His lecture is horribly boring. just simply reading off from the powerpoint slides. Midterms were not as bad as the Final exam, which was just horrible even with cheat sheets you are allowed to bring. He doesn't focus on statistics, but rather randomly talk about the sport news and fluff.
I really don't recommend it unless you love statistics or it is required for your major.
You really don't need your textbook
Grade Distribution
18 Reviews
Great math teacher
In my opinion if you paid attention in class, and asked questions about the homework during the lab, it was relatively easy. The exams are a little bit harder and require some practice, but apart from that it's okay. It's a lot less work than other 4 credit classes.
Ala isn't a great lecturer, but he routinely shows up to class wearing flannel, sweats, and jordans, so he definitely has my respect. As far as the class goes, he's relatively dry, but I liked the actual material, and he is a decent guy. You don't have to put in hours and hours of studying, but it is a challenging course.
You can do well in this class if you put in the time. I went to all lectures (while Ala does try to make the classes fun with jokes he throws in, you really do not need to attend lectures) and read the book (which again was not the most useful but got some base information in my head. The most important thing I did that I think helped a lot was go through old webwork problems and find similar problems online to practice with. Most of his exam is problem based and most conceptual stuff comes from things he went over in lecture and are in the slides. He gives you a cheat sheet every test so use it to your advantage.
This class really wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. Ala is a really nice guy and he tries his hardest to make a dull subject like statistics interesting. For those who complain the class is unnecessarily hard, Ala does not choose to make it so. He has always said that he is required to make it tough by the Comm School since it's a comm weed out but he wishes he could make it easier. The homework wasn't too bad and it was always helpful in understanding the material. There are a million ways you can get help, there are help labs every week. If you study well and ahead, (don't wait last minute), the class is manageable. I did average on the first exam, well on the second exam, and decent on the final and ended up with a B.
This class honestly isn't really that hard. Classes weren't too bad and you never knew what humorous tangent abdelbaki would go on. Overall it was pretty bearable.
Abdelbaki is a horrible professor. Attending class would be pointless except sometimes he doesn't put equations on the slides from collab. He spends all of class rambling about basketball or football and then runs overtime trying to cram in calculator commands at the end of class. Every week you have a WebWork and written homework, both of which are much easier than the exams. Prior to exams he gives out practice problems. Again, easier than the exam. The result is you feel unprepared.
Book is useless, horrible teacher. The course is easy but somehow he manages to make statistics confounding.
I stopped reading the book after the first exam, and never learned anything in the lectures. If you haven't taken stats in high school or a math genius, this course will be just you teaching yourself. I don't remember how many times I've googled calculator commands, because Ala rarely goes over them in practice. He's a very good and entertaining person, but not a good lecturer, mainly because he doesn't look like he has got prepared for the class or he has significant knowledge over the topic. In the end, if you're not a stat major, you will memorize question types before the exam, get something around B- and B+, and not learn anything at all.
Ala is a really cool teacher! He is a young, nice and funny teacher who really wants his students to learn. He does not make the tests, however, which doesn't work in his students favor. He makes everything seem so simple but the tests are impossible even when you think you know what you're doing. This is frustrating sometimes. However, there are many sources of aid for homework and tests.