Dear reader,
I know competition is pretty common for siblings who are close in age, but my twin brother and I probably took it too far at times. When we were in high school, nearly everything we did was an attempt to one-up each other, whether we were on the sports field, in the classroom, or vying for the attention of a young lady. There was one area, though, where I bested him: our Advanced Placement Calculus class.
Advanced Placement courses are challenging high school classes that conclude with an end-of-year standardized test that can earn you college-level credit. My brother and I took several of these courses. I'm not sure if it was because of some early adversity or that our calculus teacher was likely the toughest one at our school, but my brother determined pretty early on that he just wasn't going to put forth the effort needed to get a good grade. Naturally, that didn't sit well with my parents, who tried to push him to "be more like your brother," whenever the opportunity presented itself. During one particularly animated attempt to motivate him, my mother even revealed that my brother's IQ was higher than mine, meaning there was no excuse for not at least meeting my level of success in the class. Not only did that nugget of information not have the desired effect on my brother, but it may have permanently damaged my self-esteem…thanks Mom.
The icing on the cake came when my brother quit during the end-of-year exam, laying his head on his desk minutes after we started for what would become an expensive three-hour nap. But it was more than the money he wasted that day. I don't think he fully appreciated the benefits he could have enjoyed had he passed the exam. Not only did I receive six credit hours of college math credit, but I am fairly certain my scores helped me secure the scholarship money I received my freshman year. Most importantly, it allowed me the flexibility to bypass general college math classes and take valuable electives like racquet sports and movie criticism – OK, maybe I didn't fully understand the value of the exam either.
For SAS users, there will be no such indifference or misperception on how valuable our newest SAS Certification can be. The SAS Certified Statistical Business Analyst Using SAS 9: Regression and Modeling Credential is designed for professionals who solve business problems by performing statistical analyses and predictive modeling using SAS/STAT® software. The exam was created after reaching out to business leaders and hiring managers to find out what they were looking for in a statistical business analyst job role and scouring job boards to see what skills were in demand. The certification comes at a time when most agree there’s a growing shortage of analytical talent around the world. (According to a 2011 McKinsey Global Institute report, by the year 2018 the U.S. could face a shortfall of 190,000 professionals with deep analytical skills.)
To help prepare for the exam, we recommend taking Statistics 1 and Predictive Modeling Using Logistic Regression. Strong SAS programming skills are also critical for success.
To learn more about the exam and how best to prepare, visit our website or email our SAS Global Certification Team.
Good luck. Not that you'll need it – I'm certain your IQ is higher than mine as well!
Larry LaRusso
Editor, SAS Training Report
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