SAS Institute A00-215 SAS Certified Associate: Programming Fundamentals Using SAS 9.4 Exam Practice Test

The correct answer is D. This option uses the PROC PRINT procedure, which is used to print SAS data sets. The format statement within PROC PRINT temporarily assigns a format to a variable for the duration of the PROC PRINT step. Here is how it works:

• data=sashelp.shoes; tells SAS which dataset to print.
• Format sales comma12.; temporarily assigns a comma format to the sales variable, making it easier to read, especially if the numbers are large. The comma12. format adds commas for thousands, millions, etc., and displays the number in a field that is 12 characters wide.
• The format is only applied for the duration of the PROC PRINT step and does not permanently change the dataset.

The other options are incorrect for the following reasons:

• Option A attempts to use a PROC FORMAT step, which is for creating custom formats, not for assigning formats to variables in a dataset.
• Option B uses a DATA step which could permanently assign the format to the sales variable if it were syntactically correct (it should be set sashelp.shoes; instead of Set sashelp,sheoes;).
• Option C mentions PROC CONTENTS which displays metadata about variables in a dataset and does not have the capability to assign formats.

References:

• SAS 9.4 documentation for the PROC PRINT statement: SAS Help Center: PROC PRINT

The PROC CONTENTS step in SAS is used to display metadata about a SAS dataset, including information such as the names of variables, types of variables (numeric or character), lengths of variables, and other attributes like formats, labels, and indexes. Therefore, the correct answer is:

• A) a report showing the descriptor portion of the REVENUE data set

The descriptor portion of a SAS data set contains metadata about the dataset's structure, not the actual data values or any specific information about individual variables beyond their structure and definition in the dataset. Options B, C, and D suggest details that are not part of the dataset's descriptor information as shown by PROC CONTENTS.

References: SAS 9.4 Procedures Guide: Statistical Procedures.

The FORMAT statement in the DATA step assigns formats to variables for the SAS dataset being created. In the code provided, MSRP is given the dollar12. format and Invoice is given the dollar10. format. However, during the PROC PRINT step, MSRP is reassigned to the comma12.2 format. The format specified in the most recent PROC step or DATA step that executes is the one that is used in the output.

Therefore, the format for MSRP in the PROC PRINT output will be comma12.2, making the answer: B. Comma12.2

References:

• SAS documentation on PROC PRINT and FORMAT statement, SAS Institute.

The correct statement to import a CSV file into SAS and create a dataset is option B. The PROC IMPORT statement is used in SAS to read data from external files and create a SAS data set. Let's break down why option B is correct:

• datafile= specifies the location and filename of the external data file. In this case, "sales.csv" is the correct filename and format for a CSV file.
• dbms=csv tells SAS that the format of the external data file is CSV (comma-separated values).
• out=mydata.sales; specifies the name of the output SAS dataset. It consists of two parts: the libref mydata and the dataset name sales. This tells SAS to store the new dataset in a library called mydata with the dataset name sales.

Option A uses an incorrect syntax as it incorrectly specifies the data= option, which is not valid in this context. Also, the out= option is incorrectly quoted and terminated with a semicolon within the quotes.

Option C has a typo in the out= option (out=mydata.gales;), which incorrectly specifies the output dataset name. Additionally, it incorrectly specifies the data= option, which should actually be datafile=.

Option D has incorrectly quoted the out= option and uses a hyphen instead of an equals sign. Additionally, it does not use quotes around the filename, which may cause issues if the filename contains special characters or spaces.

References:SAS 9.4 documentation, specifically the PROC IMPORT statement: SAS Help Center: PROC IMPORT Statement

The reason the labels for MSRP, MPG_City, and MPG_Highway are not displaying in the PROC PRINT report is that the LABEL option was not used in the PROC PRINT statement. In SAS, even if you have label statements in your DATA step, you must also specify the LABEL option in the PROC PRINT statement for those labels to be used in the report output. Thus, the correct answer is Option A: You must use the LABEL option on the PROC PRINT statement.

