John Morelock's STAT 4105 Exam Preparation: Memorizing Formulas and Test-Taking Techniques, Study notes of Data Analysis & Statistical Methods

Download John Morelock's STAT 4105 Exam Preparation: Memorizing Formulas and Test-Taking Techniques and more Study notes Data Analysis & Statistical Methods in PDF only on Docsity! The next few pages present what I personally memorize before each STAT 4105 test, which has worked very well for me. I recommend taking the time to ensure that you know each formula by heart; i.e., you should be able to crank out all the gamma formulae the minute you see the word “Gamma” on a test. The way I first memorizes it was to look at a formula, then try to write it down from memory. The next day, I’d write down another formula like that, in addition to writing down all the previous formulae from memory without looking at them. It took me about a week and a half using this method, but they were definitely engraved in my memory. Another good technique would be to use flash cards. You’ve been in school for at least 13 years now, so I’m sure you know what techniques work best for you. Note that memorizing this information is only the first step. You also need to know the definition formulae of all the different techniques we learned. As a general rule, if it was on one of the homeworks, you should be able to at least write down off the formulae that problem uses without consulting your notes. Things like Bayes’ Rule, bivariate distribution analysis, expectations, and moment generating functions are all fair game, so you need to know how to do each of those things in the general case. Also, Dr. Nachlas’ tests are pressure tests. He tests you not only on your knowledge of the material, but also on your ability to apply that knowledge under strict time constraints. This means that you need to know a few test-taking techniques to get through them successfully. 1. Focus on what you know, and make sure to do it right. Dr. Nachlas places a greater focus on quality than quantity. You are not likely to receive much partial credit if your final answer is wrong. Instead of trying to finish everything, tackle the problems you know you can do, and take your time to make sure your answer is right. Double-check what you put in your calculator. Seriously, rushing is your worst enemy. 2. Learn how to use a TI-89. If you don’t have a TI-89, find someone who does, borrow it, and get familiar with it. The TI-89 has the ability to perform definite sums and indefinite integrals, which are both critical when analyzing discrete and continuous distributions. At the very least, you should know how to use it for summation, integration, and differentiation of multiple variables. It also has many distribution functions on it, but in my opinion, you’re better off just memorizing the distributions and using the summation function from there. 3. Don’t integrate by hand. In the later tests, there’s a huge focus on integration. As I mentioned before, these are pressure tests, so if you try to integrate everything by hand, you won’t finish. You need to know the definition to be able to formulate the correct integral. Beyond that, let your calculator do the work. 4. If your calculator can’t integrate something, don’t dwell over it. Sometimes, you will hit an integral that your calculator can’t handle. This usually occurs when you integrate an exponential function to infinity. First, check to see if the function is in the form of an exponential distribution PDF. If this is the case, the summation to infinity is just 1. If not, you’ll have to use L’Hospital’s Rule to obtain the value of the integral. This is time-consuming, so save this kind of problem for last. Best of luck to all of you! -John Morelock Zo £ i adepend ent Distribution PIF /POF c DF Mean Vor M(®) distpibutions . x I-x F(oy=9 .° Tet im hernovili’s Bernoulli ()] po a Fuy=) P PA are = Binomial wf neon x . . “ Vofm binamialS . AVX o-* 1S ‘ ae & W/ neti thatent N Binomsal (x) ( eA 2 e a ne NPA (ape) Zbinewal ul nz; x : : ~t (xt) yt % v r(e®-t) S of m poissans Poisson (x)| e xh Zu » \ e WEN Mn Ram . = Poisson w/ A2,Z, Mi * SZ of m gQlometri -\ \ @ %¥ aries Geonedsic (K) a p \- of P > rere eNegative Binomial w/ xem Negative Kl) x ke Korie Vex xX e® \K - ~ z xt A XK pt Binomial CK) * ) es nx (co pA p > (¢ oe” N/A a x= bra | pea | o@-e% N Uniform (x) ba bra z TD b8 -a8 [A Exponential d -yrt |- “rt 1 a d Z of ™ exponentials (*) 2 e X xe wl 2 MEE ee ew = Gamma w/ sem -\ -yt ol v Y awet te _ ots Ut ok a oh Zak m Gamma’ s Gamma (A) —aT) \- NE ul <~ x 3s) wal X= die Naeem Wve = Gamma wh MEE, Ai N \ et CH) 2M Ns v oo yor SB [eot mcennels ; ormal Vs Jawe= | PGz)=t-Pl2) e = Now oe ™ On Fee . ye) ( = 8 Vv Vse v Weibu\\ () oe es =>) \- el 3) Defaition Definition Oefintkion N/A TU 2 SY Study Sheet Page 1