You're looking for help for AP Statistics, and I'm here to help.
In this video, we're going to go over 15 tips when it comes to
tackling the AP Statistics exam.
We're going to go over five general tips, five multiple choice tips, and
then wrap things up with five FRQ tips.
Before we jump into things, this video is brought to you by Albert.
We provide thousands of practice questions to help you score well on your next exam.
So, be sure to check us out using the link in the video description.
Without further do though, let's get into it.
Let's dig into five AP Statistics tips that you can do from home.
The first tip is to break up your study session, using the Pomodoro technique.
This is where you focus intensely for 25 minutes, and
then take a five minute break.
And then you repeat this process several times.
Once you reach four Pomodoro sessions, in other words, four study sessions
of 25 minutes at a time plus five minutes of breaking, you can then
take a longer break of 30 minutes.
This method is a great way for you to pace your studying and to
make your study sessions fly by.
Our second tip is to get to know your calculator and the common functions that
you'll use when it comes to AP Statistics.
This includes functions such as p-norms or binomial PDFs, or even
running regression analyses or calculating confidence intervals.
Thre is a great page by Stats Medic that goes over commonly used
calculator functions for AP Statistics.
So, be sure to check their site out.
Knowing these calculator functions can be a great way for you to save a ton
of time when it comes to your multiple choice section of the AP Statistics exam.
Our third tip is to practice classifying statistical inference procedures
using your textbook or an app.
The resource called Name That Significance by Stats Medic is another helpful resource
here when you're working through this tip.
You may also find the flow chart on Inference by StatsMonkey to be
helpful as you practice familiarizing yourself with these concepts.
It's really important that you know when to implement a particular
test, as well as when to implement a particular confidence interval.
Tip number four is that you can also annotate your AP stats formula sheet to
serve as a little cheat sheet for you.
Instead of just memorizing formulas, you can think about different
practice problems that you've worked through in the past and how they've
related to certain formulas that are provided to you on the formula sheet.
This is kind of similar to if you've ever done some close reading in an
English class, in terms of annotating the things that are given to you.
By creating this sort of mental map, you form as bit of a cheat sheet for
yourself, so that when you see the formula sheet come test day it you'll think
about the different practices problems that you've already solved in the past
related to this particular concept.
If you want to check out how one professor annotated his AP stats formula sheet, be
sure to check out the accompanying article and the link in the video description.
Our fifth tip when it comes to studying at home for AP stats is to
make sure that you're practicing, practicing and practicing some more.
The reality is that if you're not applying the knowledge that you're learning in
class, then it's going to be difficult for these concepts to stick for you.
So, a helpful resource to help you with that can be Albert, which provides
hundreds of practice questions as well as detailed explanations to
help you understand why you've got a particular question right or wrong.
With full length practice exams as well, you'll be able to build your
confidence leading up to test day.
If you're not using an online resource slide, Albert, then you can also
use an old school review book or just the end of chapter questions
in your AP Statistics textbook.
Whatever resource you do end up using though, make sure
you're regularly practicing.
That way you're not cramming for the exam.
And also that way you're actually understanding when to use different
confidence intervals or statistical tests as we went over in the earlier tips.
Now that we've gone over five general AP Stats tips, let's go into
some more specifics when it comes to the multiple choice section.
Before we do so, if you're finding this video helpful, be sure to hit that
like button below and also subscribe if you haven't already so that you
can get more study tips like these.
Our first multiple choice AP Stats tip is to make sure that you're putting down
an answer for every single question.
Even if you have to guess it makes sense to do so because on the AP
Stats exam, you don't get penalized for getting questions wrong.
You only earn points for the questions that you get right.
So, when it comes to the multiple choice section, if you can eliminate
some of the answer choices, then it can be a great way for you to increase
the chances that you can score maximum points in this particular section.
Our second tip, when it comes to AP Statistics multiple choice is
to make sure that you're focusing your study time on these sections
that show up most on the test.
It makes sense, but not every single student does this.
Sometimes they deviate and spend a ton of time studying the entire
course material, as opposed to just the focus areas that make up the
bulk of the overall MCQ section.
Here are three of the key topic areas that are consistently tested when it
comes to AP Statistics multiple choice.
Inference for proportions and means makes up 22 to 33% of the multiple choice exam.
Exploring data with graphs and summary statistics makes up
another 20 to 30% of the exam.
Probability, random variables and distributions make up
another 20 to 30% of the time.
So as you can tell, just from focusing in on these three core areas, you already
are making ups anywhere from 60 to 90% of your AP Statistics multiple choice exam.
Now, of course, there are some other topics that will show
up on your AP Statistics exam.
But that being said, they're not going to show up as frequently.
Some of these include experimental design, linear regression and Chi square testing.
Just remember if you're low on study time though, focus on the topic areas
that are more likely to show up.
Our third tip for you is to draw sketches of distributions as much as possible.
If you can take a verbal description and turn it into a visual one, then it
will be easier for you to understand.
