AP Statistics Course Syllabus Page 1

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Ashlynn Blankenship
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1 AP Statistics Course Syllabus Required items for course: Textbook: Yates, Daniel S., David S. Moore, and Daren S. Starnes. The Practice of Statistics. 4 th edition New York: W.H. Freeman, Strive for a 5: Preparing For the AP Statistics Examination to accompany The Practice of Statistics by Jason Molesky, Technology: All students must have access to a TI-83 plus or TI-84 graphing calculator for use at both school and home. Students will use these extensively for completion of homework assignments, quizzes and assessment activities, tests, and the AP examination. Students will also use these through guided practice on a near daily basis during class. Required Supplies: 3 ring binder with loose leaf notebook paper Pencils and Pens COURSE DESCRIPTION: AP Statistics is the high school equivalent of a one semester, introductory college statistics course. In this course, students develop strategies for collecting, organizing, analyzing, and drawing conclusions from data. Students design, administer, and tabulate results from surveys and experiments. Probability and simulations aid students in constructing models for chance behavior. Sampling distributions provide the logical structure for confidence intervals and hypothesis tests. Students use a TI-83/84 graphing calculator, Fathom and Minitab statistical software, and Web-based java applets to investigate statistical concepts. To develop effective statistical communication skills, students are required to prepare frequent written and oral analyses of real data. COURSE GOALS: In AP Statistics, students are expected to learn Skills To produce convincing oral and written statistical arguments, using appropriate terminology, in a variety of applied settings. When and how to use technology to aid them in solving statistical problems Knowledge Essential techniques for producing data (surveys, experiments, observational studies), analyzing data (graphical & numerical summaries), modeling data (probability, random variables, sampling distributions), and drawing conclusions from data (inference procedures confidence intervals and significance tests) Habits of mind To become critical consumers of published statistical results by heightening their awareness of ways in which statistics can be improperly used to mislead, confuse, or distort the truth. 1 AP Statistics Course Syllabus Page 1

2 General Classroom Procedures Student Behavior Policies and Expectations: 1. BE IN CLASS ON TIME EACH DAY. 2. NO FOOD OR DRINKS IN CLASSROOM, EXCEPT WATER. 3. NO DESK VANDALISM/GRAFFITI. 4. SHOW RESPECT TO OTHERS. 5. RESTRICTION OF CERTAIN ELECTRONIC DEVICES (Cell Phones) Classroom & Academic Policies & Expectations 1. COME TO CLASS PREPARED. 2. ALL WORK IS TO BE DONE IN PENCIL 3. KEEP COURSE ASSIGNMENTS ORGANIZED: 4. HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY. (No Cheating) 5. DO YOUR HOMEWORK EACH AND EVERY NIGHT 6. TAKE OWNERSHIP OF YOUR OWN ACADEMIC FUTURE: Grading Policy for the 9 weeks grades: A B C D Below 60 F (In cases, where the letter grade is affected I will always round up. Ex: 89.5% = A) Grade Components: Tests worth 90% of final grade Homework/Labs worth 10% of final grade (These percentages are approximations) #1. Assessments (CHAPTER TESTS & QUIZZES): MAKE-UP WORK POLICY FOR TESTS: My policy for Tests is the following: If a student is absent on the day of a test, they will take a second version of the test, which is considered the make-up version of the test. These will be taken before or after school. If a student has to take the re-take version of the test, there will be no re-take option for that chapter s test. Grading of tests (using categorical grading system): Scoring of Free Response Questions: All Free Response Questions will be scored a 0-4 scoring system: The scores mean the following: o 4 Complete Response o 3 Substantial Response o 2 Developing Response o 1 Minimal Response o 0 Blank or No Response 2 AP Statistics Course Syllabus Page 2

