MLS-C01 Exploratory Data Analysis Practice Question
A machine learning engineer is analyzing a dataset for a regression problem. The target variable has a long-tail distribution with extreme outliers. The engineer wants to reduce the influence of outliers while preserving the relative order of values. Which data transformation should the engineer apply to the target variable?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Rank transformation
The rank transformation is correct because it maps each value to its rank in the dataset, preserving the relative order of values while eliminating the impact of magnitude differences. This effectively reduces the influence of extreme outliers without distorting the ordinal relationships. Option A (min-max normalization) is incorrect because it linearly scales values to a fixed range, and outliers can still dominate the scaling. Option B (Box-Cox transformation) can reduce skew but requires positive values and does not fully remove outlier influence; it transforms the distribution shape but still allows extreme values to affect the transformation parameters. Option D (log transformation) reduces right skew but remains monotonic, so extreme high values still have a disproportionate effect on the model compared to rank transformation.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Min-max normalization
Why it's wrong here
Min-max scaling preserves the relative distances and does not reduce outlier influence.
- ✗
Box-Cox transformation
Why it's wrong here
Box-Cox assumes positive values and may not adequately handle extreme outliers.
- ✓
Rank transformation
Why this is correct
Rank transformation replaces values with their rank order, making the distribution uniform and robust to outliers.
- ✗
Log transformation
Why it's wrong here
Log transformation reduces skew but large outliers still have a significant impact.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This MLS-C01 question is part of Courseiva's 1,672-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This MLS-C01 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the MLS-C01 exam.