Now let’s take another set of ten scores:
1130, 1140, 1150, 1170, 1180, 1200, 1210, 1230, 1240, 1250If you calculate the mean, you will find that these scores have the same average:
- But if we plot the scores, we will see a very different graph.
Though the mean is the same for both sets of data, the standard deviation, or
distance between the mean and each score, is different. Now, there are ways to
calculate the standard deviation, but our main concern for the SAT is to
understand that for the first set of scores, the standard deviation is greater, or
spread wider about the mean, while for the second set of scores, the standard
deviation is less, or grouped closer to the mean.
Population Parameters, Margin of Error, and Valid
Conclusions
A smaller number of SAT questions are going to wade into slightly murkier
statistical waters. If you have not taken a statistics class, then you are about to