SOA EXAM PA QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS
descriptive analytics - Correct Answers -focuses on what happened in the past and
aims to "describe" or explain the observed trends by identifying the relationships
between different variables in the data
predictive analytics - Correct Answers -focuses on what will happen in the future and is
concerned with making accurate "predictions"
continuous variables - Correct Answers -can assume any value in a continuum (at least
in theory!)
categorical variables - Correct Answers -take predefined values in a countable
collection of "categories", which often have no numeric order, called levels or classes
for the variable
binary variables - Correct Answers -can only take two possible levels, indicating
whether an event has taken place or whether a characteristic is present (often yes or
no)
prescriptive analytics - Correct Answers -uses a combination of optimization and
simulation to investigate and quantify the impact of different "prescribed" actions in
different scenarios
numeric variables - Correct Answers -take the form of numbers, with a well-defined
order (i.e. 1 must be less than 2) and an associated range
discrete variables - Correct Answers -are restricted to only certain numeric value within
the associated range
supervised learning problems - Correct Answers -there is a target variable "supervising"
or guiding the analysis, and the goal is to understand the relationship between the
target variable and the predictors, and/or make accurate predications for the target
based on the predictors
unsupervised learning problems - Correct Answers -there is no target variable
supervising the analysis, and the goal is to extract relationships and structures between
different variables in the data
ANSWERS
descriptive analytics - Correct Answers -focuses on what happened in the past and
aims to "describe" or explain the observed trends by identifying the relationships
between different variables in the data
predictive analytics - Correct Answers -focuses on what will happen in the future and is
concerned with making accurate "predictions"
continuous variables - Correct Answers -can assume any value in a continuum (at least
in theory!)
categorical variables - Correct Answers -take predefined values in a countable
collection of "categories", which often have no numeric order, called levels or classes
for the variable
binary variables - Correct Answers -can only take two possible levels, indicating
whether an event has taken place or whether a characteristic is present (often yes or
no)
prescriptive analytics - Correct Answers -uses a combination of optimization and
simulation to investigate and quantify the impact of different "prescribed" actions in
different scenarios
numeric variables - Correct Answers -take the form of numbers, with a well-defined
order (i.e. 1 must be less than 2) and an associated range
discrete variables - Correct Answers -are restricted to only certain numeric value within
the associated range
supervised learning problems - Correct Answers -there is a target variable "supervising"
or guiding the analysis, and the goal is to understand the relationship between the
target variable and the predictors, and/or make accurate predications for the target
based on the predictors
unsupervised learning problems - Correct Answers -there is no target variable
supervising the analysis, and the goal is to extract relationships and structures between
different variables in the data
