]

c) Interpret the value of the coefficient of determination in the context of this

scenario.
[2 marks]

41
Exam style questions…Short-answer style section
d) Test, at the 5% significance level, whether there is a linear relationship
between Market return and Portfolio return, showing the 5 key steps of
hypothesis testing.
[9 marks]

42
Exam style questions…Short-answer style section
e) The number 1.119 appears column ‘Coefficients’ of the bottom table.
Interpret what this value represents in terms of the regression model at hand.
[2 marks]

f) Someone commented that it appears that a 50% return on the market would
result in a 58% return on the portfolio. What response would you provide to
this comment?
[2 marks]

43
Leading up to the exam
 Study well, allocate time, think about your process

 Use sample exam questions to check your exam preparation and

progress.

 If you have any questions, drop Frank (frank.tuyl@newcastle.edu.au

) an email!

(Or Nimay (nimay.kalyani@newcastle.edu.au) when asking about

weeks 1-4 )

44
There’s life after exams…thinking ahead
 For industry, business & organisational personnel, an ability to engender efficient and
effective systems, & operate across the interface of traditional workplace boundaries is
pivotal for developing nimble, critical and creative thinkers and workplaces.
 Cross-functional, systems thinking, process-focused, quant & methodological skills
provide a competitive edge over others undertaking similar degrees and applying for
similar employment positions.

 STAT3100 – Systems Thinking for an Integrated Workforce

 Whether through ambition or circumstance, graduates in all fields commonly find
themselves during their career in positions of:
 management within an organisation (wholly or a section: supervisor, mentor,
trainer, manager, leader, partner); and/or
 requiring skills that support innovation, an ability to improve the status quo,
how to improve an organisation’s systems (financial, business operating, IT,
etc)
 STAT3100 course provides an holistic approach to understanding and improving
systems (processes), and management, that equips you with valuable tools and
skills, complementing the abilities you are acquiring in your degree program, in
order to successfully manage and improve systems.
 https://www.newcastle.edu.au/course/STAT3100 45