STAT 2120

Spitzner is a horrible professor and his lectures are the most boring I've ever attended at this school. However, his exams aren't too hard and are very similar to the practice exams that he gives out beforehand. Don't worry much about using excel because none of it matters for the test.

This class was pretty bad. Spitzner is a very boring lecturer and doesn't really care how well he presents the information. The lectures became pretty much worthless. The class starts off with very basic things that are extremely easy but then it quickly gets harder and harder. The labs were written to take more than the lab period to be prepared to work on them on your own time. They also got very difficult. The homeworks aren't too bad but it is on WebWork which is a terrible program where the answers are calculated using excel. The issue here is you should use your calculator for the homework because you dont get excel on the exam. The exams are not too bad as they generally resemble the practice exams he gives you before the exams. My class had a 75% average on the first exam and a 65% average of the second exam. He will curve the exams individually if the score are bad enough. For our class he deemed at 65% bad enough to curve however he is waiting till the end of the course to see if he actually needs to. In the end, the curve will be to a B like most classes that curve at UVA.

The class is 2 midterms, 1 final exam, lab assignments that meet twice a week, and homework that is due weekly.

If you can take this class with another professor, do it. If you have take Spitzner, Good luck and enjoy his soundcloud.

http://m.soundcloud.com/dreem-deceever

I like the ass song the most.

Spitzner is hands down one of the worst professors at UVa. Not only is he hated by the majority of his students, but he writes his exams in a way that doesn't allow you to use a calculator. Essentially if you want to do well in this class, you have to teach all of the material to yourself and attend all of the help labs.

Terrible

Spitzner is absolutely terrible. He is a terrible lecturer and can teach you nothing. There is no point in going to class, just read the textbook because all Spitzner does in class is read off of slides he made from definitions in the textbook. He also purposely writes questions that try to trick you on tests and most fail. Take this with ANYONE else.

Spitzner is a nice man... but he's an AWFUL professor. The number of students who show up to class gradually decreases as the semester progresses. By the end of the semester, less than half of the class shows up. This is because of two reasons: class is not worthwhile & Spitzner will put you to sleep. Most students have to teach the material to themselves. I highly recommend that future statistic students take this course with someone else because this was an unpleasant class. Actually, it's one of the worst classes here at UVA- not worth your tuition money.

Profesor Spitzner is a nice guy, but his lectures are very bland and by the end of the year few people attend them. The exams are difficult, but he does give you old exams, which are very similar to the ones you take. Even if you work hard, the class is still pretty tough. Only take the class if you need to.

Man, is this guy intelligent, and good lord is he boring. It appears that Spitzner is on a completely different level from everyone taking the class, making the work too difficult to understand and requiring students to learn it entirely on their own. As a first year, I would suggest to any incoming students reading this not to bother taking this course if he is the professor, it's just not worth it. I hate writing terrible reviews because it makes me feel like an awful person, but I felt obligated to share my experience for the sake of others.

It doesn't matter when you take this course or which professor you take it with because you will end up having to teach the whole course to your self. I would HIGHLY recommend taking the class in the summer it is 100x easier. --- this will be the most helpful review you have ever read.

DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. Spitzner is a brilliant guy, but he has horrible communication skills - and that comes through in his test questions (meaning you could get 5 out of a total of 20 questions on the exam wrong just because you didn't understand what he was asking, not because you didn't know the concepts). The only saving grace was my TA, Meghan Yetman. If you can get her, do!!!! She was incredible and saved me and my entire lab in this course.