Two midterm exams will be given during the term. This exams will have both an in-class and a take-home component. Tentatively, the in-class exams are scheduled for:
Take-home components of the exams will be distributed the same day as the in-class component, and will be due the following Friday. No homework will be due on the day the take-home exam is due.
Further details about exams will be added to this page closer to their scheduled date.
The first midterm will have two components:
An 80-minute in-class exam on Monday 3/6 2:30 - 3:50pm
A 120-minute take-home exam, made available on Monday 3/6 at 5pm, and due at the latest by Friday 3/10 at 11:59pm.
The exams will cover all material covered in class through Monday, February 27th, corresponding to Chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 in ModernDive, and Chapters 1 and 2 in Statistics: Unlocking the Power of Data, 3e.
Time: The in-class exam will be held Monday 3/6 from 2:30pm to 3:50pm.
Location: The exam will be held in our typical classroom: Noyce 2401.
Format: The in-class exam will be completed on paper and submitted by the end of the exam period.
Allowed Materials: Students may bring a two-sided sheet of standard 8.5 x 11 paper with typed or handwritten notes. Students must write their own note sheet, and should not use a note sheet created by another person.
Technology: Neither calculator nor computer will be necessary for the exam. Unless a student has documented accommodations allowing the use of calculator or computer, neither may be used during the exam.
Content: The in-class exam will focus on conceptual questions related to the content of the course. You will not be asked to perform R calculations on the exam. However, some questions may reference particular R functions that have been covered in class, and these questions may ask you to explain what a particular piece of code does, or ask you to interpret the output of a particular piece of code.
Time: The take-home exam will be posted at 5pm on Monday 3/6 and will be due at the latest by 11:59pm on Friday 3/10.
Location: You may work on the take-home exam at a location of your choice.
Format: The take-home exam will be completed in a .Rmd using RStudio and submitted to Gradescope as a knitted .pdf.
Allowed Materials: Students may use the RStudio Server to work on the exam. Additionally, the exam is open-book and open-notes. This includes:
Your Lab and Homework Assignments (both the versions you submitted and the comments you received)
Your course notes that you’ve taken
The course textbooks (both ModernDive and Statistics: Unlocking the Power Data)
Lecture slides from the course website
The recorded lecture videos for Monday 2/20
Any built-in help functions in R (for example, you may look at
the results of typing ?ggplot into the console or the cheat
sheets on the help menu).
Disallowed Materials: You MAY NOT reference any other physical or online sources, repost or share questions or answers from this exam (for example on Message Boards, via email or text, or on Homework help websites), or receive help on this exam from others in any way.
Technology: A computer with internet access will be required to complete this exam.
Content: The take-home exam will focus on coding questions related to the content of the course, and will be comparable in scope and style to lab questions and coding-based homework questions.
A blank .Rmd template for the exam will be posted on the exam page of the course website on Friday March 3. Use this template to write up solutions to the exam (as you would with a lab or homework assignment). This template includes the header (title, author, data etc.), the set-up code chunk to load packages, a code chunk to import the data, problem numbers, and the instructions printed below. It will not contain the text of any problems. You may download and look at this template at any time.
At 5pm on Monday, March 6th, the .pdf file containing the exam questions will be made available under the Midterm 1 assignment on Gradescope. Once you click on the Gradescope assignment link and accept the assignment, you will have 2 hours to work on the exam and submit your knitted .pdf file to the same location on Gradescope.
Download the Midterm 1 .Rmd Template.
Work through the exam questions in the .pdf file on Gradescope, recording your answers in the .Rmd template, and submit the document as a knitted .pdf file with your answers on Gradescope. Only what appears in the .pdf file will be graded, so if what you see in the .pdf doesn’t reflect what you intend for the answer, modify your .rmd file so the .pdf reflects your answer.
You may take up to 120 minutes to complete this exam. You may start the exam at any time, but you must cease working and submit your .pdf file 120 minutes after you begin. You should plan to spend 110 minutes on the exam itself, and should use the remaining 10 minutes to knit the document and submit. You will be unable to submit the assignment to gradescope after this time has elapsed. If you have academic accommodations permitting additional time on the exam, we will discuss how these accomodations will be implemented via email.
