Quiz 2

Logistics

Quiz 2 will be on Monday October 20th, in lecture. The quiz will be the first thing we do in the lecture slot (i.e., we'll try to start as close to 9:30 as possible).

If you are unable to make that time due to a pre-existing scheduling conflict, please fill out this form by Wednesday at 11:59 PM.

If you are sick the day of the quiz do not come to the quiz. Send Robbie and Parker an email so we know why you're not there, and we will schedule makeup quizzes as needed. Similarly in the event of some other emergency (e.g., a car accident on your way to campus), send Robbie and Parker an email and we'll schedule a makeup

Quiz Details

• We will provide a reference sheet with some of the most-used formulas. Here is that reference sheet (We will hand one of these to you with the quiz!)
• Some formulas on that sheet are not going to be tested on the quiz (we may not have even covered all of them in lecture by then). This is the same reference sheet we'll give you with the midterm (and the same one you got on quiz 1); we hope providing you this one will make the quiz more useful as midterm prep.
• In addition, you will be allowed one piece of (8.5x11 inch) paper with handwritten notes. You may write notes on both sides of the paper.
• handwritten means either written by you on the piece of paper (with pen or pencil), or handwritten via technology (like an iPad) and printed, without doing anything you could not have done on regular pen and pencil
• For example, you cannot artificially shrink the size of your handwriting with an iPad, but you can use it to make erasing easier/neater.
• Similarly, you could not import pictures from lecture slides, but you can redraw them by hand.
• Scratch paper will be provided.
• You will have 20 minutes to take the quiz.

Content/Topics List

The quiz will focus on the information covered in lectures 6-8 (Oct 6, 8, 10). That is, conditional probability, independence, and Bayes Rule.

We use the word focus, because the course inherently builds on itself---when asking you to compute a conditional probability, we are very likely implicitly ask you to count the size of a set (which is content from lectures 1-5). But the focus of the problem will be on lectures 6-8.

There will be two main questions on the quiz:

• One question will be based on computing conditional probabilities and checking independence
• One question will be focused on Bayes Rule
• These two questions will have multiple parts, and might ask you to combine your answers from prior parts into a big solution.
• There may be small additional small questions (say a few multiple choice/true-false questions

Quiz Policies

You will not be allowed to use a calculator (or other electronic devices) during the quiz. We will ensure any math is possible without a calculator.

We do not expect you to simplify final answers (as you don't have a calculator). Similar to homework, answers like 5!*17!/3! or C(5,3) are fine final answers.

Most problems will not require a formal explanation (unlike the homeworks), but explanations will help us award partial credit, so we strongly recommend including (at least) a few words here and there to help with partial credit.

How should I study?

There are two practice quizzes. Both were adapted from old quizzes (prior quarters had different-length exams, with slightly different coverage; we've adjusted them to fit this quarter's expectations).

Extra section problems are an excellent source of practice; be sure to do the problem without looking at the solution first, don't just read the solutions (it's much easier to recognize a correct explanation than to generate one yourself!).

We strongly recommend looking at homework solutions (extras are available in Robbie's office) as modifications of homework problems are a common source of exam problems.

What if I'm late?

If you're just a minute or two late, you'll probably get there before the quiz starts (it will take a few minutes to hand out exams and get everyone settled). This should be enough time if you have a longer walk across campus or some other reason you might be a little late.

If you're later than that, we'll give you as much time as we can, but will have to stop everyone at the same time (remember you will have second-chance quiz slots at the end of the quarter).

If something beyond your control causes you to miss the quiz (e.g., illness or a car accident on the way to the quiz), we'll give you a makeup; if something within your control causes you to miss the quiz (just fogetting to come, or sleeping through your alarm), we won't give you a makeup. But you can do the second-chance quiz on the same topic at the end of the quarter (or just have this one be the one dropped).

Resources

Here's a practice quiz and its solution

Here's a second practice quiz and its solution