Data Analysis Mid-Term Exam

Nothing too exciting happenned at the exam. The format was open book, open notes. Needless to say that even with this format I felt a brain-freeze, as oftentimes the case in my quantitative classes. Will see how I fared on the forced grading curve. The stuff covered in the exam was all the material we have studied so far in the class: sampling distribution, confidence interval, hypothesis testing. All the stuff that makes people excited, myself including I wish I also had a better grasp on it.

Speaking of the better grasp. Earlier in the module I asked professor if he could recommend some other book which could be used to better understand the concepts we learn in the course and their application. Surprizingly, professor admitted he was not specifically excited about the textbook we were using, but it had been the department’s choice, not his. So he recommended another book.

I earnestly hoped it would be some other kind of book, not another graduate level statistics textbook, which I already had. I hoped for something a bit more on a layman, or at least undergraduate level. I thought, he might wholeheartedly endorse something from Complete Idiot’s Guide to… series, or from the … for Dummies collection. A-hem. Apparently he does not read this kind of books, at least not on statistics.

So he recommended me a book. I was so desperate about my struggles with statistics that I ordered it right away on Amazon. When it arrived soon after and, I opened the package… it was yet another textbook on statistics at graduate level . I admit, it has a huge advantage, about 30% advantage to be more precise: it has only about 800 pages vs almost 1100 pages in our required textbook for this statistics course. I actually read side by side a few definitions from both books, just to see if it is really better/easier explained in my new acquisition. I can not tell. I think that some stuff is explained a bit clearer in one, whereas other explanations are a bit more conceivable in the other book. On the right, by the way, is the new book I am talking about.

Now I have two textbooks on statistics. What I don’t have is the time to read them both. So I will use them for cross-reference in especially  difficult cases. And for straight reading I would stick with the new one, even if for the sake of its “brevity” :).

I will even throw in for free this business idea for left-brainers with entrepreneurial inclinations (even though we all know it’s usually not going together. You are either entrepreneur or a left-brainer. Just kidding): how about creating a series of cartoon/comics level books on all quantitative core MBA courses? Come to think of it, why not to have cartoon/comics books on all qualitative MBA classes for those struggling left-brainers too . Forget Complete Idiots’ and Dummies series – too complicated. We need comics! :-0

And staying true to my MBA credo, I rescind that free offer. I will take a few copies of each book for personal use as a small token of appreciation for this great idea.

Tagged as: Business School, Data Analysis, Decision Making, Evening MBA program, George Washington University, GW School of Business, GWSB, GWU School of Business, MBA exam, MBA textbook, part-time MBA, Professional MBA, Statistics