If you encounter problems while knitting the assignment and are unable to submit the .pdf to gradescope, write a comment in your .Rmd file indicating the problem that occurred. Then, download and email the .Rmd file to Professor Wells [wellsjon@grinnell.edu]. You should do so within the time limit for the exam.
You may reference your Lab and Homework Assignments (both the versions you submitted and the comments you received), your course notes, textbooks (both ModernDive and Statistics: Unlocking the Power Data), lecture slides, and lecture videos.
You may also reference any built-in help functions in R (for
example, you may look at the results of typing ?ggplot into
the console or the cheat sheets on the help menu).
You MAY NOT reference any other physical or online sources, repost or share questions or answers from this exam (for example on Message Boards, via email or text, or on Homework help websites), or receive help on this exam from others in any way.
If you have technical questions, send an email to Professor Wells describing the issue. For equity reasons, I will not answer conceptual, content or coding questions. Since I may be unable to answer your question during the time frame you are taking the exam, document the issue on the exam and then move on to the next problem.
Knit your document early and often! If a code chunk is preventing
you from knitting the document and you are unable to resolve the
problem, replace {r} at the top of the code chunk with
{r eval = F}. The code will not run (and therefore, will
not prevent you from knitting the document), but it will be printed in
your .pdf which can possibly earn some partial credit.
For each problem, put your solution between the bars of red stars.
To best prepare for an exam, you should attempt to accurately assess what topics you have mastered and which you need to practice more. A good starting point is to prepare is to create your own study guide with summaries of the important concepts, along with example problems you’ve designed and solved. Exam problems will be comparable in difficulty to those exhibited in class and assigned for homework and lab. Some exam questions may be similar to problems you have seen before, while others will require you to synthesize your knowledge in new ways.
On the exam, you may be asked to do the following:
For extra practice, several review problems are provided on the Midterm 1 Review .Rmd (below). However, they are not comprehensive, so do not limit your studying to just these problems. While the problems are intended to match the difficulty of those on the exam, the length of this review set may not represent the actual length of the exam. Solutions to the review problems are found in the Midterm 1 Review Solutions .pdf (below)
Midterm 2 Take-Home Exam .Rmd Template
The first midterm will have two components:
An 80-minute in-class exam on Monday 4/17 2:30 - 3:50pm
A 120-minute take-home exam, made available on Monday 4/17 at 5pm, and due at the latest by Friday 4/ at 11:59pm.
The exams will be lightly cumulative, but with emphasis on material covered since the 1st midterm. This includes material covered in class through Wednesday, April 5th.
Time: The in-class exam will be held Monday 3/6 from 2:30pm to 3:50pm.
Location: The exam will be held in our typical classroom: Noyce 2401.
Format: The in-class exam will be completed on paper and submitted by the end of the exam period.
Allowed Materials: Students may bring a two-sided sheet of standard 8.5 x 11 paper with typed or handwritten notes. Students must write their own note sheet, and should not use a note sheet created by another person.
Technology: Neither calculator nor computer will be necessary for the exam. Unless a student has documented accommodations allowing the use of calculator or computer, neither may be used during the exam.
Content: The in-class exam will focus on conceptual questions related to the content of the course. You will not be asked to perform R calculations on the exam. However, some questions may reference particular R functions that have been covered in class, and these questions may ask you to explain what a particular piece of code does, or ask you to interpret the output of a particular piece of code.
Time: The take-home exam will be posted at 5pm on Monday 4/17 and will be due at the latest by 11:59pm on Friday 4/21.
Location: You may work on the take-home exam at a location of your choice.
Format: The take-home exam will be completed in a .Rmd using RStudio and submitted to Gradescope as a knitted .pdf.