References:

• SAS documentation on the PROC PRINT statement and LABEL option, SAS Institute.

The step that reads the SASHELP.BASEBALL data set and creates the temporary data set CATCHERS is:

data catchers;

set sashelp.baseball;

where position='C';

run;

This DATA step creates a new data set named catchers by reading in data from sashelp.baseball and selecting only those observations where the variable position has the value 'C', which stands for catchers.

In the provided DATA step, the merge statement is used to combine the PATIENT and VISIT data sets by the variable Id. The number of observations in the resulting ALLVISITS data set will equal the number of unique Id values that appear in both the PATIENT and VISIT data sets, because the merge in SAS is a one-to-one merge by default when the by statement is used without additional options like in=.

Looking at the provided data sets, each Id in the PATIENT data set has corresponding entries in the VISIT data set. Since there are 5 unique Id values and the VISIT data set contains multiple observations for some Id values (specifically, Id 2 and 5 have more than one visit), the ALLVISITS data set will have a total of 7 observations (1 for each patient plus the additional visits for Id 2 and 5).

References:

• SAS documentation on the merge statement.

In SAS program syntax, character strings are indeed case sensitive when enclosed in quotation marks. If you compare two character strings of the same letters but different cases, SAS will treat them as different values. For example, 'Hello' is not the same as 'hello'.

Option A is incorrect because the ampersand (&) is not used for comments in SAS; it is used for macro variable references. Option B is incorrect because global statements such as LIBNAME and options do not require a RUN statement to execute. Finally, option D is incorrect because SAS can process steps with multiple statements on the same line, provided that they are correctly separated by semicolons.

References

• SAS 9.4 Language Reference: Concepts, "SAS Language Elements and Syntax."

The correct syntax for the LIBNAME statement in SAS, which assigns a libref to a library stored at a specific path, requires the libref to come first, followed by the path enclosed in quotes. The format is libname libref 'path';. Thus, the correct syntax among the options provided is Option B: libname mydata 'c:\sas\data';. This statement assigns the libref 'mydata' to the directory 'c:\sas\data'. The other options either invert the order of the libref and path or improperly use the equals sign, which is not standard syntax for the LIBNAME statement.

References:SAS documentation on the LIBNAME statement, SAS Institute.

In the context of the PROC MEANS procedure in SAS, the CLASS statement is used to specify categorical variables whose unique values group the data before calculating statistics. This allows PROC MEANS to calculate statistics like the mean, sum, or standard deviation for each class or group of data defined by the CLASS variables.

The CLASS statement works as follows:

• class variable-list; specifies one or more variables to define groups for analysis.
• When used, PROC MEANS computes the requested statistics for each level of the variables listed, which can be very helpful for analyzing how groups compare across different statistics.

The other options are not used in the PROC MEANS procedure to specify grouping of data:

• B. GROUP is not a valid statement in PROC MEANS.
• C. SUMBY is not a valid statement in SAS.
• D. VAR is used in PROC MEANS to specify the analysis variables for which statistics are to be computed, not to group the data.

The FORCAST dataset is created from the INVEST dataset, which has 10 observations as seen in the PROC PRINT report. For each observation in INVEST, three new observations are added in FORCAST, one for each year's balance calculation (year=1, year=2, year=3). This is achieved by the output; statement after each balance calculation, which writes the current state of the data step to a new row in the dataset. Therefore, since there are 10 original observations, and each leads to three new observations, the total number of observations in the FORCAST dataset will be 30 (10 observations from INVEST multiplied by 3 years each).

References:

• SAS documentation on the DATA step and output statement, SAS Institute.

The correct syntax for a conditional if-then block in SAS that includes a do group for executing multiple statements is:

if condition then do;

statement1;

statement2;

end;

In Option B, the syntax if age<13 then do; opens a do group, and age_Cat='Pre-teen'; and account='No Social Media'; are the two statements inside the do group, followed by an end; statement to close the group. However, there is a typo with the use of dashes instead of equal signs for assignment in the variable statements which seems to be an error, so technically, none of the provided options has the correct syntax without an error. The correct syntax should use equal signs (=) for assignment within the do group:

if age<13 then do;

age_Cat='Pre-teen';

account='No Social Media Allowed';

end;

References:

• SAS documentation on conditional processing with IF-THEN/ELSE statements, SAS Institute.

