Exams

General information

The exams use the Canvas quiz system (the same system you will use for submitting the assignments).

Each exam consists of 25 multiple choice questions followed by 5 sets of free response or calculation questions (i.e., calculations all using a common data set or scenario).

You will have two hours to complete each exam once you begin.

The exam must be completed on the date specified.

You should have the tables of critical values from the website available for reference.

A set of exams from previous semesters below give you a sense of the type of questions likely to be asked. Although these are from the previous in-person spring and summer semesters, the questions in the online course are very similar.

Additional items for the exams this semester

In addition to the lecture videos material, each exam has an additional document or website that must be studied. These are:

Exam #1 will include questions based on the list of cognitive biases at:
www.statsexamples.com/blog-6-cognitive-biases.html
Exam #2 will include questions based on the list of misuses of statistics at:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misuse_of_statistics
Exam #3 will include questions based on the research article posted here:
2024su-biostats-exam3-paper=flight-attendants-and-cancer.pdf

Exams from previous semesters

Because semesters vary in the number of class meetings and placement (or absence) of spring break, some topics may move between exams. If an old exam has questions on material that hasn't been covered or is missing a major topic that was covered, you may find it useful to check the other exams for that semester. In particular, these topics move around the most from semester to semester:

The chi-squared (X²) technique
Experimental design
Ethical considerations
Power analysis
False positives/negatives
Visual display of information

The relative risk, odds ratio, and risk difference topics were added more recently and are not reflected on previous exams.

Exam 1

These exams had questions about cognitive biases listed on the following website:
www.statsexamples.com/blog-6-cognitive-biases.html

Exam 2

These exams had questions about misuses of statistics listed on the following website:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misuse_of_statistics.

Exam 3

These exams had questions based on a research article assigned for that semester. The articles vary so a different link is given for each previous exam.

The paper for this semester's exam is linked above.

Summer 2019: Blank version | KEY
This exam asked questions about the following article: 2019su-biostats-exam3-paper=sparrow-mhc.pdf
Spring 2019: Blank version | KEY
This exam asked questions about the following article: 2019sp-biostats-exam3-paper=GOT-epidemiology.pdf
Summer 2018: Blank version | KEY
This exam asked questions about the following article: 2018su-biostats-exam3-paper=spider-remote-copulation.pdf
Spring 2018: Blank version | KEY
This exam asked questions about the following article: 2018sp-biostats-exam3-paper=cancer-funding.pdf
Summer 2017: Blank version | KEY
This exam asked questions about the following article: 2017su-biostats-exam3-paper=age-fitness.pdf
Spring 2017: Blank version | KEY
This exam asked questions about the following article: 2017sp-biostats-exam3-paper=cancer-funding.pdf
Summer 2016: Blank version | KEY
This exam asked questions about the following article: 2016su-biostats-exam3-paper=horse-facial-recognition.pdf
Spring 2016: Blank version | KEY
This exam asked questions about the following article: 2016sp-biostats-exam3-paper=cancer-funding.pdf