Fairly easy class. The class is technically flipped, where you learn the content before coming to class, but Professor Ferrara, 95% of the time, will go over it in class, so any confusion is sorted out. The slideshows to watch before class were often much more content-filled and confusing compared to the actual lecture, but helpful to look at. There are 3 exams (including the final), which are all pretty short with multiple choice and free response. There is a lab session once a week that is also easy, and Professor Ferrara gives you the opportunity to switch lab groups if you're group is not doing the work. The TAs and Professor Ferrara are very picky when it comes to grading, which can be annoying at the start, but you get used to it. In the exams, you can bring a cheat sheet, and you're given a code sheet (which was helpful to know if you're on the right track). I would recommend this class as an easy A if you're willing to put in a little bit of work and be very thorough in lab assignments. Attendance is tracked by turning in notes to Gradescope after every class, which is done in small groups. There's weekly homework, but you have the whole week to do it.

Pretty easy course. Maria is very nice and chill but I wouldn't say she's the best lecturer. She's not great at answering people's questions, often giving longer answers than needed for simple questions. But nothing's ever that complicated/confusing so I don't think it really affected our learning since the slides are clear and helpful anyway. This class isn't very time consuming at all and I think it's easy to get an A or A-. She doesn't go through the slides during class, you're supposed to review them before and she just gives an overview and answers questions in class, followed by graded group work. I rarely ever looked at the slides before, even though I didn't have a strong background in statistics prior. I stopped going to lecture towards the end and when I did go, I never paid attention or took notes (it was very boring). You can make up the group work by doing it independently (you should make friends to ask which practice problems they did in class so you don't do more than needed, or you can simply ask group members to add you in the submission if they're willing).

She allows you to make and bring in cheat sheets for exams and the final. I would recommend focusing on putting practice problems on it since the free response questions are almost exactly like her practice problems from class (she provides answer keys in Canvas). There are some multiple choice questions which might require you to put some conceptual notes but I wouldn't make them too extensive. Exams are overall fair and straightforward.

Weekly labs are pretty chill and not difficult. There are weekly homeworks due on Fridays. They can be tedious, annoying, and time consuming but I found that some homework questions were longer and more difficult than what you actually need to know for exams, so don't spend too much time trying to master and understand everything. Especially since everything is pretty learnable the night before/during the exam if you make a good cheat sheet.

Definitely recommend if you need an easy stats course regardless of your background in stats. Don't let the fact that it's "biostats" scare you, it's all basic stats just applied to health-related scenarios.

Maria is a really great instructor. She has the course logically set up with sufficient materials but is also very clear and thorough without getting lost in details. This was the easiest math class I've ever taken. You are allowed formula/cheat sheet on exams. Lab is a little annoying just because R is not the most fun to work with, but it is much less intimidating than you'd think. Her pre-lab videos are your lifeline for lab. Her TAs were amazing and very helpful. I did not get to really know Maria personally, but she was super sweet. Overall, great class as pre-med and bio major, and in comparison to psyc 2500 maybe a tiny bit harder but definitely doable.

This is a backward class, where you have to watch a video before going to class, so class itself is pretty boring. I rarely paid attention in class. If you really try you only need to study for the class 2 days before the exam, and the practice exam she gives is basically the actual exam. I highly recommend taking this class, but just be ready to be bored during class and heads up the prelab video are all always about and hour long, they do not get shorter like she says they do.

I took this class Fall 2022, which was my first semester at UVA. I really liked biostats but I absolutely hated Maria. She was always grouchy and made it clear on the first day that she did not like lecturing so we had to teach ourselves through her slides and groupwork. She seems like she hates her job and always has too much on her place. It just never seemed like she cared about her students and I was scared of her. The class itself was not hard, but she was a bad teacher. For me, math is simply one of those subjects I find hard teaching myself, but I had to because she refused to lecture. She literally told us the first class that she did not like lecturing so she would not be doing it. If you can take a different stats class to fulfill the requirement or don't need stats or can do it with another professor, please do. It will make your life so much easier.

