I finished updating the Sample Exam Strategy video yesterday. I’m very happy with the update, as it added much more to the strategy section than just an update to the spring schedule. Feel free to go ahead and give it a look now, but also plan to watch it carefully just before you start taking sample exams in April.

Last week I added 32 new problems to sections B.3.2-B.3.5, in the Markov Chain section. The Fall 2015 exam contained 4 problems from B.3, and they all came from B.3.2, B.3.3, and B.3.4. I think it is most likely that we will always see at least one question from B.3.3 on future exams. I think that problems on the Monte Carlo will be hard to write and therefore somewhat rare, and similarly for the continuous Markov chain transition probabilities. But Birth and Death chains and especially Branching processes have some easy to write exam questions in them, so I would expect that those topic would pop up on an exam soon. I’ve already added problems to B.3.5 on Branching processes last week, and I expect to add some for the end of B.3, including Birth and Death chains, later this week.

Finally, you may notice that B.2.5 has the “new” badge on it this week. I fixed a typo on slide 8, a minus sign that should have been a plus sign. This was correct in other places in the lesson and in the computations, so I suspect that it will not have caused too much confusion. I also repaired the inequalities in the IEP statement on the B.2 summary sheet, so you’ll want to pencil that in or download a new version of that formula sheet.

The next things that you should expect to see are the new problems for the later part of B.3, and the completion of the video solutions for all of the current problems in section B.4. I hope to be able to update you next week to let you know that those items are done, and what will be coming after that.

I’ve just added an introduction video for the Video Solutions tab. This video tours the contents of the tab, but it’s big job is to convey to you how I think it is best for the video solutions to be used. The video appears at the top of the tab menu, under the section labeled “Start Here” and “How I suggest that you use the solutions tab”. I know, mysterious and imaginative titles, as alway.

I hope that you will find this video to be helpful, and, as always, feedback is welcome!

From the CAS site:
“The portion of the Rosenberg and Guszcza textbook, previously used as the source for the multicollinearity material on Section C of Exam S, is no longer available free-of-charge for CAS candidates via an online link. As a result the Spring 2016 administration of Exam S will not include any questions on multicollinearity. This is a temporary change made to recognize the loss of the free access to a portion of the Rosenberg and Guszcza textbook. Fall 2016 and subsequent exams may include questions on multicollinearity.”

It isn’t immediately clear exactly which types of questions on the exam are affected by this update. Many of the issues raised in that reading are also contained in the GLM reading material as well. Over the next few weeks, I’ll make a list of topics that ONLY appear in the Rosenberg and Guszcza text, which will hopefully cut down a bit on the items we’ll need to focus on in unit D of the seminar.

I updated the “How to use the seminar” video in the “Before you begin” section today. Have a look at it if you’ve recently joined, or if you’d like to see the current state of all the tools available to you. I added (as compared to the previous tour) a demonstration of the TIA app, and new scheduling feature, and an overview of the exam tables and use of the formula sheets.