In a gripping display of intellect and resilience, Mark Andrei De Vera, a freshman of PNUNL, emerged victorious among the 20 regional finalists in a nail-biter match of the 2023 Philippine Statistics Quiz held in NGN Grand Hotel, Tuguegarao City yesterday, November 10.

Mr. De Vera secured his place as the representative of Cagayan Valley in the National Finals in December after he edged a one-point difference to a contestant from Quirino State University and a two-point from the University of Saint Louis University contender.

In the first round, Mr De Vera posted a relatively convenient score of 7 of 10 points. He was able to respond accurately and confidently on tricky questions on types of variables, combination, correlation coefficient, binomial distribution, test of associations, and comparative descriptive analysis.

In the second round, his mental toughness was tested. He could not find his groove as questions were becoming trickier and more out of reach. He was able to answer correctly the second question on Type 2 error but only found himself again in the seventh question about cards relating to probability.

On the brink of being eliminated if he could not at least get the tenth point towards the final round, a sigh of relief in the ninth question happened when he responded accurately a practical question dealing with weighted mean.

He ended the two rounds with a minimum of 10 points while two contestants were miles away with 18 and 15 points, respectively. Only close to half of the initial number of contestants moved to the final round.

With every correct answer equal to two points, De Vera made big strides like a roaring lion in the climax round when he answered accurately the first two lengthy and analytical questions on 2022 regional value of production in agriculture and fisheries and about a mobile game. He fumbled though in the third question but came back strongly on the fourth, fifth, and sixth questions. On the seventh question, all contestants were frozen with the question on exponential distribution.

Then, he continued his momentum on the eight and ninth question but the high-stake question was the tenth. Contestants were asked to compute for the test statistic over a hypothesis on the preferences over the flavor of ice cream. Only few got the correct answer, including Mr. De Vera that sealed his victory

“Hindi ko na po inexpect to make it to the top since kinapos ako sa second round at ang hihirap ng mga tanong given the 5-25 seconds time limit, but when they announced the score of the third place, I knew I made it”, Mark Andrei quipped.

Mr. De Vera was coached by Roldan S. Cardona, a faculty of PNUNL. Mr. Cardona will be in his second National Finals appearance as a coach after the same feat achieved by a PNUan in 2018.