# Book Suggestion for Statistics

I recently finished my Masters in Mathematics, more incline to analysis and algebra.

I do not know if I should blame my school for laying a poor foundation in statistics or I should blame myself for avoiding it completely all the while till date (I have not done any course work on it). I am absolutely zero in Statistics, and presently for a competitive exam I am suppose to write in two months (CSIR-UGC NET Examination), $1/4^{th}$ of the questions are from Stats (Other 3/4th portion includes analysis, algebra and differential equations).

Can someone suggest a good book which like "Schaum's Outline for Linear Algebra" (I found it a good self contained book, with bare minimum facts required for survival for newbies, and I use it to revise what I studied in past) for statistics?

I came to know about "Schaum's Outline of Statistics" and it is priced very high here in India, and I don't know if it is worth the money. There are other Schaum's Outline books as well for statistics but I do not know which one to buy. I did go through similar posts and checked out the suggestions there, but they are proper complete text books.

Can someone suggest some good book(s) for statistics, starting from zero, concise with material up to Masters (or at least undergraduate) syllabus?

• I feel like Shaum's is a bit too easy for someone with a Masters degree and background in analysis and algebra. – JessicaK Apr 16 '15 at 15:31
• @JessicaK, any other suggestions? I have done not even single course on probability-statistics, and do not even know the basics! – Jesse P Francis Apr 16 '15 at 15:39
• Just for the record, it seems that students in mathematics do not need to write the statistics portion of the exam. See csirhrdg.res.in/mcs_ma_sylbs.pdf – Bib Apr 16 '15 at 15:52
• Not Schaum, but a very good stats book is "Introduction to Probability Theory and Statistical Inference" by Harold J. Larson if you can get it (library maybe). Excellent if you know no stats. – Paul Apr 16 '15 at 15:56
• @Bib, true that, its more like saying, though "not required", even if you answer a question there correctly, you get marks for it! You can't rely completely on other sections, hardness and topic in focus in each unit varies unpredictably! Its better to be equipped mainly for Unit 1,2 and 3, but won't hurt to have a little knowledge in Unit 4! – Jesse P Francis Apr 16 '15 at 18:11