The correct answer is B. The set statement in SAS can concatenate multiple datasets together. The AMERICAN and NATIONAL datasets appear to have the same structure and variables, so the set statement without any options will combine them into one dataset called BASEBALL. The order of the datasets in the set statement determines the order of the observations in the output dataset, and since there is no variable that needs renaming to match between the two datasets, option B is the correct answer.

References:

• SAS documentation on the set statement.

When creating two SAS data sets with a DATA step, you should name both data sets in the DATA statement. This tells SAS to create two separate data sets from the same DATA step. Using an OUT= option in the WHERE statement or a PUT statement are not correct methods for creating data sets. A SET statement is used to read data into the DATA step, not to create output data sets.

References:

• SAS documentation on the DATA step for creating multiple data sets.

Option B is the correct answer. This code will create two datasets as described. The keep= option in the data chips statement will ensure that only QtySold, Price, and Product are kept in the chips dataset, and because othersnacks does not have a keep= option, it will contain all the variables from the input dataset. The if-then-else logic directs the observations to the correct dataset based on the Type value.

Option A incorrectly uses a keep statement within the if block, which is not valid syntax. Option C attempts to use a keep statement after the output statement, which will not correctly subset the variables for the chips data set. Option D incorrectly applies the keep= option to the set statement, which would affect both output data sets, not just chips.

References:

• SAS documentation on the output statement.
• SAS documentation on subsetting data in the DATA step.

The correct syntax for generating the mean and standard deviation for specified variables using PROC MEANS is shown in option A. The PROC MEANS statement specifies the dataset to analyze (data=class) and includes the options (mean std) directly in the PROC statement. The VAR statement then lists the variables for which the statistics should be calculated (Height and Weight). The other options listed in B, C, and D are not correct syntax for PROC MEANS.

The correct answer is A: Ods excel='c:\report.xlsx' style=analysis;. This syntax is correct for the ODS EXCEL statement in SAS, where you specify the path and filename, followed by the 'style' option to apply a specific style template to the output Excel file. The 'style=analysis' is used to set the output appearance according to the 'ANALYSIS' style template provided by SAS. Option B is syntactically incorrect and does not use the 'style' option correctly. Option C incorrectly places a slash which is not syntactically valid in this context, and Option D misses the equals sign and quotes which are necessary for correct syntax in SAS.References:

• SAS documentation on ODS EXCEL statement: SAS Support: ODS EXCEL Statement

The correct syntax for creating two separate data sets based on a condition in SAS involves using a single DATA step with multiple data set names followed by a SET statement and conditional OUTPUT statements. Here's a breakdown of why option B is the correct answer:

data SUV Sedans;

set sashelp.cars;

if Type = 'SUV' then output SUV;

else if Type = 'Sedan' then output Sedans;

run;

• This option correctly uses a single DATA step to declare two data sets (SUV and Sedans). It reads from the sashelp.cars data set and uses conditional statements to output observations to the respective data sets based on the value of the Type variable. The output statement is used to explicitly direct observations to the specified data set.
• Option A: The syntax data=SUV data=Sedans; is incorrect. The correct syntax to create multiple data sets in a DATA step does not include equal signs (=).
• Option C: The syntax within the conditional statements is incorrect (if Type = SUV and if Type = Sedan). The values for Type should be enclosed in quotes to specify that they are strings.
• Option D: The syntax data= (SUV Sedans) ; is incorrect. The correct method to declare multiple data sets in a DATA step does not use parentheses or an equal sign.

References:The correctness of option B is based on standard SAS programming practices for conditional data manipulation within a DATA step. This approach is commonly documented in SAS programming resources such as the SAS 9.4 documentation and various SAS programming guides. The use of the output statement for directing data to specific datasets based on conditions is a fundamental technique in efficient data handling in SAS.

