To study the pass rates of students based on the number classes missed by students and the number of cocurricular activities students enroll for, a random sample was selected from the past 40 long and short semesters. The study resulted in a Durbin-Watson statistic of 2.84.

a. Conduct a Durbin-Watson test to determine whether there is a negative autocorrelation in errors at 1% significance level.
b. How would you avoid autocorrelated errors in such a situation? Estimate the autocorrelation parameter in which it may be avoided in this problem.