DISCLAIMER:  The compilers of this FAQ believe that no one textbook will be the best for all students in all situations.  The information provided here is intended to help you make a decision based on your individual situation.  With that in mind, we present the most often discussed/recommended books on the AP Statistics list. 

There are five texts that are most frequently discussed and recommended on this list.  They are often referred to by the three letters of the authors' names.  They are:

These texts have continually been recommended on the list as representing the correct type of statistical thinking and pedagogy that AP Stats is all about.  The Moore texts listed below are college texts that are seminal works to much of what we now have.  They helped many folks in the "early years" survive while the above texts were being developed!  Read below for links and comments on all the texts.

Bock, David; Velleman, Paul F., and De Veaux, Richard; Stats Modeling the World,

ISBN is 0-201-73735-3    Prentice Hall School Division

A note from the FAQ authors:  The book was specifically written to follow the AP syllabus, with many exercises modeling AP-type questions.  The style is informal and colloquial, engaging the students in actually reading the text. The Teacher's edition comes bundled with a CD containing ActivStats and datasets. The comprehensive Teacher's Guide offers background explanations, teaching suggestions, classroom examples, quizzes, tests, and investigative tasks. An AP Review Guide with four mock AP exams is also available. 

 

Moore, David S;   The Basic Practice of Statistics , 2nd ed., 2000, W.H. Freeman & Co., ISBN 0-7167-3627-6

A note from the FAQ authors: The Basic Practice of Statistics, BPS, contains much of the same material as IPS (see below).  BPS is a very readable text for high school students. The text does not cover as much beyond the AP Syllabus as some other texts (no two-way ANOVA or multiple regression, for example).

Moore, David S and McCabe, George P;   Introduction to the Practice of Statistics, 3rd ed., 1999, W.H. Freeman & Co, ISBN 0-7167-3502-4

A note from the FAQ authors: 3rd ed. The going gets quite tough beginning with inference for regression (many high school teachers will need to use a different source to access this content in an efficient manner). Some sections are long and it takes a bit of practice with the text to figure out how best to break some of them up.  On the other hand, there is a huge amount of reference material to go along with the text (solution manuals, test banks, Minitab supplements, TI-83 supplements, etc.) and the text comes with a CD containing data sets and practice questions.  In sum: this text can be a bit daunting for a first year teacher of statistics. However, if you are reasonably confident of your statistics ability, this text is an effective and powerful choice to be used in AP Stat.

Peck, Roxy; Olsen, Chris; and Devore, Jay;  Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis, 2001, Brooks/Cole Publishing, ISBN 0-534-37092-6

A note from the FAQ authors:  The authors are well known to list members for their involvement with the AP Statistics program (Peck is the former Chief Faculty Consultant and Olsen was on the original Test Development Committee and is a prolific list contributor). Also, it is only the second textbook to be written specifically for the AP Statistics program (the Yates, Moore & McCabe text was the first).  

Rossman, Allan (with co-authors James H. Albert, Beth L. Chance, Robin Lock, J. Barr Von Oehsen); Workshop Statistics  (a series of textbooks), Key College Publishing    

A note from the FAQ authors:  Four experts worked with Rossman to create books that contain student-centered, constructivist activities designed to challenge  students to take charge of their own learning while the instructor serves as a facilitator.  The activities are well written and easy to implement.  But as a primary text for this course, an AP teacher would probably want to supplement the material (because some AP topics are not included in this book).  Workshop Statistics is available in different technology-specific versions: generic, graphing-calculator, Fathom, and Minitab (see Books/Supplies for more information).

Siegel, Andrew F ; and Morgan, Charles J; Statistics and Data Analysis: An Introduction, 2nd ed., 1996, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 0-471-29332-6

Utts, Jessica M.; and Heckard, Robert F; Mind on Statistics (with CD-ROM), 2002, Duxbury Press, ISBN/ISSN: 0-534-35935-3

Watkins, Ann; Scheaffer, Richard L., and Cobb, George W.; Statistics in Action:  Understanding a World of Data,  ISBN  1-55953-313-7; Key Curriculum Press, ISBN for the Student Edition 1-55953-313-7; for the Instructor's Guide 1-55953-335-8; for the Instructor's Resource Book 1-55953-336-6; and for the Calculator and Technology Guide 1-55953-415-X.

Yates, Dan; Moore, David S; and Starnes, Daren; The Practice of Statistics  2nd edition, (TI-83 Graphing Calculator Enhanced) 2002, W.H. Freeman, ISBN 0-7167-4773-1

A note from the FAQ authors: This is the first text that was written specifically for the AP Statistics curriculum. When you combine that with the fact that it is well written and has an outstanding resource binder (see Platinum (formerly Gold/Yellow) Binder, Resource Books/Supplies section), you understand why this text has been immensely popular. The book was written as a compilation of two other texts favored by AP teachers: Introduction to the Practice of Statistics (Moore and McCabe) and The Basic Practice of Statistics (Moore). It was Dan Yates who initially edited these texts to a high school reading level, added missing AP topics and added instructions for use of the TI-83.  Daren Starnes has updated the first edition and made it even more "user-friendly" for the AP Stat audience.  This link takes you to a connection to the first and second editions (a third is coming, I'm told!)