Multiple Choice Questions

This guide organizes advice from past students who got 4s and 5s on their exams. We hope it gives you some new ideas and tools for your study sessions. But remember, everyone's different—what works for one student might not work for you. If you've got a study method that's doing the trick, stick with it. Think of this as extra help, not a must-do overhaul.

📌 Overview

• Students are to solve a variety of statistical questions from all units
• 50% of Exam Score
• 40 questions
• 90 min, or 2 min 15 sec per question
• Graphing calculator mandatory

💭 General Advice

Tips on mindset, strategy, structure, time management, and any other high level things to know

• Ask your teacher for help! That’s what they’re there for.
• Try taking practice tests to get used to questions, using the calculator also makes solving questions much easier
• Familiarize yourself with your calculator. So many people waste time with trying to remember which button they need to use for the different questions; just take the time to go through all of the different stat functions you may need to use your calculator for and save time on the exam.
• Form a study group! Also, truly practice the language that you are using when you are doing things like confidence procedures with multi-steps, because AP graders are looking for very specific words and phrases to be used to give you full credit. AP Statistics is not just a math class, but also an English class.
• Draw a picture! If you don’t understand what the question is asking you, draw a picture of the situation to be described. This can mean drawing a bell curve of the normal distribution, tree diagram, or even a table. By drawing a picture, it can help you identify what is being asked and what you can use to find the answer to the problem.
• The more you practice MCQS, the easier you will be able to identify trick MCQ answers. Also, know the specific wording when it comes to interpreting statistical measures (standard deviation, correlation coefficient, margin of error, etc.).

🫧 Before You Bubble

What should a student do in the first few minutes, before they start answering?

• Star the question if you have problems solving it. If you are stuck between two answer options go with your gut and pick which one seems more reasonable statistically!
• Double check if there are any calculation mistakes if you have time. Start with double checking the questions that require more than one step.

📃 Understanding the Tests

• One of the best resources you have is College Board. If you don't understand a topic or need a quick refresher watch an AP Daily video. The MCQ and FRQ practices provided by college board are also very helpful because they are usually questions from past exams.
• Compile template-type worksheets that go through the procedures (I.E. Chi-square test, t-test) step-by-step: including stating the parameters, actual calculation, and concluding statements (for things like confidence intervals). These can serve as a template so you are prepared for the format of the real exam, and will guide you in being able to replicate the same type of math and key language that you are being scored on.

❓Choosing the Best Answer

• For multiple choice questions, look at how each answer choice is different, and picture the scenario in which they would apply. Then, see if that matches what is being asked in the question.
• I definitely recommend that you write out (even in abbreviated notes) the conditions and steps for different statistical tests. This help so that you don’t make silly mistakes if you are having a hard time memorizing the different conditions or calculations required for a problem.
• Cross out any options that don't make sense—it can be overwhelming having a lot of options.
• Memorize the key words and formats of answers to questions like “justify” and “explain in context.” It helps to understand a cookie-cutter structure that you can compare to answer choices.
• Remember the set “rules” or features that a concept has. This can be like knowing that the correlation coefficient does not equal causation and the fact that horizontal outliers are more influential on the correlation than vertical outliers. These facts can help identify the answer more easily since chances are that the answer will state that concept itself.

📑 Using Your Formula Sheet

• You should become familiar with what will be on the sheet, and what you’ll have to memorize.
• Heavily acquaint yourself with the notation of the equations. Though the symbols on the sheet may seem daunting, knowing what the notation represents will save you if you blank during the exam on a concept or equation.
• Simplify the wording of the formula’s mentally, before taking the test to make the process easier.

🧮 Using Your Calculator

• You need to know where your calculator will help, which is in a lot of places. Memorize all the buttons u need to get to where you need.(Remember how to use the calculator in accessing formulas like normcdf, z-test stats, etc…)
• Spend some quality time with your calculator before exam day!
• The best way to remember and know how to navigate and use your calculator is by putting it into use with practice problems. Aim to familiarize yourself with the components that you don’t use often and see if there is any other alternatives you can do to calculate something if you happen to forget. Examples include using z-score instead of normcdf.