Archives: AP Probability and Statistics

Barbie Bungee Jumping

Here is the link to the Barbie Bungee Finale Activity:

Barbie Bungee Finale Activity

Here is the video of our best jump:

 

Reflection:

For this activity, we used information from chapter 3 to be able to calculate the most rubber bands you could attach to Barbie to allow her to bungee jump the closest to the floor without hitting her head. All of our work for this project can be seen in the link above. Our group did fairly well at calculating the number of rubber bands to allow Barbie to have the most fun without getting a concussion. By using the LSRL, we were able to estimate that we would need 29.4847 or about 29 rubber bands for Barbie to bungee jump without whacking her head on the ground, which was about 564cm from the drop point. Unfortunately, our guess was a little off, because Barbie wasn’t near the ground, she had just about reached the meter stick. We added a rubber band, making her total count 30 rubber bands. This time, it worked! Barbie was only 10cm from the floor when we had attached 30 rubber bands to her. The reason our guess with the LSRL was off is because the LSRL isn’t a perfect method of guessing the exact value. As you can see with the residual graph, the line has a tendency to over- or under-predict. Since we were only one rubber band off (or half a rubber band, if you’re looking at the exact value predicted by the LSRL), the error most likely came from the LSRL. Overall, the project was a success, and it was a really fun way to learn everything about chapter 3.

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AP Statistics Gallery Walk Activity

In this activity, we made four different graphs to represent the same data. Each person in the group made a different graph. We had a dot plot, a box plot, a stem plot, and a histogram. Each graph has its own strengths. The dot plot is useful for showing how the data is distributed. The stem plot is useful for showing how the data is shaped and the trends of the data. The histogram allows shape and distribution to be viewed easily. The box plot would best show outliers if there were any, though this data set does not have outliers. The box plot also demonstrates the full spread of the data concisely.

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The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens Summer Assignment

 

Habit  Quotation/Passage 

(with page number)

 How does/can/will this 

relate to my life?

(5-8 sentences in length)
Habit 1: Be Proactive “There are two types of people in this world–the proactive and the reactive–those who take responsibility for their lives and those who blame; those who make it happen and those who get happened to.” (Covey 48)

“Proactive people . . . recognize they can’t control everything that happens to them, but they can control what they do about it.” (Covey 49)

 For a good deal of my life, I was a doormat. Life happened to me all the time, and I let it stay that way, because I thought that was the way things had to be. I never thought to put myself first. As a highly empathetic person who’s argument averse, I tended to hand out second chances a lot, oftentimes to people who didn’t deserve them. I offered second chances to people with fake apologies who only ended up hurting me over and over again. I let other people hurt my feelings constantly because I didn’t want to hurt theirs. My depression got really bad during that time. I never realized that I could take control here, that I could cut the toxic people out of my life. When I finally realized that, my life took a turn for the better. I can’t control how other people treat me, but it doesn’t have to be the end of the world. I don’t have to keep negative people in my life. I don’t have to keep allowing these things to happen to me, because I have the power to make them stop happening. I may not be able to control the bad things in life, but I can always control how I react to them.
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind  “Why is it so important to have an end in mind? . . . If you don’t decide your own future, someone else will do it for you.” (Covey 76). I have always been academically talented. My grandmother was a teacher, so I learned to read very early on. I was always far beyond the average reading level for someone my age. I’ve taken just about every honors, advanced, or AP course I had access to, and my grades have always been high. Even though I’m good at all these things, I never really saw myself having a future in them. My family did, though. Both of my parents pursued science in college, and because of my talents, they assumed I’d want to do the same. My father works at Case Western Reserve University. I’ve met with dozens of professors there, seen most of the campus, and learned a whole lot about the various programs they offered. The most important thing I learned throughout all of that was that I really don’t want to pursue science at all! If I hadn’t told my parents that I didn’t see myself being some sort of scientist in the future, I don’t know where I’d be today. Now I do have an end in mind, and it’s a really big milestone in preparing for my future.
Habit 3:Put First Things First “If you block out time for your big rocks first, the other everyday activities will fit in as well. And even if they don’t, who cares? You’d rather push aside pebbles than big rocks.” (Covey 115). I always worry about whether or not I’ll have enough time in a day to do everything that I need to get done. Last year I took 5 AP courses, I was in 5 clubs at school, and I still helped run and volunteered at a nonprofit in my free time. Last year taught me a lot about time management. Relaxation and cooldown time is important, but you don’t really need much of it. Even five or ten minutes is enough time to re-energize you to keep tackling the big rocks in your schedule. It’s better to get everything done and relax by having a good night’s rest than to relax all day and have to work all night.
Habit 4: Think Win Win  “Competition is healthy when you compete against yourself, or when it challenges you to reach and stretch and become your best. Competition becomes dark when you tie your self-worth into winning or when you use it as a way to place yourself above another.” (Covey 155).  For a long time, my self-worth was tied to how successful I was in the various things I did, to how much I achieved. If I didn’t have the absolute highest grades, I felt awful about myself. I felt like I wasn’t good enough. Same thing for sports or other extracurricular involvements. Eventually I learned that competition and wanting to be the best of the best isn’t all that important, and even if my grades aren’t always the highest they can be, at least I understand the material! Now I strive to do the best I can, even if it means I don’t always get the perfect grades.
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood “To understand someone you must listen to them . . . The problem is that most of us don’t know how to listen.” (Covey 167). Throughout my life, I’ve dealt with a multitude of bad listeners. This came up in a lot of ways. Some people turned pain into a competition; whenever I needed to talk about my problems, they’d tell me why what they were dealing with is worse. Others were convinced that they knew me better than I knew myself, and if I only did xyz thing, I’d be so much better off. Others still told me I was just lying about what I was feeling or going through just to get attention. And let me tell you, all of this was miserable. I stopped talking to people because I knew that most people weren’t actually going to listen to me anyways. Because of that, I always do whatever I can to be a good listener. I listen first, and offer help only when asked. I don’t make it about me. Because like the book says, “it’s the deepest need of the human heart to be understood” (Covey 165). I want to offer others the understanding that I was never lucky enough to have.
Habit 6: Synergize “Great teamwork is like a great piece of music. All the voices and instruments may be singing and playing at once, but they aren’t competing. Individually, the instruments and voices make different sounds, play different notes, pause at different times; yet they blend together to create a whole new sound. This is synergy.” (Covey 200). In my life, I have learned that people are always more productive in groups than they are on their own. For example, I’m a writer. But oftentimes it’s difficult to find motivation to write. With a team of friends supporting me, I always have people to turn to in order to keep me moving forward with a project. In addition, in a friend group of mine we have been working on making a few stories together. Individually we are all talented, but four people working to make characters and a story are far more efficient and produce something more interesting than one of us could do alone.
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw  “Have you ever been too busy living to take time to renew yourself?” (Covey 206).

