Page1 STAT302: Statistical Methods Sections 501, 503, 504 Fall 2016, Texas A&M University Instructor: Dr. Liang, Hwa Chi Office: Blocker 410B Office hours: M-W-F 10:15 am – 11:15 am, 1:40 pm – 2:40 pm, and by appointment. Phone: (979) 845-3197 E-mail: [email protected] (preferred method of communication) Course Meeting Times and Places Section Days and Time Location 501 M-W-F 9:10 am – 10:00 am BLOC 150 503 M-W-F 3:00 pm – 3:50 pm BLOC 150 504 M-W-F 12:40 pm – 1:30 pm BLOC 150 Help Session Hours: You can get help in Blocker 162. Graduate statistics students (at least 4) will be available to help you with your homework and course notes during the help session hours below. - Monday through Thursday: 10 – noon, 1 – 3 pm (except Thursday is 2 – 4 pm), 5 – 7 pm - Sunday: 2 – 4 pm. TA & e-mail: Xiaomeng Yan, [email protected] TA office hours: Tue & Thur 10am – 11am, Blocker 420 Course Material: - Textbook: The Practice of Statistics in the Life Sciences by Brigitte Baldi and David Moore, 3rd ed. The book is not mandatory, but is strongly recommended. To save $$$, buy the 2nd edition instead since there is no big difference between the two editions. - The course notes posted periodically on eCampus can be printed out. - A calculator that has a square root function and can do calculations to at least 5 decimal places. The most useful/efficient one for this course is the TI-83+/84+ calculator. - “Top Hat” for quiz and response in classroom - WebAssign for online homework - JMP statistical software is available in campus computer labs. You can also download and install it at your own PC/Mac for free. - 3 large grey Scantrons to be used for the 3 major exams. Prerequisites: o Math 141, 147 or Math 166 or their equivalent is a prerequisite. o This course requires students to use elementary mathematics and logical reasoning.Page2 Grades 18% Homework 10% Quizzes/participations 20% Midterm 1 20% Midterm 2 32% Final exam A 90.00 - 100% B 80.00 – 89.99% C 70.00 – 79.99% D 60.00 – 69.99% F 0 – 59.99% There will be a fuzzy area between each letter grade in the grade distribution. Thus, two students having the same average overall course score may receive different letter grades. Whether or not a student receives the higher grade depends on three factors: (1) Consistency in submitting homework assignments, (2) Level of participation in class activities, and (3) An improving performance on examination scores across the semester. Homework: (two lowest scores will be dropped) - We use WebAssign to do the online homework and there is a fee associated with it. The URL is https://www.webassign.net/tamu/login.html Click “LOG IN @TEXAS A&M AT COLLEGE STATION”. - You will be prompted to pay when login the first time. You also have a grace period to access it until certain date. - Most of homework assignments will be due at 11:59 pm on Wednesdays with a few exceptions including the weeks of midterm exams which will be due at 11:59 pm on Monday. Quizzes/Class Participation: (four lowest scores will be dropped) - We use Top Hat to take attendance and do quiz. There is a fee associated with it. The URL for our course is http://app.tophat.com/e/067425 Also, the URL for their support is support.tophat.com - There are NO quiz make-ups. However, if it happens that you miss more than 4 quizzes, you need to bring excuse letter. For excused absences, quizzes will NOT have to be made up. Rather, the zero for the quiz that day will be dropped before the semester quiz grade average is calculated. Exam Schedules: You have to take exams in your own section Days and Time Location Exam I Wednesday, 10/12/2016, regular class meeting time BLOC 150 Exam II Wednesday, 11/16/2016, regular class meeting time BLOC 150 Final Exam Section 501: Monday, 12/12/2016: 8:00 am – 10:00 am BLOC 150 Section 503: Tuesday, 12/13/2016: 10:30 am – 12:30 am BLOC 150 Section 504: Monday, 12/12/2016: 10:30 am – 12:30 pm BLOC 150 If you miss exam 1 or exam 2 due to a university excused absence, you must take a make-up exam during normal school hours within 2 days of returning to school. The date you return to school is based on your written university excuse. Failure to comply with this will result in a score of 0 on this exam. By university regulations, you must contact me during work hours within 2 days (excluding weekends) after the last excused day of an excused absence. Please contact me by e-mail or see me in class. If you do not contact me within 2 days, you will receive a 0 for whatever it is you missed. Note: having to work during an exam is not a university excused absence. The exam schedule has been posted since the beginning of the semester and it is your responsibility to schedule your outside work around class times. Verification of excused absences: All university excused absences (refer to website link: http://student-rules.tamu.edu/rule07 ) must be verified with a note.Page3 How to do well in this class: o The primary emphasis in this course will not be on calculations or memorization. To do well in this course, students must be able to apply logical thinking and critical analysis to statistical problems. o The homework problems and practice exam problems will help you practice these skills. It is important to your success in this class that you put serious effort into your homework. o It should be emphasized that this course will cover a great deal of material at a RAPID pace. I strongly recommend you to preview/read the material for each lecture prior to attend class. As a rule of thumb, you should expect to spend a minimum of two hours for every hour spent in class reviewing material covered in lecture and homework. Students who have had difficulty in previous courses, or who have not had a quantitative course in several semesters, may find that this course requires a considerable amount of preparation and extra study time, and should plan accordingly. Your responsibilities - Attending all lectures - Frequently visit the eCampus Class website for posted notes, related study materials, and discussion forums. - Practice active learning instead of waiting until the day before an exam to attempt to learn the material. - Asking for help when you need it and not waiting until the