Advanced Higher Statistics- Dilemma

OP

Original post by GreigM

I am unable to help you, sorry.

Although you Sir. Are what we call a Beast!

Pffft, *madam.

Making matters worse by calling me a man :tongue:

But seriously, I need some help :colondollar:

There are hardly any resources for it!

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 3

MC1723

Original post by -Neuro-

Hello,

I am considering doing AH Statistics next year and was wondering how hard it is in terms of concepts and workload? I’m in fifth year at the moment and, as a result of early presentation, I will be sitting AH maths this year which I on track for attaining an A1.

I am hoping to study Medicine at university and I have heard that it will be extremely useful, in fact I was talking to someone on here who said that some of the content in the AH stats course came up in FRCS exams!

I know Statistics is an obscure choice as apparently not many schools offer it, my school inclusive, but my friend, a medic at Aberdeen, did recommend it highly as from her experience of university statistics is used very often. But equally I will definitely be doing the three sciences at AH and an open university course and I would not want to be giving myself too much work, especially considering the fact that I will need to prepare for aptitude tests and interviews which are much more important than an extra AH!

Also my school doesn’t offer it and I’m not aware of any state schools in my region that do offer it, meaning most of it will be self-taught with some help from a teacher in the maths department who use to teach stats. There doesn’t seem to be many online resources/ books for it either :s-smilie:

Any help with this would be appreciated! :colondollar:

Many thanks in advance!

is 'Statistics' under applied maths? If yes, my friend is kinda on the same boat as you except shes wanting to do mechanics and shes spoke to the head of maths about it and that it could possible for her to go to another school to do it (which luckily is down the road from where our school is) Have you expressed an interest in doing it yeah? I'm not sure if this applies to statistics but for mechanics, unit 3 is the exactly the same as the one in AH math so technically for that you only need to learn two units, if you want to self-teach yourself it you should ask teachers at your school to help you get resources or something :smile:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 4

TheFOMaster

13

Original post by -Neuro-

Pffft, *madam.

Making matters worse by calling me a man :tongue:

But seriously, I need some help :colondollar:

There are hardly any resources for it!

I remember reading that for Applied Maths, its good too pick up an A-Level textbook, and use and the arrangement documents to learn the relevant theory :smile:

Obviously they're will be discretion between the courses, and so they'll be more than you need to know in those textbooks, and may not have things you do need to know, but it's a start! :smile:

Reply 5

Not that hard IMO but obviously entirely subjective. If you get a decent book and you find it interesting you'll zip through it.

Bear in mind that you're already going to know the whole of unit 3 from the AH Pure course.

If you need somewhere to sit the NABs/exams I know of a couple of places. You do need someone who knows what they're doing to mark the NABs, which can be a bit of a hassle to find.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 6

Hype en Ecosse

20

Original post by mimx

Not that hard IMO but obviously entirely subjective. If you get a decent book and you find it interesting you'll zip through it.

Bear in mind that you're already going to know the whole of unit 3 from the AH Pure course.

If you need somewhere to sit the NABs/exams I know of a couple of places. You do need someone who knows what they're doing to mark the NABs, which can be a bit of a hassle to find.

S'all good. We'll just pass the NABs along to Slumpy. He can mark them.

I don't have any useful advice; I forgot the name of the girl here who did Stats last year, but she went on to Durham for maths.
I'm also not sure what's with the large number of people looking to take 4+ AHs for medicine. Remember that you're going for quality, not quantity. Only take on the work if you're very sure that you can handle it, and are willing to do the work required. Better 3 As than 2 As and 3 Bs!

Edit: Although, if you find any good resources online, please do pass them along!

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 7

Original post by Hype en Ecosse

Although, if you find any good resources online, please do pass them along!

Google is pretty barren for AH Applied Maths, sadly.

If you're lucky you might get some Mechanics notes from (A)H Physics. Stats not so much.

Not sure if I've got anything that would be particularly useful beyond books, I'll have a rummage.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 8

Original post by nerd434

There are two entire Maths In Action textbooks dedicated to AH Statistics and Mechanics...

I know, that's why I said Google and beyond books. :tongue:

Though from what I saw of MIA I didn't really like them as much as some of the A-Level books.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 9

OP

Original post by mimx

Not that hard IMO but obviously entirely subjective. If you get a decent book and you find it interesting you'll zip through it.

Bear in mind that you're already going to know the whole of unit 3 from the AH Pure course.

If you need somewhere to sit the NABs/exams I know of a couple of places. You do need someone who knows what they're doing to mark the NABs, which can be a bit of a hassle to find.

I have found the two maths in action books, but the pure ones by them are not that good :tongue:

Is it unit 1 from pure maths?

I've talked to the depute head who said that she was going to a meeting on Monday where she will talk to teachers from other schools about my situation. Fingers crossed, somebody can help!

Original post by Hype en Ecosse

S'all good. We'll just pass the NABs along to Slumpy. He can mark them.

I don't have any useful advice; I forgot the name of the girl here who did Stats last year, but she went on to Durham for maths.
I'm also not sure what's with the large number of people looking to take 4+ AHs for medicine. Remember that you're going for quality, not quantity. Only take on the work if you're very sure that you can handle it, and are willing to do the work required. Better 3 As than 2 As and 3 Bs!

Edit: Although, if you find any good resources online, please do pass them along!

