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AP Statistics Descriptive Statistics — practice questions

Explore 22 free Descriptive Statistics questions in AP Statistics Statistics. Open each question or exercise to read its content, reference answers and available explanation.

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Descriptive Statistics questions and exercises with answers

Showing questions 1–22 of 22.

For an odd number of ordered values, the median is:Read the answer and worked solution →The standard deviation measures how far data values sit from their:Read the answer and worked solution →The standard deviation of a data set is always:Read the answer and worked solution →To calculate the standard deviation, you must first calculate the:Read the answer and worked solution →Percentiles divide a data set into how many equal parts?Read the answer and worked solution →The first quartile Q1 is the middle value of:Read the answer and worked solution →The interquartile range indicates the spread of:Read the answer and worked solution →A distribution is symmetrical when a vertical line can be drawn so that the two sides are:Read the answer and worked solution →A distribution pulled out toward the low end is described as:Read the answer and worked solution →When a distribution is skewed to the right, the mean is usually:Read the answer and worked solution →Comparing the mean and the median, outliers:Read the answer and worked solution →Looking at house prices, a better summary than the mean alone is the median together with:Read the answer and worked solution →The third measure of centre, besides mean and median, is the:Read the answer and worked solution →Alongside range and standard deviation, the third standard measure of spread is:Read the answer and worked solution →Alongside stemplots and box plots, the third standard display for one variable is the:Read the answer and worked solution →Measures of location, as opposed to centre or spread, are quartiles and:Read the answer and worked solution →When first looking at a graph of data, you should look for an overall pattern and any:Read the answer and worked solution →Centre, spread or location?Read the answer and worked solution →Resistant to outliers?Read the answer and worked solution →Match each statistic to its meaningRead the answer and worked solution →True or false: describing dataRead the answer and worked solution →Complete the shape ruleRead the answer and worked solution →

Worked practice questions

For an odd number of ordered values, the median is:

  1. The middle value
  2. The first value
  3. The final value
  4. The average value
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Correct answer: A. The middle value

1. The median splits an ordered data set into two equal halves. 2. With an odd count there is one value exactly in the middle. 3. If n is an odd number, the median is the middle value of the ordered data, ordered smallest to largest. 4. With an even count you average the two middle values instead. _Source: OpenStax Introductory Statistics 2e (CC BY 4.0), Ch 2 'Descriptive Statistics', sections 2.1-2.7_

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The standard deviation measures how far data values sit from their:

  1. Mean
  2. Median
  3. Mode
  4. Range
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Correct answer: A. Mean

1. Spread has to be measured relative to some centre. 2. The standard deviation is a number that measures how far data values are from their mean. 3. It provides a measure of the overall variation in a data set. 4. The median and mode are centres too, but the standard deviation is defined against the mean. _Source: OpenStax Introductory Statistics 2e (CC BY 4.0), Ch 2 'Descriptive Statistics', sections 2.1-2.7_

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The standard deviation of a data set is always:

  1. Exactly equal to one
  2. Positive or zero
  3. Negative or zero
  4. Strictly negative
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Correct answer: B. Positive or zero

1. Standard deviation is built from squared distances, which cannot be negative. 2. The standard deviation provides a measure of the overall variation in a data set. 3. The standard deviation is always positive or zero. 4. It equals zero only when every value in the set is identical. _Source: OpenStax Introductory Statistics 2e (CC BY 4.0), Ch 2 'Descriptive Statistics', sections 2.1-2.7_

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More Statistics topics

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