Allowed Materials: Students may use the RStudio Server to work on the exam. Additionally, the exam is open-book and open-notes. This includes:
Your Lab and Homework Assignments (both the versions you submitted and the comments you received)
Your course notes that you’ve taken
The course textbooks (both ModernDive and Statistics: Unlocking the Power Data)
Lecture slides from the course website
The recorded lecture videos for Monday 2/20
Any built-in help functions in R (for example, you may look at
the results of typing ?ggplot into the console or the cheat
sheets on the help menu).
Disallowed Materials: You MAY NOT reference any other physical or online sources, repost or share questions or answers from this exam (for example on Message Boards, via email or text, or on Homework help websites), or receive help on this exam from others in any way.
Technology: A computer with internet access will be required to complete this exam.
Content: The take-home exam will focus on coding questions related to the content of the course, and will be comparable in scope and style to lab questions and coding-based homework questions.
A blank .Rmd template for the exam will be posted on the exam page of the course website on Sunday April 16. Use this template to write up solutions to the exam (as you would with a lab or homework assignment). This template includes the header (title, author, data etc.), the set-up code chunk to load packages, a code chunk to import the data, problem numbers, and the instructions printed below. It will not contain the text of any problems. You may download and look at this template at any time.
At 5pm on Monday, April 17th, the .pdf file containing the exam questions will be made available under the Midterm 2 assignment on Gradescope. Once you click on the Gradescope assignment link and accept the assignment, you will have 2 hours to work on the exam and submit your knitted .pdf file to the same location on Gradescope.
Download the Midterm 2 .Rmd Template.
Work through the exam questions in the .pdf file on Gradescope, recording your answers in the .Rmd template, and submit the document as a knitted .pdf file with your answers on Gradescope. Only what appears in the .pdf file will be graded, so if what you see in the .pdf doesn’t reflect what you intend for the answer, modify your .rmd file so the .pdf reflects your answer.
You may take up to 120 minutes to complete this exam. You may start the exam at any time, but you must cease working and submit your .pdf file 120 minutes after you begin. You should plan to spend 110 minutes on the exam itself, and should use the remaining 10 minutes to knit the document and submit. You will be unable to submit the assignment to gradescope after this time has elapsed. If you have academic accommodations permitting additional time on the exam, we will discuss how these accomodations will be implemented via email.
If you encounter problems while knitting the assignment and are unable to submit the .pdf to gradescope, write a comment in your .Rmd file indicating the problem that occurred. Then, download and email the .Rmd file to Professor Wells [wellsjon@grinnell.edu]. You should do so within the time limit for the exam.
You may reference your Lab and Homework Assignments (both the versions you submitted and the comments you received), your course notes, textbooks (both ModernDive and Statistics: Unlocking the Power Data), lecture slides, and lecture videos.
You may also reference any built-in help functions in R (for
example, you may look at the results of typing ?ggplot into
the console or the cheat sheets on the help menu).
You MAY NOT reference any other physical or online sources, repost or share questions or answers from this exam (for example on Message Boards, via email or text, or on Homework help websites), or receive help on this exam from others in any way.
If you have technical questions, send an email to Professor Wells describing the issue. For equity reasons, I will not answer conceptual, content or coding questions. Since I may be unable to answer your question during the time frame you are taking the exam, document the issue on the exam and then move on to the next problem.
Knit your document early and often! If a code chunk is preventing
you from knitting the document and you are unable to resolve the
problem, replace {r} at the top of the code chunk with
{r eval = F}. The code will not run (and therefore, will
not prevent you from knitting the document), but it will be printed in
your .pdf which can possibly earn some partial credit.
For each problem, put your solution between the bars of red stars.
To best prepare for an exam, you should attempt to accurately assess what topics you have mastered and which you need to practice more. A good starting point is to prepare is to create your own study guide with summaries of the important concepts, along with example problems you’ve designed and solved. Exam problems will be comparable in difficulty to those exhibited in class and assigned for homework and lab. Some exam questions may be similar to problems you have seen before, while others will require you to synthesize your knowledge in new ways.
