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A-LevelMathematicsProbability and statistics9709/62 · Oct/Nov 2021 · Q23 Marks

Andy and Jessica are doing a survey about musical preferences. They plan to choose a representative sample of six students from the 256 students at their college.

  1. (a)Andy suggests that they go to the music building during the lunch hour and choose six students at random from the students who are there. Give a reason why this method is unsatisfactory.[1]
  2. (b)Jessica decides to use another method. She numbers all the students in the college from 1 to 256. Then she uses her calculator and generates the following random numbers. 204393 162007 204028 587119 207395 From these numbers, she obtains six student numbers. The first three of her student numbers are 204, 162 and 7. Continue Jessica's method to obtain the next three student numbers.[2]

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (Oct/Nov 2021). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

  1. [B1] E.g. Bias towards students who play instruments or only music students or e.g. the six will possibly be friends/have similar music preferences Or any reason that some are excluded e.g. because it is lunchtime or because the music building is chosen or any suggestion that opinions may not be independent. Note: 'not representative of all students' needs qualifying
  2. [B1] 28, 119 (condone 028).
  3. [B1] 207 and only 3 values stated.

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About this question

Topic
Probability and statistics, A-Level Mathematics (syllabus 9709). Structured question, 3 marks.
Source
A-Level Mathematics, Oct/Nov 2021 Paper 6 Variant 2, question 2.

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