PSYC 1000, Exam 1, February, 2009

    To determine your current standing in the class, you should take your exam score (posted in BlackBoard) and add  eight points if you have completed  two units of survey/research participation.  If you have completed a different number of survey/research units, multiply that number of units by four and add to your grade.   If that yields 90 or more, you have an A, 80 or more a B, 70 or more a C, 60 or more a D, below 60 an F.

    Here are some statistics on distribution of grades.  In computing these statistics I have assumed that every student has completed two research/survey units (worth eight points).

Descriptive Statistics
  N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation
Exam_1 93 49 101 76.38 12.992
Bar Chart

Does Taking the Practice Tests Help?

    BlackBoard keeps track of who has and who has not taken the practice tests that I made available to you online. I do not use this information for grading purposes, but I was curious about whether or not taking those practice tests was associated with performance on the exam. Here are some analyses that address that question, using data from last year.
Chapter 1 Practice Test

Chapter1 N MeanStd. Deviation
Exam_1 0= did not take 43 64.8424.738
1= did take 46 78.2816.079

Independent Samples Test


Levene's Test for Equality of Variances t-test for Equality of Means
t df Sig. (2-tailed)Mean Difference
Exam_1 Equal variances not assumed -3.018 71.338 .004-13.445

     On average, those who took the Chapter 1 practice test scored 13.4 points higher than those who did not.  This difference is statistically significant.  A little more than half of the students took this practice test.
 
Chapter 2 Practice Test

Chapter2 N MeanStd. Deviation
Exam_1 0= did not take70 68.84 22.897
1= did take19 82.6311.393

Independent Samples Test


Levene's Test for Equality of Variances t-test for Equality of Means
t df Sig. (2-tailed)Mean Difference
Exam_1 Equal variances not assumed -3.644 60.221 .001-13.789

     On average, those who took the Chapter 2 practice test scored 13.8 points higher than those who did not.  This difference is statistically significant.  Only 19 of 89 students took this practice test.

Chapter 3 Practice Test

Chapter3 N MeanStd. Deviation
Exam_1 0= did not take76 69.36 22.234
1= did take13 86.0010.000

Independent Samples Test


Levene's Test for Equality of Variances t-test for Equality of Means
t df Sig. (2-tailed)Mean Difference
Exam_1 Equal variances not assumed -4.418 36.679 .000-16.645

     On average, those who took the Chapter 3 practice test scored 16.6 points higher than those who did not.  This difference is statistically significant.  Only 13 of 89 students took this practice test.

    If you did not take the first exam, and have not contacted me about missing it, I have advised the Registrar that you have not been attending class.  If you are a freshman and did not earn at least a C, I have advised the Registrar that you are experiencing academic difficulties in this class.  Remember, a C average is required to graduate.

    The first exam in this course is the least difficult exam.  Accordingly, if you did not earn at least a C and don't have a temporary extenuating circumstance that made you not perform up to your potential on this first exam, you should seriously consider dropping the course.  The last day to drop is Friday the 20th of February.