SAS Certified Specialist Base Programming Prep Guide Question

[CPoston]

Hi,

I have a question from Chp. 8 (By Group Processing), Question 4:

Which program below creates the following output? (output attached)

A) proc print data=cert.credit ;

     by type ;

     run ;

B) proc sort data=cert.credit ;

     by type ascending ;

     run ;

C) proc sort data=cert.credit ;

     by type ;

     run ;

D) proc sort data=cert.credit ;

     by type descending ;

     run ;

The correct answer is C.  I thought this should be A.  My understanding is that proc sort does not create any output; it sorts the data in the data set as specified and creates a new data set if specified in the out= option.  In order to create output, I thought you have to run proc print.

Thanks!

Chris

[sbgidlow · Accepted solution]

@CPoston,

The correct answer is C. PROC SORT does not create any output as it relates to the Results tab. However, it does sort your data and you would be able to see the sorted data in your library. I would say, we can reword the question to "Which program creates the sorted data set as shown?" Maybe that would clarify some confusion regarding the word output. 

To create output you would run a PROC PRINT, but I can see where the confusion is. Thanks for recommending this change - I will include this in the next release of the Content Updates page. 

[Reeza]

What version of the certification guide are you using?

The content update/errata page is here for the Certification Guide.

I would tend to agree - as posted A seems like the correct answer. 

https://support.sas.com/en/books/content-updates-base-prep-guide.html

---

@CPoston wrote:

Hi,

I have a question from Chp. 8 (By Group Processing), Question 4:

Which program below creates the following output? (output attached)

A) proc print data=cert.credit ;

     by type ;

     run ;

B) proc sort data=cert.credit ;

     by type ascending ;

     run ;

C) proc sort data=cert.credit ;

     by type ;

     run ;

D) proc sort data=cert.credit ;

     by type descending ;

     run ;

The correct answer is C.  I thought this should be A.  My understanding is that proc sort does not create any output; it sorts the data in the data set as specified and creates a new data set if specified in the out= option.  In order to create output, I thought you have to run proc print.

Thanks!

Chris

---

[sbgidlow]

@Reezathat is NOT the correct Content Updates page, that is for a different Prep Guide that is no longer being used for Certification.

[sbgidlow]

@Reeza, the correct content updates page for the current SAS Certified Specialist Prep Guide: Base Programming Using SAS 9.4 is 

https://support.sas.com/content/dam/SAS/support/en/books/errata-base-certified.pdf

[Reeza]

---

@sbgidlow wrote:

@Reeza, the correct content updates page for the current SAS Certified Specialist Prep Guide: Base Programming Using SAS 9.4 is 

https://support.sas.com/content/dam/SAS/support/en/books/errata-base-certified.pdf

---

Can you also include the versions on the Content Update pages so that it's clear which page goes with which version? I googled and found three and the one I linked to looked like the most recent  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[CPoston]

@Reeza I am using this prep guide:  SAS Prep Guide

@sbgidlow thanks for the clarification

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This is just one of the many mistakes in this book...