1. The exam is comprehensive and you cannot drop it. It is worth 100 points out of 300 possible, so it will have a big influence on your final score in the class. To see how it can be worth more than 100, see #9 below.
2. You may bring an 8.5x11 (not 8.5x14) piece of paper to the final. You can write anything you want on the front and back, but no magnifying glasses allowed! You must turn this page in with your exam.
3. As usual, you should bring a calculator and you cannot share. I will provide statistical tables.
4. You will have 2.5 hours, but I do not expect well-prepared students to need that long. This test will be longer and comprehensive. Be prepared to integrate and recall. For instance, in the middle of doing a hypothesis test with a data set, I might ask you to interpret the value you computed for the standard deviation. Then at the end, I might ask you what would have happened if the standard deviation were larger. You might have to compare properties of different measures, such as the mean and median, then use the information to make some decision or solve a problem. Spend some time comparing problems from different chapters and sections, so that you recognize the situation and how to solve it. Think about a reasonable value for the answer and being able to explain the answer to someone who is not technically trained. I don't try to make the test harder than usual, but I do make it longer and comprehensive, so don't panic or despair--just prepare.
5. Be sure you can read Excel output that we have seen this semester, such as histograms and regression output.
6. I do not post grades. I do not give out grades over the phone or Internet. I post them as soon as possible on the WIN system in your individual records. Also I usually do not determine grades until all tests are taken and graded. I realize that you are eager to know how you performed, but I won't know your grades early.
7. I will not show you how to answer questions on the exam until all my sections have taken their exams. I will keep the finals for a couple of weeks in the next term, so you can see me then as well, if you have questions.
8. I do not hold regular office hours during final exams. Contact me to set up a mutually agreeable time for an individual meeting.
9. Just a reminder about grade calculations. The exam is very important to determining the overall evaluation of your work in this class. Practice and prepare. I drop the lowest regular test score. The lowest remaining test score after dropping the lowest of all test scores, is a candidate for replacement. Of course your final exam score counts as a major part of your total. For examples of calculations of grades see Grade Computations.
10. You can access some review problems and their solutions. Understand that I make no promises that you will make any particular grade if you can solve all of these problems. They are simply available as a sample of some of the work we have done this semester (this set of problems is definitely not comprehensive--it was devised for the old version of Econ 235). I urge you to study more than this. Access by clicking on Review.doc. The solutions are at the end of this Word document.
11. I wish you well. If you have other comments about the class (stuff you liked or stuff you think I could change and help future students learn better), please let me know. And when Professors Allen, Hays, and Spencer ask you about the standard deviation in Fin 305, please don't act like you have never heard of it. Or if your Quant professor asks anything about statistics, please oblige.