“If you go too hard for too long, you won’t think as clearly, you’ll get cranky, and you’ll begin to lose perspective. You may think you don’t have time to exercise, build friendships, or get inspired. In reality, you don’t have time not to.” (Covey 240).

 Earlier, I discussed just how many things I tried to take on last school year. As a reminder, I was in 5 AP courses, 5 clubs, and I still helped to run a nonprofit in my free time. Thing is, between all of that and minimal breaks to keep myself sane, I hardly had free time. My free time was spent sleeping so I’d have enough energy to keep pushing. In life, sometimes you have to push really hard for a really long time, but it should always be followed by a season of renewal. For me, I pushed and I pushed and I pushed to the point where there was nothing left. By the end of the year, I was so burnt out that I couldn’t find the motivation to do anything. Life should always be balanced. I’ve learned not to push myself too far.

 

SMART Goals:

AP French V SMART Goal:

I will get at least a 4 on the French AP exam by continuing to listen to French music, watch videos in French, read French articles, and practice French both by writing/typing it and by speaking it as often as I can. I will study my flashcards at least every other day to make sure I am keeping the language in my mind.

 

AP Literature and Composition SMART Goal:

I will get at least a 4 on the AP Literature exam by reading every book in class as thoroughly as I can and annotating those books to the best of my ability. I will expand my knowledge of literature and how it works by ensuring to always actively participate in class and take notes to help me learn. I will review my notes often to make sure I understand everything I have been taught.

 

AP Physics SMART Goal:

I will get at least a 4 on the AP Physics exam by expanding my knowledge of physics by taking thorough notes and putting all my effort into labs and other such activities. I will take time to review my notes and ensure my understanding of the concepts, and I will ask questions if and when I need to. 

 

AP Probability and Statistics SMART Goal:

I will get at least a 4 on the AP Statistics exam by expanding my knowledge of how to gather, analyze, and draw conclusions from sets of data. I will take thorough notes and study them often to ensure I understand the concepts, and I will ask questions if and when I need to.

 

Non-School Related SMART Goal:

This year, I will do what I can to protect myself from burning out again. I will understand that I am already enough, and forcing myself to take more classes or participate in more extracurriculars will not change that. I will take at least half an hour for myself each day to recharge while still ensuring to fulfill my commitments. I will prioritize my schoolwork and myself.

 

Mission Statement:

Do everything you can to help other people while still taking care of yourself. Strive to give others the hope, kindness, and understanding that you never had. Be the kind of person who makes everyone feel like someone, because as you know, there is no worse feeling in the world than being made to feel like nothing. Spread optimism, love, and joy everywhere you go. As a favorite character of yours once said: “Leave every place better than you found it.”

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