Statistics: Please calculate my chance of passing the exam

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on calculating the probability of passing a multiple-choice exam consisting of 90 questions, where the participant knows 3 answers are correct. The participant needs at least 36 correct answers to pass. Given the assumption that educated guesses yield a 1/3 chance of being correct, the probability of passing is calculated using the formula provided by a user named Pari, resulting in a 21.2% chance of passing the exam.

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leopard
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I had a MCQ exam today. 90 Questions with 4 alternatives. I need help calculating my chances of passing (which should be really small).

I know 3 of my answers are correct. I gambled on the rest.

Also, please calculate the chance of passing, assuming that my guesses were a little more educated, so that the chance of hitting the correct answer was 1/3 instead of 1/4.

I need 36/90 correct to pass.
 
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It's actually not too bad, since the passing grade is low. You need at least 33 out of 87 (since 3 are known to be correct), which is close to the 29 you'd expect guessing 1:3.

Pari tells me:
Code:
sum(k=0,87-33,2.^k*binomial(87,k))/3^87
0 ms.
0.2117180908186974588873520067
you have a 21.2% chance.
 

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