2. Draft as of September 2009
Instructions
1. This task consists of THREE parts, Part A, Part B and Part C. Students are required to attempt ALL parts.
2. Numerical answers should either be exact or given to 2 decimal places.
3. All working must be clearly shown.
Teacher Guidelines
1. This task requires students to:
a. draw statistical charts;
b. find statistical measures;
c. interpret statistical results; and
d. understand uses and abuses of statistics.
2. It is anticipated that in general, students will be able to complete the task in 1 hour. However, teachers can
exercise their professional judgment in adjusting the time allowed to cater for the ability level of their
students.
3. If necessary, teachers may give a brief description of the task.
4. Teachers may feel free to modify the question and the marking guidelines to cater for the ability level of their
students.
5. Feedback should be provided to students after marking the task, e.g. discussing different approaches in
handling each part of the task.
Performance of Job Applicants (E)
2
3. Draft as of September 2009
Background
A company is recruiting university graduates into two of its teams, namely the finance team and the marketing
team. All applicants are required to sit for an aptitude test and score at least the pass mark.
Part A
There are 35 applicants for the finance team. The following table shows the aptitude test scores of all applicants
for the finance team.
Male Applicants Female Applicants
65 70 71 72 75 68 76 76 80 81
77 77 78 79 79 81 82 86 93 97
80 80 81 83 84
85 85 85 86 86
88 90 95 96 98
(a) Draw a suitable statistical chart and use suitable statistical measures to compare the performance of male and
female applicants in the aptitude test.
(b) Did the male applicants perform better than the female applicants? Explain your answer.
Part B
The company received 15 applications for the marketing team but only 5 of the applicants passed the same
aptitude test. The following diagram shows the test scores of all applicants.
Aptitude Test Scores of applicants for the marketing team
Male Female
Leaf (Units) Stem (Tens) Leaf (Units)
8 5 0 6 1 5
1 7 0 1 2 3 6 7
2 8 6 9
(a) Find a possible pass mark for the aptitude test.
(b) A manager of the company claims that the pass rate of female applicants is higher than that of male
applicants. Give evidence to support the manager’s claim.
Part C
Based on the claim of the manager in Part B (b), the boss of the company jumps to the conclusion that the pass rate
of female applicants for the company is higher than that of male applicants.
Do you agree? Explain your answer.
END OF ASSESSMENT
Performance of Job Applicants (E)
3
