Requirements to Pass this Unit: To pass this unit, you must:

1. Attempt all assessment tasks
2. Achieve a total mark equal to or greater than 50%

Participation in learning activities:

We strongly encourage all students to engage regularly with the pre-recorded materials and post-recorded lectures. Consistent interaction with these resources is essential for your success, as they provide opportunities to deepen your understanding, reinforce key concepts, and prepare effectively for assessments. Staying actively involved will enhance your learning experience and help you make the most of the support available throughout the unit.

Late Assessment Submission Penalty:

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a grade of 0 will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11:55 pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical concern.  For any late submission of time-sensitive tasks, such as scheduled tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, and/or scheduled practical assessments/labs, students need to submit an application for Special Consideration.

Assessments where Late Submissions will be accepted. 

1. Generative AI Research Poster – YES, Standard Late Penalty applies 
2. Excel-based practical test – NO, unless Special Consideration is granted 
3. Module Test – NO, unless Special Consideration is granted 

Special Considerations: 

The Special Consideration Policy aims to support students impacted by short-term circumstances or events that are serious, unavoidable, and significantly disruptive and may affect their performance in assessment. If you experience circumstances or events that affect your ability to complete the assessments in this unit on time, please inform the convenor and submit a Special Consideration request through https://connect.mq.edu.au/s/.

Classes

The statistics content is structured for self-paced learning from Week 1 to Week 13 (except Week 9, when the test takes place). Each week, you should work through the following materials:

• Pre-recorded lecture (1 hour) – Available for Weeks 1–12.
• Pre-recorded SGTA solutions (1 hour) – Covering topics from the current or previous lectures (Weeks 1–13).
• Pre-recorded practical solutions (1 hour) – Application of topics from the current or previous lectures (Weeks 1–13).

Regularly engaging with these materials will help reinforce your understanding and prepare you effectively for assessments.

Communication

We will communicate with you via your university email or through announcements on iLearn. You can also post queries to convenors on the iLearn discussion board or send them to your lecturers [or stat1170.admin@mq.edu.au] from your university email address.

COVID Information

For the latest information on the University’s response to COVID-19, please refer to the Coronavirus infection page on the Macquarie website: https://www.mq.edu.au/about/coronavirus-faqs.

Please check this page regularly for information and changes in requirements during the semester. If this unit regarding COVID-19 changes, we will communicate these via iLearn.

Assistance

For help with any matters related to this unit, students should contact the appropriate department staff by emailing stat1170.admin@mq.edu.au.

Required and Recommended Texts and/or Materials

• Software:
  • Excel, a spreadsheet application from Microsoft's Office suite, is used in this unit. Students with Mac or Windows computers can download it from the student portal, which can be accessed from the Student IT services web page: http://students.mq.edu.au/it_services/. Students using other operating systems might find Google Sheets or OpenOffice Calc a workable alternative.

Recommended textbook for this unit:

• Modern Statistics: An introduction, Don McNeil and Jenny Middledorp (ISBN 9781486007011). This can be purchased in hard copy from www.booktopia.com.au/coop or in e-format (ISBN 9781486022120).

Other recommended reading:

• Introduction to the Practice of Statistics, Moore, D.S. and McCabe, G. P (W.H. Freeman)
• Statistics without Tears by Rowntree (Penguin)
• Mind on Statistics by Utts & Heckard (Thomson, 2004)
• Elementary Statistics by Johnson & Kuby (Thomson, 2007)
• Statistics: The Art & Science of Learning from Data by Agresti & Franklin (Prentice Hall, 2007)
• The Statistical Sleuth by Ramsey and Schafer (Duxbury, 2002).

Technology Used and Required

iLearn (a version of Moodle) is used to deliver course material and can be accessed at http://ilearn.mq.edu.au.

Prizes

The Don McNeil Prize for Introductory Statistics is named in honour of the foundation Professor of Statistics at Macquarie University. The prize is awarded twice per year to the student with the best overall performance in a first-year statistics unit.

New topics have been introduced in Week 2, Week 7, and Week 10 (refer to the unit schedule). Module Tests and Statistical Report have been replaced by three assessments (refer to the assessment tasks section of the unit guide).