All SBE students are required to take an exit exam in their last semester of stu

Question

All SBE students are required to take an exit exam in their last semester of studies. A summary of their results is distributed among the SBE faculty. This summary includes the average (arithmetic mean) exam score received by students in each SBE major, as well as the number of graduating students who took the exam in each major, but not the individual per-student exam scores. Suppose a faculty member was interested to know the college-wide average score for the exit exam in a given semester.

Please answer the following questions in your post:

If she takes an arithmetic mean of all per-major scores, is that a fair representation of the college-wide average exam score? Why or why not?

Is there a better, more accurate measure she can calculate using the available data, rather than the arithmetic mean? How would she calculate it?

Can you describe a scenario when taking an arithmetic mean of per-major average scores is the best approach?

Explanation / Answer

Answer to the question)

Given:

The individual student score is not provided

.

Answer to question# 1)

Yes, if the faculty takes the arithmetic mean of all the pre major scores that may be a fair representation of the college wide score, provided that all the subjects have equal weightage and same number of students have appeared for all subject exams

.

Answer to question# 2)

The best way to find the college wide score is : to find the weighted average. The weights can be based on the credit of each subject and the number of students who appeared for each of the subject exams

.

Answer to question# 3)

The above method of simple arithmetic can be employed successfully only if each subject has same credit and same number of students who took the exam

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse A
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.