STAT 2020 mostly focuses on hypothesis testing after glossing over probability and its applications in cancer screenings. The instructor was very knowledgeable on the topic yet could have improved with respect to her content delivery. She utilized a flipped classroom, which I find frustrating by itself. Yet she ended up reviewing what she expected you to go over prior to lecture anyways. It isn't a particularly exciting class, but you do learn some good information and end up learning "R." Her exams are actually quite challenging compared to her homework and classwork. So be sure to understand the content enough to get her multiple choice questions (they're brutal).

I found this class relatively engaging and not too difficult. I have never taken any stats class before, but I found each topic pretty easy to understand. Prof Ferrara goes very slowly but this helps you to understand the content. Because it's a flipped-class structure, the lectures can be pretty boring if you understand a topic. The labs are interesting and not too hard to do well on. The class and labs involve some basic coding in R Studio, but you're not required to memorize any code. As this class is "for biologists", all the questions are related to medical or scientific research/experiments. However, you don't need to know anything about medicine or biology to do well in the class. She provides tons of resources to do well on the exams, including practice exams that are pretty similar to the actual exam. The final exam is somewhat cumulative, but not very, which makes it easier to study for. #tCFF23

Unlike what it seems to be the popular opinion here, I actually enjoyed this class! Although Maria doesn't necessarily lecture during class, she makes sure to hit all of the important points we needed to know while doing the practice problems. I skimmed through the slides a few minutes before the lecture and tried to pay close attention while she went through examples, which worked out well for me. I will admit it was VERY easy to zone out during class as she talks REALLY slowly and is a little too thorough to the point where she starts to talk in circles sometimes. She is very nice and approachable one-on-one, so if you missed anything during lecture, I would go to her office hours to get them cleared. Attendance is a decent part of your grade, but you get 4 free skips! Exams are pretty fair and you get a one-sided cheat sheet for each exam (two-sided for the final). The multiple choice questions can be a little trippy and missing those can really add up, but the free responses are very similar to those on the worksheets/practice exam. Labs are also very straightforward - Maria provides you all the code in the pre-lab video (which I recommend watching on 2x speed) and all you have to do is change some of the parameters. If you have a good lab group, you can get the lab assignments done in 20-30 minutes. She can be a little nitpicky with key words and notations, so make sure to get those cleared up during lab. She offers a lot of extra credit towards the end of the semester, so it's very doable to end with an A even if you fumble a little on the midterms. #tCFS24

I did not like this course. I took it because I needed statistics for pre-med expecting statistics to be pretty easy. Overall, the material is not that hard but the structure of the class is irritating. Instead of lecturing, Maria just answers questions and expects you to look through the power points before class on your own time. Reading power points is NOT a good way to learn math. She gives a lot of time to work with a group on practice problems, but usually we did not understand what we were doing because she never lectured. In this course you will learn all the basic statistical tests and the coding language R, which happens to be used in a lot of clinical research. The lab period is used entirely for coding. The exams take more reviewing than you expect, especially because she never taught the information. She also has a habit of over-explaining the easy stuff, talks extremely slow, and acts like we are elementary school students. If you need this for premed it is probably the best choice, but it will be pretty time consuming and not very enjoyable. #tCFS24

If you need to take a stat class, take this one, even if you aren't interested in bio. It's genuinely just an intro stats class, the only thing that makes it biostats is that all the practice problems are biology/healthcare themed. You will probably have to teach yourself the content, but as long as you take notes on the detailed slides before class you can tune out during class. The labs were just coding with R and they were super easy (and even fun, as long as you get a good lab group). The exams weren't bad because you got to bring a full sheet of paper with anything you wanted written on it to the two midterms, and a full sheet of paper double-sided to the final. At the end of the course, she surprised us with two extra credit opportunities that would add 4 percentage points to our final grade. She definitely has the course set up to put you in a good position to get a good grade. #tCFS24