Smyth's lectures don't change over the semester, so his flow in lecturing is very smooth. However, it was hard to gauge what lectures were supposed to be teaching what portions of the exam (that were important). He did engage the class in every way he could for a bigger lecture hall and gave bonus credit to those who spoke up. Read the studies, pay attention in class, be sharp for the clicker questions, and run through the exam prep questions 5x over and you'll do great.

This class is exactly what the course description says. You will get an introduction to research methods and statistics. Professor Smyth is very kind, and seems to genuinely enjoy teaching the material. However, be prepared to fight off sleep during lectures. They seem to go on forever, with an amount of content that could be thoroughly explained in half an hour. His tests are fair, and very doable if you prepare by doing the optional homework posted on Canvas. There is a fair amount of reading (up to four chapters a week in the textbook), but it is absolutely essential to do the assigned reading. The clicker quizzes in lectures are based off of assigned reading for that class period, and Smyth will sometimes even include direct quotations from the reading that you have to complete to answer a clicker question. You also only get to drop one clicker quiz, so attendance is vital to doing well. Overall, this course isn't terribly hard, nor it it super easy and exciting, but you will learn what you need to in order to do well. #tCFF23

While this class is extremely easy, it was probably the most boring class I have ever taken. The class is essentially an introduction to statistics with a little bit of research analysis techniques sprinkled in. It’s almost exclusively z-tests, t-tests, confidence intervals, ANOVA, correlation analysis, and regression. There are three midterms, one of which can be replaced by clicker point percentage from questions during each class. So as long as you do the readings for every class and attend, you could get at least an 85% test grade replacement. The final exam is cumulative. He provides so many review questions for the math portions of the tests. The other parts of the test can be somewhat difficult as he will ask you to recall a sentence from a twenty minute video he assigned us to watch. There’s also a fair bit of vocabulary to memorize as well. As a warning, the lectures are extremely dry and repetitive. Very hard to sit 75 minutes for, but as long as you did the reading you don’t really have to pay attention. He also has a no laptops policy, but as long as you sit in a certain section of the room he allows them. I took this class for a cog-sci psychology requirement and would recommend only because it’s so easy. #tCFF23

I did not enjoy this class. The class is mostly based on 3 midterms and the cumulative final. The lowest of the midterms will be replaced with your clicker score if it is higher. In class, you have to use an iClicker or the iClicker app, which you have to pay for, to answer credit questions based on the readings for that day. There are also extra credit clicker questions in class that will be added to the overall grade. For the for-credit clicker questions, you get half credit just for answering, and full credit for the right answer. In each class, you were expected to read multiple chapters from two textbooks along with extra readings occasionally. In class, he lectures but mostly just about specific studies, you have to teach yourself how to actually do the statistics and learn the terminology from the textbook outside of class. There were three TAs and they all have open office hours for extra help. #tCFS24

The lectures were awful to sit through. For reference, I did not do well and I did not come from a stat background. Smyth is a great guy out of class and very understanding, but this class is so difficult for no reason. The optional homeworks are necessary to even understand what he's saying in his lecture and his clicker questions are so difficult. He adds around 2 points at the end of the semester to your final grade if you answer his extra credit clicker questions in class and is nice about giving partial credit on exams if you explain to him how you got your answer.

overall, this class was not enjoyable in my opinion, but if you come from a stat background or enjoy research and math, there is great potential you could excel in this class.

advice:
- do the optional homeworks along with Smyth's lectures so you make sure you understand
- ask Smyth questions directly
- attend class for the clicker questions - they are a decent part of your grade

Professor Smyth is a great guy and it is clear that he really cares about his students. His lectures overall are okay, though it can be dry at times. He likes students to note take with paper and pen, but if you prefer laptop note taking, he asks that you sit in the front 4-5 rows. The lectures move very slow, and he spends a lot of time on the same topic, but if you are able to pay attention, the lectures are a great addition to the readings. The readings are mostly simple to understand, and are definitely something you should read because you will be asked questions on the exam based on the textbook (and videos). The breakdown of the grade is three midterms (worth 24% each) and and a final (worth 28%). This sounds unforgiving, but he gives a opportunities for up to a 3% boost in your grade and to replace one of your midterms with an iClicker grade.

If you do not need to take this class, do not take it. I did horribly in this class and not because I didn't try. The exams are super random. He insists that the math is important but barely asks any questions about it. I walked into each exam confident and left super confused. I saw students cry during each exam. On the other hand, professor Smyth is a super nice guy that does want to see his students succeed. You can use clicker points as an exam grade, he curves the exams and gives extra credit opportunities. His lectures are super boring though. I genuinely struggled to pay attention and you can tell that it is the case for a huge portion of the other students in the class. The content is not interesting and the reading is easy to understand but super boring to read. My advice is, do not take this class. If you have to, good luck and don't spend as much time reviewing math like I did.

**took fall 2023 idk why it didn't have that option

Smyth is boring. really boring. but clearly cares a lot about statistics and is willing to help you a lot. He curves the grades a lot (like 4-7 out of a 41 point exam) but tbh his exams are easy to do bad on because he assigns random amounts of points to things. Some multiple choice questions will be .25 points and others 2 unfortunately.


DO THE READINGS. The daily clicker questions go either to a up-to-3% boost on your grade bucket or a bucket that can replace a midterm grade if your clicker percentage is higher

3 midterms, have to take cumulative final

This class is boring but not hard, you just have to focus more on theory and definitions than the math itself

#tCFF23

(Taken Fall 2023)
Professor Smyth is a sweet guy, but his class is the third circle of hell. Tests are completely randomly nitpicked from readings- specific wordings and all. It's impossible to prepare for them in any meaningful way. Yeah, he's nice, but his in-class lectures are slow and boring, and he confuses himself too. He's allergic to answering questions in a coherent and understandable way. He'll drop your lowest test score for your iClicker score, which is nice of him, because you'll REALLY need it.
I took AP Stats in high school, and honestly, most of the material covered in this class was the exact same. That being said, I got a 5 on the AP Stats exam and did much worse in this class- solely because of Smyth. He's very available to his students but so senile it doesn't even matter. Severe warnings in this class- only take if you have to, for a psych major or minor. Don't bother otherwise. Save yourself.

This course is unfortunately not the quality I'd expect of UVA. The material is poorly taught, even though Professor Smyth is a nice man, the terminology is not taught well, so you will often be confused about what exactly he is talking about or asking you to calculate. The number of quizzes is a little ridiculous, and they'll often only have 3 questions, so if you miss one, you will receive a 66.67% on that quiz. Those add up to an unpleasant grade. If not necessary, I don't recommend this course.
Questions will be drawn seemingly randomly from direct wording in reading, additional videos, and lectures, requiring precise recollection of wording from the many hours of possibilities.
Statistics does not need to be difficult, but this course managed to make it so.