The SAT is required of most students applying for college admission in the United States. This standardized test has gone through many revisions over the years. In 2005, a new writing section was introduced that includes a direct writing measure in the form of an essay. People argue that female students generally do worse on math tests but better on writing tests. Therefore, the new section may help reduce the usual male lead on the overall average SAT score (The Washington Post, August 30, 2006). Consider the following scores on the writing component of the test of eight male and eight female students. Males Females
620 660
570 590
540 540
580 560
590 610
580 590
480 610
620 650
570 600
610 620
590 630
570 640
610 590
590 640
570 580
550 560
530 570
560 560
620 600
520 600
560 590
620 590
580 590
610 630
530 560
480 600
590 560
620 560
590 560
580 560

Required:
a. Construct the null and the alternative hypotheses to test if females outscore males on writing tests.
b. Assuming the difference in scores is normally distributed, calculate the value of the test statistic. Do not assume that the population variances are equal.
c. Implement the test at α=0.01 and interpret your results.