Holt is super nice and genuinely wants everyone to do well. The Canvas site and slides are very organized, and he does a great job explaining everything clearly.

This is technically a 4-credit course, but it honestly felt more like a 3-credit class. You don’t really have to attend labs in person. I thought of labs like homework assignments due by the end of the day we had class -- rather than your traditional stressful labs. They weren’t difficult and were actually a good review of the material. There were also weekly quizzes that were similarly manageable and helpful for studying. You also get drops for both labs and quizzes, so it’s very manageable to earn a 100% in those sections.

The exams are 25 questions in 50 minutes. They’re definitely trickier than the labs and quizzes, but you do get a cheat sheet. DO NOT FREEZE! You do not have a lot of time, so keep going!! Holt is also very understanding. After exams, he holds office hours where he’ll listen to your reasoning and often give partial credit back.

A 95 is required for an A (although I’ve heard some semesters have a slightly lower cutoff -- mine didn’t), so you can’t make too many mistakes on exams. Still, it’s definitely doable. If you understand the material conceptually, you’ll do fine!

The course was much more frustrating than I expected. The labs and quizzes are an easy 100% but they are deceptively easy and give you confidence in the material that you shouldn't have given how much harder the tests are. When it comes to the test, make sure that you understand every last bit of the slides, do the optional homework (not optional if you want a good grade on the tests), and create AI quizzes or something like that. The disconnect between the extremely simple labs/quizzes and the difficult tests makes the grade distribution as bad as it is so if you make challenging, comprehensive AI quizzes on the material and do the homework which gives you a necessary challenge, it will help you massively, as it helped me.

Professor Holt is a great guy - however the lecture was literally him reading directly off the slide, which is why I stopped going. The only work in this class is 2 weekly labs (you can do from home, don't have to go to section), and a weekly quiz which was always super easy. The 2 midterms I thought were pretty fair, barring a couple questions. The final was not insane, it wasn't cumulative so it was just like the other exams. I lowkey messed that one up though but if you study you'll probably be fine. You also get an entire page of notes for each exam which helps. Its not a super hard course content wise, just hard to get an A with how its set up.

The class was largely the same as AP Statistics, so if you have any prior knowledge it'll be very easy. However, even if you're new to the subject, Professor Holt does a great job at explaining all of the concepts. The only homework you have are the 2 weekly labs and 1 weekly quiz.

#tCFspring26

Professor Holt was a very kind and effective instructor, I enjoyed his lectures and felt that they very much helped my understanding of the subject. I went in with no knowledge on stats, worried about difficulty, but those worries quickly faded away when I realized how well and clearly he taught. Labs were great for understanding; I enjoyed working with others in my section but lab attendance is optional, as you can do it on your own at home if desired. However, I do recommend attending when possible because working with friends was helpful and the TA's were great at answering questions. Weekly quizzes are only 5 questions and take about 10 minutes and helped gauge progress/understanding. Optional weekly homework were also helpful if struggling, but not necessary. Exams were not terribly difficult, as we were allowed a handwritten note sheet. There are only two midterms, so at times it felt like a lot of material for one exam, but notes helped. Grade weighting is very fair, as you get 6 drops on labs and 1-3 on quizzes (I can't remember exactly). No exams get dropped because there are only 3 total with the final. Strongly recommend taking this course with Prof Holt.

I can't think of how a professor can teach this class better than Prof. Holt. I mean this review doesn't mean much because they just appoint one professor to teach STAT 2120 each semester. If you land on him, oh you are in luck.

Each class, he starts with a review of the previously learned relevant content. Prof. Holt goes pretty slowly over each concept, and people rarely interrupts him to ask a question (not much to ask with how thoroughly he goes through each idea). His tests are very fair, with the averages for our two midterms being both above 80 (twenty-five multiple choice questions in fifty minutes done during lab times). There are labs each night of the class and you really don't need to go to the lab discussion itself to do the labs (usually don't need more than 10 minutes if you understood the concept from lecture). And there is a five-question quiz each week. From the people I talked to, people do use ChatGPT for lab and quizzes.

I am pretty bad at being precise, and since everyone understands very well from the lectures, my grade will probably end up being a B+ or A-. You do use a little R, but all the commands are given so I ended up not really learning R. Also this class is more about understanding rather than really manipulating data, so everything needed can be also done on TI calculator (but tests only require a basic calculator that for basic calculations).

Holt was a good professor. He taught on a level that pretty much everyone could understand. The class seemed easy right up until the final, though, when you get smacked after cruising through three months of busy work. No curve either which doesn't make much sense considering that's what the class entirely about.

I only took this course as a pre-req, so I wouldn't recommend it unless you have to take it.
That being said, Professor Holt rocks! He is fun and upbeat and understands that stats isn't everyone's #1 subject. He really tries to help you out however he can, and tries to make lectures engaging.
Still, I thought the exams got progressively harder, and I ended up with a lower grade than I thought I would get.
The labs each week and the lab projects are so annoying.
Webwork homework isn't too bad.

Holy hell this class almost killed me. I got a B final average and I was thinking "for sure he'll curve it up to at least a B+". NOPE, he gave me a B. What a load of BS. A stat class without a curve?!?! WTF?!?! Aint nobody got time fo that. STAT CLASSES ARE ABOUT CURVES!!! There was a ton of work; every week I'd spend hours doing practice problems and then still got a 67 on the final (NOT CURVED). The lectures and homeworks and labs were patsy softball questions before the midterm and final would come in and slowly destroy my soul. On the final there were these thinking questions where he would give a problem never seen before and I thought "oo fun a challenge". And then one of the answers was "Not enough information to answer this question". Like buddy I ain't reading statistics in my spare time you tell me whether or not I can solve this and how to solve it. Clearly a weed out class taught specifically to confuse students. I now know how to do the statistical tasks I'll need in my day-to-day life, why are you giving me crap just so that I can feel stupid and you can say "ooooh look hahahah I tricked him on that question HA here's a D+ on the final"

Jeff Holt was probably the best professor I've had UVA. While STAT 2120 was by no means an "easy" subject, it was definitely made easier by Jeff Holt. If you have to take this class, I definitely recommend taking it with Holt. While I took it with him during a summer session, so it most likely a different atmosphere than a fall or spring semester, Holt made himself extremely approachable and made sure you understood everything that was going on. The first hour of class was dedicated to learning new material and the next hour was dedicated to going over the hw - so there is no reason you shouldn't get 100% on your hw. Homework was 15% of your grade. If you have to take this class, I definitely recommend taking it with Holt over the summer.