STAT 2020

Maria provides a lot of resources and is very straightforward about the expectations for this class. I never had to read the textbook for this class, as Maria's PowerPoints and notes were sufficient enough. The homework problems on Achieve is very helpful to understanding the content as well. In lecture, you do practice problems in small groups, and then go over them, although Maria would take way too long to explain the problems and never finish. If you took AP Stat in high school and did well, this class will be very easy. She doesn't teach you how to use the stat functions in the calculator, but knowing that is very helpful instead of knowing the R code. The lab is where you learn to use R, and can be done with no programming experience if you watch the prelab videos. Take this over STAT 2120 if you can. #tCFfall2021

For background, I took a stats class before taking this course, so the material itself was pretty easy. My friends who took this course thought that the material was also pretty easy to quickly understand (or at least pretty easy to understand after some practice).
Maria, however, is a whole different story. I thought that she would be pretty easy going at first, but it turns out that she pretty much hates her job and takes it out on everyone else. She is an INCREDIBLY slow talker -- I always put her lab videos and lecture videos (which I hardly watched) on 2x speed, and it was still slow. Her lectures are pretty much useless because she posts all the material that needs to be learned before hand as a PowerPoint and video, and lectures are just practice we get already in the homework (I regretted every time I showed up to lecture, but there is a class participation grade). I ended up doing work for OTHER classes during lecture.
This class would be a pretty good grade booster if she didn't make every exam worth 30-40 points when each exam before the final is worth 15% of our grade -- it doesn't seem like a big amount, but it will add up.
#tCFfall2021

Good class and relatively easy A if you are willing to devote a little time to it each week! Classroom is constructed to be reverse which I found annoying and not as helpful as a traditional style classroom, but the content isn't hard so it wasn't so bad. Homeworks weekly, but you get two tries on every question. Labs were also pretty easy if you watch the pre lab video. Worst part of the whole class was taking exams in that cramped lecture hall because she didn't staple the pages together.

This is the perfect class for anyone who wants to go into health/biology. Stats was never my favorite topic, but she made it easy to understand. The classroom is flipped so lectures are on youtube at home and then practice group problems in class with a once a week lab to learn R Studio. Everything is well paced with good instruction and her office hours are helpful. She is really nice about helping students who are confused as well. Her exams are all a little harder than the practice problems so if you take this class keep in mind to use her practice exams and really study times. Timing yourself on them helps understand your capacity better. Labs and HW are weighted just as much if not more than the exams though so they aren't super stressful.

I got an A+ in the course. In my opinion, this class is doable. It's easy to get an A if you do the work.

The style of the course is strange. The homework is to review the powerpoint and teach yourself the content. Then, in lecture, in a small group you work on 1-3 problems. She monitors attendance by the classwork, but you do get 4 drops. In lecture, she does go over the content as if you have never heard anything before, but doesn't do a full overview. There is also a lab section of this class, but do not be intimidated as she makes lab very easy. The lab uses R studio and her pre-lab videos cover exactly what to do. I do not feel I actually learned the coding content, but more just copy and pasted code and changed a word or two. I had never coded before, and I felt it was a breeze.

Advice:
1. Know the vocabulary - The hardest portions of the exams were NOT the statistics/ math parts, but the multiple choice. If you want to do well, make sure you know the vocabulary
2. Go to office hours for homework problems - On every homework problem you get 2 attempts to get the correct answer, and it is graded. I recommend after the first attempt to go to office hours to have the TAs check your new answer. It is annoying, but they will confirm your answer so you are guaranteed a 100% on the homework.

If you have taken a statistics course before (such as AP Stats in high school), this class will be a breeze. 90% of what we learned in this class was material I had learned in AP Stats. As a result, this class was easy and I don't feel like I learned much. Professor Ferrara is nice, but she talks slowly and explains everything multiple times, so class time tended to drag on. The course itself was structured so that we took notes before class and did practice problems in class. Usually, we would do about 20 minutes of practice problems, and then Professor Ferrara would spend the next hour explaining those problems. Tests were very predictable, and there was only about an hour of actual homework per week. There is also a 1 hour "lab" each week, which is just basic coding in R, and can easily be finished during class time if your group is motivated. I actually really liked the lab component of the course.

