Question 1

The city will hold a referendum next week on changing the city charter to prohibit City Council members from serving more than two consecutive, four-year terms. At present, Council members can serve as many consecutive terms as they can get elected to. Changing the city charter requires approval by at least two-thirds of the people voting in the referendum. A quick poll by your newspaper of 300 randomly selected registered city voters found that 71 percent support the measure. Given the poll’s margin of error at the 95 percent confidence level, what would be the minimum proportion of city voters who favor the measure?

64.1

*65.3

66.1

66.6

A random sample of 300 yields an error margin of 5.7 percentage points at the 95 percent level of confidence. So the poll result (71 percent) minus the error margin (5.7 percentage points) would equal 65.3 percent. Thus, it is not possible to say with 95 percent certainty that two-thirds or more of registered city voters support the measure because the low end of the error margin (65.3 percent) is less than two-thirds (66 percent).

Question 2

Suppose that instead of polling only 300 randomly selected registered city voters, your newspaper had polled 500. Given the poll’s margin of error at the 95 percent confidence level, what would be the minimum proportion of city voters who favor the measure if 71 percent of the voters in the sample favored the measure?

64.1

65.3

66.1

*66.6

A random sample of 500 yields an error margin of 4.4 percentage points at the 95 percent level of confidence. So the poll result (71 percent) minus the error margin (4.4 percentage points) would equal 66.6. percent. Thus, it is possible to say with 95 percent certainty that two-thirds or more of registered voters presently support the measure because the low end of the error margin (66.6 percent) is greater than two-thirds (66.6 percent).

Question 3

Paramount Academy, a city magnet elementary school that offers an experimental reading curriculum, has been open for three years, and two sets of eagerly awaited test scores have arrived. The first set of scores shows how students at Paramount Academy and the city’s ordinary schools fared on a reading test created and administered by the city school system. The second set of scores shows how Paramount Academy and the city’s ordinary schools did on a reading test administered by the federal government to all elementary schools across the country. The city and federal tests use different scales. On the city test, Paramount Academy’s students averaged 78, all city schools averaged 60, and the standard deviation was 9. On the federal test, Paramount Academy averaged 312, all schools averaged 250, and the standard deviation was 70. What is the Z score for Paramount Academy’s average on the city test?

-2

*2

18

71.3

The Z score of 2 means that Paramount Academy didn’t merely exceed the average. It exceeded the average by twice the typical difference from the average. In more statistical terms, Paramount’s reading score was two standard deviations above average for the city’s schools.

Question 4

The mayor is angry ___ the fire chief.

at

with

*either "at" or "with" would be allowable.

either "at" or "toward" would be allowable.

Question 5

The race will begin at 5 p.m. ___ of the weather conditions.

*regardless

irregardless

either "regardless" or "irregardless" would be allowable.

neither "regardless" nor "irregardless" would be allowable.

Question 6

None of the Council members ___ in favor of the proposal.

*is

are

Question 7

After retiring from the Navy, he opened a store specializing in ___ clothes.

mens

*men's

mens'

menses'

Question 8

Samuel Clemens used the pen name "Mark Twain," a phrase from ___ days as a riverboat pilot.

Clemenses'

Clemen's

Clemens's

*Clemens'

Question 9

In the sentence, "Police have been tracking him for years," the verb "have been tracking" is ___ tense.

past perfect progressive

*present perfect progressive

future perfect progressive

present perfect

Question 10

In the sentence, "I had finished reading the book when the doorbell rang," the verb "had finished" is ___ tense.

*past perfect

present perfect

future perfect

present perfect progressive