AP Statistics case studies
AP Statistics · Put your knowledge to work in context.
AP Statistics is a College Board Advanced Placement course and exam that mirrors a one-semester, introductory, non-calculus-based college statistics course. It is designed for high school students who have completed a first-year algebra course and want college-level credit or placement while building skills they will use in news polls, medical research, AI models, and other data-rich fields. The course emphasizes the full statistical problem-solving process: formulating valid investigative questions, collecting data through random sampling and sound experimental design, analyzing data with graphs, summary statistics, probability and simulation, and interpreting results through confidence intervals and significance tests. The exam is fully digital and is completed in the Bluebook testing app, with all responses submitted automatically at the end. The AP Statistics case studies are 5 cases and about 1,456 words.
1The Commute Time Study
A transportation researcher records the commute times (in minutes) of 40 randomly selected employees at a large company. The sample mean is 32.5 minutes and the sample standard deviation is 8.2 minutes.
271 words, about 1 min2The Online Subscription Trial
A company tests a new website design to increase the proportion of visitors who sign up for a free trial. In a random sample of 200 visitors to the old design, 40 signed up.
350 words, about 2 min3The Battery Life Experiment
A consumer electronics company claims that its new smartphone battery lasts an average of 12 hours under continuous use. A consumer advocacy group suspects the average is less than 12 hours.
266 words, about 1 min4The Advertising and Sales Regression
A marketing analyst collects data on monthly advertising expenditure (in thousands of dollars) and monthly sales (in thousands of dollars) for 30 randomly selected months from a retail chain. A least-squares regression line is fitted, yielding the equation: Predicted Sales = 50 + 2.5 Advertising.
277 words, about 1 min5The Cola Preference Survey
A beverage company conducts a taste test to determine if consumers prefer a new cola formula over the original. In a random sample of 150 consumers, 90 preferred the new formula.
292 words, about 1 min