This class is essentially an introductory statistics class with a biology theme. To my knowledge, most or all the concepts taught in this class compared to another intro stat class are the same; the only difference is that our application problems will be related to medicine or science.

I ended up enjoying this class. It starts out slow, going over mean/median/mode, but the later concepts become interesting and challenging.

This class uses a flipped classroom model, which I didn't really like. Maria started to change this model midway through the semester, so maybe the next section she teaches will be less flipped. Before class, it is expected that you will have read/taken notes on the slides so you can do practice problems in class. I was unmotivated to take notes at the beginning of the semester, which made class confusing. When I actually started taking the notes seriously, the class became a breeze. Maria also started to review concepts in class, which also helped.

The biggest parts of your grade are the tests (15% each for exams one and two, 20% for the final), followed by the lab work and project (25%), so it is important to do well on these. Try to get 100% where it's easy, like the classwork grade and homework/symposium grades. Homework questions give you two attempts: if you get it wrong the first time, DO NOT try again until you confirm you have the right answer. If you go to office hours, Maria will help you out and explain the problem to you. Alternatively, ask your class friends for homework help. It's always better to ask questions and look a little stupid than to bomb your lab/homework assignments (I lived by that and ended this class with an A).

Overall, I ended up enjoying this class. There were some days I had to do a whole lot of studying to figure out what was going on, but when it clicked, it clicked. Use your resources, take your notes, and ask questions when you need help, and you'll do just fine.

This class was really easy. The labs are a breeze if you literally just watch the lab video on 2x speed. R is also super easy even if you suck at coding like I do. If you pay attention in lecture and study by doing the class practice/practice exam, the exams should be easy too. The homework is really short and doesn't take long if, again, you paid attention in class. She explains things really simply so you literally just have to memorize some formulas and practice. She's also really chill and even let us watch the world cup penalty shoot out on our last day. Overall don't worry about this class

This class is basically just an intro stats course, if you took AP Stats in high school this should look somewhat familiar. You do most of the reading/learning outside of class and in class you do some review and practice problems. Maria teaches reallllly slowly but for some people thats good because it guarantees that theres time for everybody to know whats going on. Try to do well on the homeworks and labs as much as you can as they can buffer your grade. Exams are honestly not bad at all if actually put in a little time to study. But make sure you do study, because the three exams make up 50% of your grade! The practice exams are amazing, if youre able to do well on those then youre gonna do well on the exams (theyre almost the same). For me going through all the relevant powerpoints and taking the practice exam was enough to be well prepared for each exam. Overall class is pretty good! Content was kinda boring to me but im sure some people would find it interesting. Maria is also a nice person and a good professor.

#tCFfall22

I was genuinely surprised at how much I liked this course. After nightmarish experiences with the math department here and the flipped classroom style they employed, I wasn't sure what to expect with this class. But I can confidently say that this was the only class where I've experienced a flipped classroom being used and taught incredibly well. Maria explained concepts incredibly thoroughly. If you're someone who picks up on things quickly, and read over the slides beforehand, it can definitely feel a little bit slow. But going to lectures and following along/completing the classwork REALLY solidified my understanding of the topics and made things a lot less stressful when it came time to study for the exams.

The labs were incredibly easy and definitely rewarded those who watched the videos beforehand. Aka you will not be able to do the lab if you don't watch - Maria lays practically everything you need to do during the lab out during the video which was INCREDIBLY helpful and stress relieving. You don't need to teach yourself R or anything crazy, she really does make sure that everything is being explained, and the structure of the lab with 4 lab assistants made it so that questions you had in lab would be answered quickly.

I truly only took this class as a requirement for my major. But I thought Maria was a great professor and honestly will consider taking more classes in this area in the future. Put in the work she asks you to (literally just reading over the slides before each day, doing the homework, watching prelab videos once a week) and your grade will reflect that.

#tCFfall2022