What can I say, we are a keen bunch :tongue:

Are there really that many though? Hopefully I'll be able to. I'm not doing stats because it would make my application better, as I know that it won't. But because I'm interested in it and because I've heard it will be quite useful for university and when doing research.

Original post by mimx

Google is pretty barren for AH Applied Maths, sadly.

If you're lucky you might get some Mechanics notes from (A)H Physics. Stats not so much.

Not sure if I've got anything that would be particularly useful beyond books, I'll have a rummage.

Books are good! Any recommendations? :colondollar:

Reply 10

Original post by -Neuro-

Is it unit 1 from pure maths?

No, it's a mixture of stuff from all three of the AH pure units.

Original post by -Neuro-

Books are good! Any recommendations? :colondollar:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0199143919/ + occasional Google if you get stuck is all you need IMO.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 11

Hype en Ecosse

20

Original post by -Neuro-

What can I say, we are a keen bunch :tongue:

Are there really that many though? Hopefully I'll be able to. I'm not doing stats because it would make my application better, as I know that it won't. But because I'm interested in it and because I've heard it will be quite useful for university and when doing research.

You'll be having a lot more work and information thrown at you in the future, but it's just that people generally don't have the kind of work ethic required to bang out 4 AHs and a Higher. If you do, that's great, but 3 investigations is solid and it's more important to aim for quality. Even if it's just for interest, but I trust you to know when to take a step back if things are getting over your head. :tongue:

Yeah, that's why I'm looking for stats stuff the now. Fortunately, I can just get a stats (or stats for medics) book out of the library. I just want to understand all the numbers and graphs in papers that I read better. :lol:

Reply 12

OP

Sorry for the late replies!

Original post by mimx

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0199143919/ + occasional Google if you get stuck is all you need IMO.

Thank you so much for your help :h:

Original post by Hype en Ecosse

You'll be having a lot more work and information thrown at you in the future, but it's just that people generally don't have the kind of work ethic required to bang out 4 AHs and a Higher. If you do, that's great, but 3 investigations is solid and it's more important to aim for quality. Even if it's just for interest, but I trust you to know when to take a step back if things are getting over your head. :tongue:

Yeah, that's why I'm looking for stats stuff the now. Fortunately, I can just get a stats (or stats for medics) book out of the library. I just want to understand all the numbers and graphs in papers that I read better. :lol:

Oh no, not 4AH and a higher! Just the 4 AH's :tongue:

I understand, I will drop stats if it gets too tough. I've heard things about the investigations. Somebody told and I quote that "Anyone that does 3 Science AH's and Maths is bat**** insane though. 3 Investigations will make you seriously contemplate all the possible benefits to society if you committed a mass killing spree in your school. " So erm, yeah :innocent:

Reply 13

OP

Original post by nerd434

Not if you enjoy them...
Are you doing the BBO next year, by the way?

Enjoying the subject is one thing, enjoying the school curriculum is another. It might be enjoyable but I'll guess we have to see :tongue:

This was from a medic at Cambridge by the way!

Don't know maybe. It's after we apply so don't do it if you're looking bulk out your PS! It depends if I'm busy at the time really. Yourself? Still thinking of Medicine?

Reply 14

Asklepios

19

Original post by -Neuro-

Sorry for the late replies!

Thank you so much for your help :h:

Oh no, not 4AH and a higher! Just the 4 AH's :tongue:

I understand, I will drop stats if it gets too tough. I've heard things about the investigations. Somebody told and I quote that "Anyone that does 3 Science AH's and Maths is bat**** insane though. 3 Investigations will make you seriously contemplate all the possible benefits to society if you committed a mass killing spree in your school. " So erm, yeah :innocent:

Stats is very easy, especially as you will have already done AH maths

Reply 15

OP

Original post by Asklepios

Stats is very easy, especially as you will have already done AH maths

Yeah you find everything "very easy" :tongue:

What resources did you use? Have you heard back from any universities yet?

Reply 16

Asklepios

19

Original post by -Neuro-

Yeah you find everything "very easy" :tongue:

What resources did you use? Have you heard back from any universities yet?

4 rejections :frown:

will join you in the 2014 cycle now it looks :tongue:

There isn't much resources available for AH stats - no bright red :redface:

Maths in Action publish books for Stats 1 and 2 - these are good. But I have stats as a timetabled lesson so get notes from my teacher which I prefer to the book notes. This book is quite good for stats in general. If you are looking to study medicine you will be using stats a bit anyway so it is worth the investment.

In stats, there isnt much content really - if you understand probability, then thats pretty much it. You study probability distributions - Binomial, Poisson, Normal and then apply these to hypothesis testing. Taking stats has also helped me a fair bit with my biology investigation where I used the Mann-Whitney U test to see if one sample had higher median values than the other, or if the difference was just down to chance :biggrin:

Reply 17

anyone_can_fly

11

I would say that yes, stats is quite easy in terms of concepts and workload. If you're good at maths you'll manage fine, even alongside three other AHs. I didn't like the course myself much, because it felt like you were just following a recipe with every question: 'it gives me this bit of information and this bit of information, which means I do a t-test, so I do this then this then this'. So I found it boring. However, the other girl from my year who did it and is at Oxford loved it, so each to their own. I expect it will be useful for medicine. Hope that helped a little! :smile:

Reply 18

OP