Professor Holt was a very kind and effective instructor, I enjoyed his lectures and felt that they very much helped my understanding of the subject. I went in with no knowledge on stats, worried about difficulty, but those worries quickly faded away when I realized how well and clearly he taught. Labs were great for understanding; I enjoyed working with others in my section but lab attendance is optional, as you can do it on your own at home if desired. However, I do recommend attending when possible because working with friends was helpful and the TA's were great at answering questions. Weekly quizzes are only 5 questions and take about 10 minutes and helped gauge progress/understanding. Optional weekly homework were also helpful if struggling, but not necessary. Exams were not terribly difficult, as we were allowed a handwritten note sheet. There are only two midterms, so at times it felt like a lot of material for one exam, but notes helped. Grade weighting is very fair, as you get 6 drops on labs and 1-3 on quizzes (I can't remember exactly). No exams get dropped because there are only 3 total with the final. Strongly recommend taking this course with Prof Holt.

I can't think of how a professor can teach this class better than Prof. Holt. I mean this review doesn't mean much because they just appoint one professor to teach STAT 2120 each semester. If you land on him, oh you are in luck.

Each class, he starts with a review of the previously learned relevant content. Prof. Holt goes pretty slowly over each concept, and people rarely interrupts him to ask a question (not much to ask with how thoroughly he goes through each idea). His tests are very fair, with the averages for our two midterms being both above 80 (twenty-five multiple choice questions in fifty minutes done during lab times). There are labs each night of the class and you really don't need to go to the lab discussion itself to do the labs (usually don't need more than 10 minutes if you understood the concept from lecture). And there is a five-question quiz each week. From the people I talked to, people do use ChatGPT for lab and quizzes.

I am pretty bad at being precise, and since everyone understands very well from the lectures, my grade will probably end up being a B+ or A-. You do use a little R, but all the commands are given so I ended up not really learning R. Also this class is more about understanding rather than really manipulating data, so everything needed can be also done on TI calculator (but tests only require a basic calculator that for basic calculations).

Holt was a good professor. He taught on a level that pretty much everyone could understand. The class seemed easy right up until the final, though, when you get smacked after cruising through three months of busy work. No curve either which doesn't make much sense considering that's what the class entirely about.

I only took this course as a pre-req, so I wouldn't recommend it unless you have to take it.
That being said, Professor Holt rocks! He is fun and upbeat and understands that stats isn't everyone's #1 subject. He really tries to help you out however he can, and tries to make lectures engaging.
Still, I thought the exams got progressively harder, and I ended up with a lower grade than I thought I would get.
The labs each week and the lab projects are so annoying.
Webwork homework isn't too bad.

Holy hell this class almost killed me. I got a B final average and I was thinking "for sure he'll curve it up to at least a B+". NOPE, he gave me a B. What a load of BS. A stat class without a curve?!?! WTF?!?! Aint nobody got time fo that. STAT CLASSES ARE ABOUT CURVES!!! There was a ton of work; every week I'd spend hours doing practice problems and then still got a 67 on the final (NOT CURVED). The lectures and homeworks and labs were patsy softball questions before the midterm and final would come in and slowly destroy my soul. On the final there were these thinking questions where he would give a problem never seen before and I thought "oo fun a challenge". And then one of the answers was "Not enough information to answer this question". Like buddy I ain't reading statistics in my spare time you tell me whether or not I can solve this and how to solve it. Clearly a weed out class taught specifically to confuse students. I now know how to do the statistical tasks I'll need in my day-to-day life, why are you giving me crap just so that I can feel stupid and you can say "ooooh look hahahah I tricked him on that question HA here's a D+ on the final"

Jeff Holt was probably the best professor I've had UVA. While STAT 2120 was by no means an "easy" subject, it was definitely made easier by Jeff Holt. If you have to take this class, I definitely recommend taking it with Holt. While I took it with him during a summer session, so it most likely a different atmosphere than a fall or spring semester, Holt made himself extremely approachable and made sure you understood everything that was going on. The first hour of class was dedicated to learning new material and the next hour was dedicated to going over the hw - so there is no reason you shouldn't get 100% on your hw. Homework was 15% of your grade. If you have to take this class, I definitely recommend taking it with Holt over the summer.

He is a great guy! Really nice, tells some corny jokes and very approachable with questions. But that class needs to be re-worked. All the homework and quizzes were super easy, I had no problem understanding the material. Then the exams would come and it was like baaaammm, ridiculous questions that I was in no way prepared for. It just wasn't a fair class for non-math majors in my opinion.

This class is do-able but unless you are sure that you need it for your major I would suggest avoiding it.

I hated this class, but if you are required to take it Holt is a pretty decent professor.

This course was a mixed bag for me. I learned some statistics, but I was constantly stressed throughout the semester to do well. The weekly Webwork homework sets and 5-problem quizzes make up a significant portion of the grade, so it's imperative that you do well on them. Especially since the midterm and the final are very, very difficult. They're conceptual, and I don't honestly remember Professor Holt talking about them in detail during lecture. It reminded me an awful lot of the AP Stat Exam. But all-in-all, it can be do-able to get a B+, A-, or even an A: it'll just be stressful and somewhat difficult