Higher November 2017 Paper 1 Q20
20 In one month, the number of hours of exercise taken by 10 people are
4 7 2 8 6 5 1 82 3 9
Which is the appropriate average to use in this situation?
Tick a box.
- Mean
- Median
- Mode
Give one reason for each of the other two averages as to why they are not appropriate. [2 marks]
| Answer | Mark | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Median ticked and a valid reason for not using mode (eg there is no mode) and a valid reason for not using mean (eg 82 will affect the mean disproportionately) | B2 | B1 median ticked or valid reason to reject mean or valid reason to reject mode with any box or no box ticked |
Additional guidance
| Accept any indication in place of a tick | |
| Ignore non-contradictory statements alongside a correct reason | |
| Median ticked with reasons “There is no mode” and “82 would skew the mean” | B2 |
| No box or mode ticked with reason “Not mean, because of the 82” | B1 |
| No box or mean ticked with reason “Not mode, all the numbers are different” | B1 |
| No box or mode ticked with statement that 82 is very large | B0 |
| Condone “one number” oe for “82” in reason for mean if intention is clear, eg “One of the numbers is far bigger than the others” | |
| Do not accept reasons for the mean indicating that 12.7 is too high unless 82 is also mentioned | |
| Do not accept reasons given with the wrong measure eg “It cannot be the mean as they’re all different” | |
| Do not accept a reason which simply defines mean and mode | |
| Giving reasons for mode and mean does not imply a selection of median – the box must be ticked to achieve both marks | |
| Median ticked with two valid reasons which are not attributed to median and mode eg median ticked and “There is not a repeated number” and “82 is far too high to calculate the average” | B2 |
| Otherwise, reasons must be attributed |