STA 431: Final Exam Review
The final examination in STA431 is on Sunday April 23d in IB120, from 9am - 12 noon. The following information applies only to the regular exam, not the special deferred exam.
- The exam is comprehensive, except that
- There will be no questions based directly on Assignment 1.
- There will be no pure linear algebra questions. That is, there will be no questions about vectors and matrices in which nothing is random. For example, in Assignment 2, you should skip Questions 2-12. In Assignment 3, skip 1 and 2.
- There will be nothing on principal components or spectral decomposition.
- There will not be any non-normal MLEs, and there will be no numerical MLEs -- except, of course, that lavaan is giving you numerical MLEs. But the details of how it happens are not on the exam.
- The exam is 14 pages long, including the cover page. There are 8 questions, with sub-parts. You will write your answers on the exam paper.
- You can bring a calculator if it makes you feel more comfortable, but you will not need it.
- You will draw at least one path diagram. It would be good to bring a pencil and an eraser.
- The most important way to prepare for the exam is to re-do homework assignments 2-10, excluding the R parts.
- The second most important way to prepare for the exam is to work on the last assignment, Assignment 11. There is one and only one R question on the exam, and it is based on the data set in Assignment 11. You will answer questions based on my R output.
Office hours for the final exam. These are not review sessions; since you have my answers to all the homework problems, there is more than enough material to review. These office ours are for clearing up any remaining issues, including errors in the solutions. I assume there must be some. Want me to re-explain something? I'm happy to do it.
- Thursday April 13th: 1-2 pm.
- Tuesday April 18th: 12-1 pm.
- Saturday April 22nd: 1-2 pm.
Here are some additional materials that may be helpful, not in order of importance.