This can be really helpful when you're trying to calculate probabilities with
Venn diagrams or normal distributions.
It can also be helpful for finding summary statistics for skewed distributions, or
also envisioning trends in scatter clocks.
Tip number four is to make sure that you're practicing your binomial variables.
These are things like coin flips or free-throws.
They typically involve random events that have any of these four elements.
Repeated trials, two possible outcomes, a fixed probability of
success and independent trials.
This is a really specific probability topic that will save you a lot of time
if you can quickly recognize it and then plug it into your calculator to solve.
Tip number five when it comes to multiple choice in AP Statistics is
to make sure that you are reading each question completely and not skimming.
This is really important on those longer descriptions of experimental design or
hypothesis test interpretations, because there are typically going to be a few
distractors that are presented as somewhat plausible in the answer selections,
but actually are meant to trick you.
Be careful around these distractors because they're meant to exploit the
most common misconceptions around these key statistical concepts.
All right.
So, we've gone over 10 AP Stats tips.
If you're finding this video helpful, be sure you hit that like button
below and also subscribe if you haven't already so that you can
get more study tips like these.
Now let's jump into five AP FRQ tips to wrap things up.
The first tip we have for you is to make sure that, you know, and
can use the language of statistics.
Use common phrases, such as on average, predicted increase or
sufficient evidence to reject the null.
There's a really great free handout that goes over the top 10 phrases
to use in your AP Statistics FRQs.
So, be sure to check that out in the link in the video description below.
Tip number two when it comes to the FRQ section is to make sure
that you are labeling everything.
This includes graphs, formulas, random number tables, as well as
sketches of normal distributions.
Look, you don't want to lose points for lack of communicating with your AP reader.
So, make sure you do this for every single thing.
It is better for you to over-communicate then to under
communicate in your FRQ response.
This leads us surely to tip number three, which is to make sure
that you're explaining everything thoroughly and in context.
You will receive zero credit for so-called naked answers.
In other words, in the case where you've got the right answer, but you're
not able to show how you got there, you're not going to earn any credit.
The easiest way to solve this problem is to make sure that you're
including detailed explanations that are in context to your answer.
Let's go over an example of where we provide no context followed by
one, in which we provide context.
An example of no context would be with a P value of 0.018, we have
sufficient evidence to reject the no hypothesis at a 5% significance level.
On the flip side, an example in which we would be providing contacts would be
something along the lines of with the P value of 0.018, we have sufficient
evidence to reject the null hypothesis at a 5% significance level and conclude
that the manual dexterity for people who completed the six week training program
has on average significantly increased.
You notice the difference.
The difference is that in our first example, we didn't provide any context
as to what we were actually concluding.
Whereas in our second example, we provide the context behind
what we are actually saying.
There's a difference between just saying something and actually
demonstrating that you've mastered the concept of testing in this situation.
Our fourth tip is to read through every single question first.
And see which ones you think are easiest to tackle.
We recommend that you first tackle the easiest question and then follow
that up by tackling the investigator task before then completing the
rest of the remaining questions.
The reason why we suggest you do this is because you only have 13 minutes for
each of these standard FRQs and you have 25 minutes for the investigative tasks.
This means it's super important that you are pacing yourself so that you leave
yourself ample enough time throughout the course of the AP Statistics exam
to complete every single question.
Our fifth tip for you when it comes to the FRQs is to use strange
acronyms to help you remember common statistical procedures.
Here's an example.
If you're describing univariate distributions, you might use an acronym
such as SOCS in which S stands for shape, O stands for outlier, C stands
for center and then S stands for spread.
If you're learning scatterplots you might use something like FODS.
FODS stands for form, outlier, direction and strength.
We also have three more that you can use.
For example, you might use EMC3, when it comes to constructing
a confidence interval.
In that situation, we're talking about estimation, measure, check, compute,
and then communicate the results.
Or we might use something like PANIC, which outlines parameter of interest,
assumptions, name of the competence interval, interval, and then conclusion.
And then lastly, we might use something like HMC3, when it
comes to hypothesis testing.
In this situation, we're talking about hypothesis, method, check, compute,
and then communicate the results.
You'll notice that some of these acronyms are pretty similar so you're going to want
to practice learning these acronyms so that you master them for the FRQ section.
If you find it helpful, be sure to check out the accompanying blog
posts to this video in order to see a written list of these acronyms.
If this video has been helpful for you, do us a favor and hit that like button
below and also share it with all of your other AP Statistics classmates.
You might also find it helpful to share it with your teacher in case
they're looking for extra review resources to share with your class.
Whatever the case may be, if you need help studying, or just feeling more
confident about your AP statistics exam, be sure to check out Albert for
hundreds of extra practice problems.
Like I mentioned earlier, we provide detailed explanations for every single
question that you practice on our site, which makes it really great for
you to master your weaknesses and then score a four or five on your exam.
That's it for this time, though, if you need extra help for your AP
Statistics studying, be sure to check out our accompanying video, which
goes over how to get a five on AP Statistics in seven simple steps.