STATISTICS 301T FALL 2008 COURSE DESCRIPTION POLICIES Instructors Jim Dobbin Tadd Colver Lectures 8 30 9 30 2 30 10 30 11 30 3 30 Office Math 240 Math 514 Phone 494 7933 494 0030 Email jdobbin stat colvertn stat Office hours Tues 2 30 4 30 pm Mon Wed Course website http www stat purdue edu jdobbin stat301T Resources Textbook The Basic Practice Of Statistics David Moore New York Freeman and Company 4th edition 2007 Additional reading will be handed out in class during the semester to cover material which is not in the textbook If you miss one of these come to Math 240 to get a copy Emergency Course Changes In the event of a major campus emergency course requirements deadlines and grading percentages are subject to changes that may be necessitated by a revised semester calendar or other circumstances Changes in this course will be posted on this website You may also call or email Jim Dobbin the course coordinator Contact information above Requirements Students must possess the course textbook and a calculator which can do linear regression Many calculators can do this Here are some which cost lest than 20 TI36X TI34 II TI30X II Casio fx 115MS Plus SR Casio fx 300MSPlus Sharp EL531V The more expensive graphing calculators will work but are not necessary for this course It is your responsibility to obtain a calculator and to learn how to use it We will start using our calculators immediately and we will develop the necessary skills during the first five weeks Calculators will be required for all exams and no sharing will be allowed Jim Dobbin can provide help on calculator operations with most TI Casio and Sharp models Additional help may be found at the web address http www geocities com calculatorhelp NO SWITCHING OF LECTURES OR LABS WITHOUT APPROVAL FROM JIM DOBBIN ALL ROOMS HAVE SPACE CONSTRAINTS Determination of your course grade Your course grade will be based on your performance on three activities homework labs and exams A composite score will be calculated as follows Composite score HW 20 LAB 10 EXAM 1 20 EXAM 2 20 EXAM 3 30 EXAMS There will be three exams Exams 1 and 2 are 1 hour exams and will each be 20 of the composite score Exam 3 is a two hour exam and will be 30 of the composite score All exams will be closed book but formula sheets and tables will be provided Each exam covers a specific portion of the course Exams are not cumulative All exams must be taken during the scheduled time unless a conflict with another exam occurs In those cases the student must make other arrangements with the instructor in advance HOMEWORK There will be 14 homework assignments which in total will comprise 20 of your composite score No late assignments or makeups accepted without approval of your lecturer No email attachments accepted Submit hard copy only All of the homework assignments will be due at the beginning of class on Wednesdays Homework received after class is over will receive half credit or less If you must miss class because of an interview or a university sponsored activity you must turn in homework in advance to receive full credit All homework papers are logged in before they go to the grader so that we have a record of the papers turned in on time We recommend that you print your name on all homework papers using ink LABS There will be 13 labs which in total will comprise 10 of you composite score Lab assignments should be turned in at the end of your lab each Monday However labs may be turned in at Math 240 at any time prior to the deadline of 2 30 pm each Monday No email attachments accepted Submit hard copy only No late labs or makeups accepted without lab instructor s approval Late labs will receive half credit or less We recommend that you print your name on all labs using ink No points will be available from any other sources ie there will be no extra credit assignments Grades Your composite score will determine your course grade as follows 90 00 and above A 80 00 to 89 99 B 70 00 to 79 99 C 60 00 to 69 99 D below 60 00 F Students should check VISTA frequently to verify that the score record is accurate VISTA http www itap purdue edu tlt ecourses Errors or omissions in your VISTA score must be brought to the attention of Jim Dobbin before the exam for that period is taken As each exam is completed the hw and lab scores in VISTA are final Strategy to optimize your grade 1 Get the maximum credit from homework assignments and labs which are worth a total of 30 of your composite score This is equivalent to 3 letter grades Many students forfeit at least one letter grade because they do not do all the homework and labs Students cannot make up missed homework and lab assignments after the due dates 2 If a student does no homework or labs he she would have to average 85 7 on the three exams in order get a course score of 60 and pass with a D 3 The following data show that exam3 generally is the lowest for the semester Do not let up after getting a good grade on exam 1 The material gets harder after exam 1 Exam 1 Exam 2 Exam 3 Fall 2006 83 78 69 Spring 2007 82 71 67 Fall 2007 81 84 73 Spring 2008 82 78 65 4 Keep track of your scores Students should check VISTA weekly to verify that all their scores are posted Bring errors to the attention of Jim Dobbin before taking each exam Each exam is the cutoff point to correct errors in VISTA Updated August 18 2008