3 Categorical grades are as follows: 5 Extremely Well-Qualified (usually corresponds to a 105%) 4 Well Qualified (usually corresponds to a 92% or 95%) 3 Qualified (usually corresponds to an 82% or 85%) 2 Possibly Qualified (usually corresponds to a 70% or 75%) 1 Unqualified (corresponds to a 60%) Outlier Score corresponds to a true percentage grade based on what student got correct on the test; students who earn this score are REQUIRED to re-take the test. 3 #2. Homework Journal: Homework assignments will come along exclusively from the textbook. They will be assigned nearly every day and their due date is typically the day of the test. Each chapter is divided into days and that day s homework problems should be completed on 1 piece of paper labeled with Day # and Problem #. Your homework journal will be taken up on the day of the chapter test. IMPORTANT: In order to be eligible for re-testing, HOMEWORK needs to have been turned in on time. Baseline Questions/Topics: During each chapter of AP Statistics, certain topics are deemed to be more important/crucial than any other topic in that given chapter. When these topics are identified, they are known as the baseline topic of that chapter. These topics then become the baseline questions on the test for that given chapter. What this means, is that when you take the test, the question(s) on that test that are connected to that topic, must be scored correctly, in order to receive a 3 or above on that given test. The baseline topic is always announced well in advance of the test and are usually taught more than any other topic in that particular chapter. PAY ATTENTION TO THE BASELINE TOPICS!!!! Advice to AP Statistics students Don t be deceived by the easy nature of the first chapter in this course. Successful students make sure they have a VERY firm grasp on the early topics in this course to ensure they have truly mastered the material. If you re lost in September, you re going to be REALLY lost in March. Looking at the chapter schedule sheet should be a daily habit. Stay on top of things, by keeping yourself aware of what s going on in and out of class each and every day. Don t procrastinate on the homework. Skipping the homework one or two nights (depending on the topic being studied) will not hurt your understanding too bad, but beyond that means mastery of subject area will be greatly hampered. AP Statistics Course Syllabus Page 3

4 4 Collaborating with fellow students during class time, study halls, or at any other time is NOT the same as cheating. Cheating is when a student routinely copies another student s homework or class work assignments mindlessly with no effort to learn the material himself or herself. Collaborating is when students share information and discuss course topics and concepts that help each other understand the course material through homework completion. I encourage collaboration. Pay close attention to each problem that we do in class. Ask questions whenever you are confused, stuck, or just plain don t get it. ALWAYS have your packet open to the problem we are doing and make sure you are reading along with the instructor or fellow student who is reading aloud for the whole class. If you sit and don t follow along, you are wasting your time and mine. If you are absent for any length of time, make sure you get caught up as soon as you possibly can. This is not a course that is easy to get caught up on, when a student is absent. After school tutoring is recommended. Don t throw away or lose ANY of the chapter outlines and notes packets that I give you. Keep these until after the AP exam is taken and then you should keep them for collegiate studies in case you don t pass the exam and have to take the course again. (Each student will have a file folder to save these items) ALWAYS keep in mind that this is an AP class. This means that it is a college level course that could be taken at nearly any college and/or university across the country. We stick to the schedule in this course and have a definite time frame for things to be completed. The goal is to have all content covered by spring break. Statement on the issue of Senioritis : Much has been made recently about the issues dealing with keeping seniors engaged in their high school studies during their final year of high school. Some amount of apathy is expected to set in as the year gets close to the end, but I have witnessed some troubling trends with seniors in the past couple years. I would sum up my observations about senioritis by saying that it can sometimes occur at such a degree that it NOT just senioritis, but rather a clear picture of who a person is as they prepare to become young adults. Many of the seniors I ve dealt with who have the worst cases of senioritis are the same students who take those bad attitudes and bad habits with them to college. This often results in them not doing well in college. These students often take lofty plans for future careers and goals with them to college, only to find that they are just as unmotivated in college as they were in high school. In short, senioritis is not just a temporary condition for some people, but rather a permanent problem, until the said individual decides to make the changes necessary for it to no longer be a problem. It s best to not get into that habit to start with. AP Statistics Course Syllabus Page 4

5 AP Statistics Course Outline This course will cover the FOUR MAJOR COMPONENTS of AP Statistics Exploring Data Experimental Design Producing Models Using Probability and Simulation Statistical Inference 5 Unit 1: Exploratory Data Analysis Chapter 1: Exploring Data Chapter 2: Modeling Distributions of Data Chapter 3: Describing Relationships Unit 2: Data Collection Chapter 4: Designing Studies Unit 3: Probability Chapter 5: Probability: What are the Chances? Chapter 6: Random Variables Chapter 7: Sampling Distributions Unit 4: Inference Chapter 8: Estimating With Confidence Chapter 9: Testing a Claim Chapter 10: Comparing Two Populations or Groups Chapter 11: Inference for Distributions of Categorical Data Chapter 12: More About Regression Course Cumulative Review Chapter 13 : Unit Capstones: AP Examination Review (15-20 Days) Review will consist of: AP Exam Practice Sessions In-Class Formal Review Homework Problems will consist of multi-layered problems drawing from numerous textbook chapters that encompass the entire year s course material and concepts. AP Statistics Course Syllabus Page 5

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