On the exam, you may be asked to do the following:
For extra practice, several review problems are provided on the Midterm 1 Review .Rmd (below). However, they are not comprehensive, so do not limit your studying to just these problems. While the problems are intended to match the difficulty of those on the exam, the length of this review set may not represent the actual length of the exam. Solutions to the review problems are found in the Midterm 1 Review Solutions .pdf (below)
The final exam will be cumulative, but with emphasis on material covered in class since the 2nd midterm, corresponding to Appendix P, Chapters 5 - 10 of the Statistic: Unlocking the Power of Data textbook.
The exam will have two components, and both will be completed between 9am and noon on Tuesday, May 16.
A handwritten component, taking approximately 1.5 hours, to be completed first.
An electronic component, taking approximately 1.5 hours, to completed second and using a computer.
Time: The handwritten exam will be distributed at 9am on Tuesday May 16
Location: The exam will be held in our typical classroom: Noyce 2401.
Format: The in-class exam will be completed on paper and submitted by the end of the exam period; the exam is intended to take 1.5 hours, although this time is not strict. However, the handwritten exam must be completed prior to the electronic exam, and the total time available for both parts is 3 hours.
Allowed Materials: Students may bring a two-sided sheet of standard 8.5 x 11 paper with typed or handwritten notes. Students must write their own note sheet, and should not use a note sheet created by another person. Additionally, a printed copy of this handout will be provided to each student.
Technology: Neither calculator nor computer will be necessary for the exam. Unless a student has documented accommodations allowing the use of calculator or computer, neither may be used during the exam.
Content: The in-class exam will focus on conceptual questions related to the content of the course. You will not be asked to perform R calculations on the exam. However, some questions may reference particular R functions that have been covered in class, and these questions may ask you to explain what a particular piece of code does, or ask you to interpret the output of a particular piece of code.
Time: The questions for the electronic exam will be distributed on Tuesday May 16th after a student has submitted their Handwritten Exam. The total time available for both parts is 3 hours.
Location: You may work on the take-home exam in Noyce 2401, or another location of your choice.
Format: The take-home exam will be completed in a .Rmd using RStudio and submitted to Gradescope as a knitted .pdf.
Allowed Materials: Students may use the RStudio Server to work on the exam. Additionally, the exam is open-book and open-notes. This includes:
Your Lab and Homework Assignments (both the versions you submitted and the comments you received)
Your course notes that you’ve taken
The course textbooks (both ModernDive and Statistics: Unlocking the Power Data)
Lecture slides from the course website
The recorded lecture videos for Monday 2/20
Any built-in help functions in R (for example, you may look at
the results of typing ?ggplot into the console or the cheat
sheets on the help menu).
Disallowed Materials: You MAY NOT reference any other physical or online sources, repost or share questions or answers from this exam (for example on Message Boards, via email or text, or on Homework help websites), or receive help on this exam from others in any way.
Technology: A computer with internet access will be required to complete this exam. Computers are available in Noyce 2401.
Content: The take-home exam will focus on coding questions related to the content of the course, and will be comparable in scope and style to lab questions and coding-based homework questions.
A blank .Rmd template for the exam is posted above. Use this template to write up solutions to the exam (as you would with a lab or homework assignment). This template includes the header (title, author, data etc.), the set-up code chunk to load packages, a code chunk to import the data, problem numbers, and the instructions printed below. It will not contain the text of any problems. You may download and look at this template at any time.
During the exam on Tuesday, May 16th, a handout of the exam questions will be distributed once a student submits the handwritten component of the exam.
To best prepare for an exam, you should attempt to accurately assess what topics you have mastered and which you need to practice more. A good starting point is to prepare is to create your own study guide with summaries of the important concepts, along with example problems you’ve designed and solved. Exam problems will be comparable in difficulty to those exhibited in class and assigned for homework and lab. Some exam questions may be similar to problems you have seen before, while others will require you to synthesize your knowledge in new ways.
On the exam, you may be asked to do the following:
For extra practice, several review problems are provided on the Final Review .Rmd (below). However, they are not comprehensive, so do not limit your studying to just these problems. While the problems are intended to match the difficulty of those on the exam, the length of this review set may not represent the actual length of the exam. Solutions to the review problems are found in the Final Review Solutions .pdf (below)