Statistics

This course will develop your ability to apply a statistical eye to the world. This course will allow you to develop essential skills needed to work with data sets allowing you to interpret results and understand the world around you. Statistical analysis is used in many A-level and degree programmes from Economics to Geography from Biology to Social Sciences; if there are facts to analyse, then Statistics is your toolkit.

What skills will I develop?

You The course is directly applicable and focuses on the development of the data handling and probability skills learnt at GCSE. You will study: experimental design; collection of data; representations of data and interpretations; standard distributions; probability theory; and hypothesis testing. This course can be taken in addition to A Level Mathematics or as an alternative. 

What topics will I study?

The following topics are assessed over three equally weighted 2 hour examinations:

• Numerical measures, graphs and diagrams
• Probability
• Population and sample
• Introduction to probability distribution
• Binomial distribution
• Normal distribution
• Correlation and linear regressio
• Introduction to hypothesis testin
• Contingency table
• One and two sample non-parametric test
• Bayes’ theorem
• Probability distributions
• Experimental design
• Sampling, estimates and resampling
• Hypothesis testing, significance testing, confidence intervals and power
• Hypothesis testing for 1 and 2 samples
• Paired tests
• Exponential and Poisson distributions
• Goodness of fit
• Analysis of variance
• Effect size
• Statistical Enquiry Cycle (SEC)

   

Component 1 – Examination: Data & Probability (2 hours – 33.3%)

Component 2 – Examination: Statistical Inference (2 hours – 33.3%)

Component 3 – Examination: Statistics in Practice (2 hours – 33.3%) 

Where does the course lead?

Careers from Actuarial Science to Zoology require an understanding of statistical analysis and this course will support your studies in a myriad of subjects thus preparing you well for further study. If you are hoping to go into the fields of Physics and Engineering, A Level Mathematics may suit you better, however A Level Statistics would be a good option to augment the skills learnt in that course for work in those fields.