Chao Du was a great professor! This class was fairly easy. 9 HW assignments worth 25% (dropped 2 lowest), 2 midterms each worth 20% and the final was 35%. HWs were basically completion. The lowest I got on one was a 99. There is some R use in each of them, but he provides VERY DETAILED R notes that are easy to follow and directly applicable to the problems. His PPT notes for lecture are great and all you really need for the exams. I would say to go to lecture to make sense of the R output. The exams are all essentially reading R output so even if you understand the theory, you'll be lost if you don't understand what each line in the R output means. Averages were pretty good as well for the exams (like 87 and 90% if I remember correctly). If you are looking for a relatively easy stat elective/ requirement which is also interesting, I would recommend this 100%