The correct answer is C. To create the NODONATIONS dataset, which includes only the employees who did not make any donations, a merge operation is used with a conditional statement to filter out those records. The syntax if inE=1 and inD=0; ensures that the merged dataset includes only the observations from the EMPLOYEES dataset that do not have a corresponding observation in the DONATIONS dataset. This is achieved using data step processing with the in= option to create temporary variables that indicate whether the data is coming from the input dataset.

In the other options:

• A is incorrect because inE=0 and inD=0 will never be true after a merge since at least one of the datasets must contribute to the merged observation.
• B lacks the necessary conditional logic to filter out employees with donations.
• D is incorrect because if inE=1 and inD=1; would actually select employees who made donations, the opposite of what we want.

References:

• SAS documentation on merging data sets using the DATA step.

In SAS, iterative DO statements are used to repeat a block of statements a specified number of times. These DO statements have a specific syntax that includes initializing a variable, setting an ending value, and specifying an increment (or decrement). The syntax generally follows the pattern: DO variable = start TO end BY increment;

Let’s evaluate each option provided:

A) Do 100 to 1200 by 100;This statement is syntactically incorrect because it lacks a variable to iterate over. An iterative DO loop must specify a variable that will take on each value in the specified range. The correct form should be something like do i = 100 to 1200 by 100;.

B) Do num = 1.1 to 1.9 by 0.1;This statement is valid. It initializes the variable num at 1.1 and increments by 0.1 until it reaches 1.9. This is a typical use of the iterative DO loop for non-integer increments.

C) Do year = 2000 to 2016 by 2;This statement is also valid. It initializes year at 2000 and increments by 2, going through values like 2002, 2004, etc., up to and including 2016. This is a standard use for iterating over years or other sequentially numbered items.

D) Do reverse = 10 to 1 by -1;This statement is valid. It initializes reverse at 10 and decrements by 1 until it reaches 1. Using negative increments is a legitimate approach for counting downwards.

References

• SAS 9.4 Statements: Reference, "DO Statement."
• SAS Support: DO Loop Documentation

Understanding how to properly format DO loops in SAS is fundamental for effectively managing repetitive tasks in your data analysis. Mistakes like those seen in option A can lead to syntax errors, preventing your code from executing. Always ensure that your loops are correctly structured and that each component of the loop is clearly defined.

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The default sort order for PROC SORT in SAS is ascending. This means that if no other sort order is specified, SAS will arrange the data in ascending order based on the values of the variable(s) listed in the BY statement.

Here's an example:

• proc sort data=mydata; by variable; run; sorts mydata by variable in ascending order by default.

The other options are incorrect in the context of the default sort order:

• A. 'Internal' is not a sort order.
• C. 'Formatted' refers to sorting data based on formatted values, not the default order.
• D. 'Descending' is an alternative sort order that must be explicitly specified with the DESCENDING keyword.

References:

• SAS 9.4 documentation for the PROC SORT statement: [SAS Help Center: PROC SORT]

When defining custom formats in SAS, it's important to adhere to the correct syntax, which includes ending format names with a period. In the submitted program, the format $convert is defined without a period at the end of the format name in the VALUE statement. This is likely causing an error since format names in the VALUE statement should always end with a period. Option C correctly identifies that adding a period to the end of the format name on the VALUE statement will allow SAS to properly recognize and apply the custom format to the Answer variable when the PROC PRINT step is executed.

The program provided in the question seems to have formatting errors, but based on the information provided, the suggested change is to add a period to make it $convert. which would correctly apply the format.

The other options would not resolve the issue of applying the custom format:

• A. Changing the case of the unformatted values will not help if the format is not correctly specified.
• B. The comma does not seem to be the issue based on the context given.
• D. The dollar sign is correct and necessary for character formats; removing it would cause the format to be invalid for character data.

References:

• SAS 9.4 documentation for the FORMAT procedure: SAS Help Center: PROC FORMAT