This class sucks. Spitzner is a nice enough guy and extremely intelligent. However, he is so above everyone in his knowledge that he goes on meaningless tangents and does not communicate what really needs to be learned. He is a typical math guy- no communication skills. That said, you have to teach yourself and, with a textbook that is about as meaningful as the Voynich Manuscript, and notes from a prof. who struggles to communicate, it is no easy feat. Tests are also very hard, many questions reflect the communication barrier between Spitzner's knowledge and the students' lack of it. You can expect about a 5% curve on every test. I ended up with a B.

This is the least intimate class I've taken so far at the university, you really do have to teach yourself unless you try to go to the help labs. Topics are extremely relevant in today's world, but although Spitzner is very intelligent and tries his best to make the material interesting, he simply fails. However, if one is disciplined, making a good grade is not overly difficult with the curves that come with the exams.

Spitzner is a nice guy, but I would recommend taking stat with another professor or in the summer. Especially if you've never taken stats before. Homework is easy, labs are relatively easy, and these will both more than likely boost your grade. Exams, however, are almost nothing like his lectures, homework, textbook, or labs. I took stat in high school and still found it hard to do well on his exams. This class will definitely take some attention if you're set on acing it. Lectures become useless after a while because you can just as easily read off of his power points online and it'll make just as much sense as hearing him lecture it. Avoid spitz at all costs, but if you can't, godspeed.

Prof Spitzner is not a great professor at all. I had to teach all of the material to myself via the book. Old exams dont correlate too much with new ones, they did however for the first midterm. Lab and homework are the big cushion which is nice. Overall I would suggest not going to any of the lectures because they are absolutely worthless but do go to the help labs! In your schedule I would completely remove the lecture and replace it with the help lab which is run by the GAs. Its a tough course but he does curve.

Overall Professor Spitzner isn't really a professor, more of an administrator in my eyes. As students it should be concerning to know that our tuition goes to professors who dont teach but read off of slides as quickly as they can. No offense to Spitzner. I'm sure he is a brilliant man who knows statistics inside and out but that doesn't mean you are capable of teaching it to others.

I can't say much for Spitzner himself because I stopped going to the lectures after the first month- they were very boring and I chose to sleep more instead. He posts his powerpoints from lecture, though I found them hard to understand and ended up googling how to do most of the homework. You'll probably have to teach yourself most of the material. The tests aren't bad. If you can do the material on the homework and the labs, you can definitely do well on the exams.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.