[nabs-l] AP statistics

[Arielle Silverman]

Hi Lillie,

I don't know exact answers to most of your questions, but just wanted
to let you know that I've taken five statistics courses (including
graduate-level) without ever using a graphing calculator. While
sighted students might be expected to use a graphing calculator and
the stats functions on yours might be accessible, even if they are
not, you can definitely participate without using a graphing
calculator. In fact, I think graphing is a very minor part of the
course curriculum. That said, I don't know what the AP test looks
like, and you might have to use a graphing calculator on the test.
Sometimes the graphing requirements are altered for blind students, so
you may want to find out what the regular test requires and then
contact the college board to see if any inaccessible parts of the
normal requirements are modified (I'm guessing your TVI may not be the
best person to ask based on your other posts).

If hand-graphing is required, I always just wrote out detailed
descriptions of the graphs. Again, I don't think actually seeing the
graph is important for understanding the underlying math and
interpreting results. I just did it to appease the teacher's
requirements on exams and such.
You can do most of the required calculations either in Excel or with a
web-based calculator at
www.graphpad.com/quickcalcs/
Your teacher may or may not know about GraphPad, but you might offer
to use that instead of any inaccessible software that's required.
Braille Note stats functions may also work, but it depends on whether
you're expected to calculate basics like means and standard deviations
by calculator or by hand. In college stats we had to do it by hand,
using a standard calculator to compute square roots and other basic
math. I used JAWS to read me the data and then used my Braille Note
calculator for computations, and Excel will also work for that.

Sorry I can't offer more help without knowing more details, but I'm
happy to consult when you have more specific questions.

Best,
Arielle

On 4/18/14, Lillie Pennington <lilliepennington at fuse.net> wrote:
> Hi Everyone
>
>
>
> I will be taking AP statistics next year. I am going to contact the teacher
> of the class next week, but I want to know what I am talking about before I
> have a meeting. If anyone has  taken this class, answering these questions
> would be very helpful. I am not sure how college stats classes work, but
> I'd
> think they would be similar.
>
>
>
> 1.        Are graphing calculators needed? I have the TI84 from APH  and
> used it this year. Are the statistical functions accessible?
>
>
>
> 2.       Is excel used? Roughly what parts?
>
>
>
> 3.       What about the statistical functions part of the Braille note
> calculator? Is this used? Again, what functions?
>
>
>
> 4.       Roughly are there any new Nemeth symbols introduced?
>
>
>
> 5.       Is there any reason I would have to hand-draw a graph at any point
> if I have the calculator and excel available to me?
>
>
>
> 6.       Are there parts of the course, minus inaccessible software, that
> are inaccessible?
>
>
>
> Thanks
>
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