STAT 2120

I was really concerned going into this class after hearing how bad the professors usually are, but I really liked Jeff Woo. He went over most topics really well in class, though sometimes rushed, and I barely had a problem doing the homeworks after looking at his examples. It was his first time teaching a class like this so his exams were a little whack--the first one insanely easy so he made the second one really tough--but that will probably smooth out next semester. The class can be a pain with all of the extra work you have to do (reading quizzes, labs, etc.) but most of these are easy grades that are meant to balance out the exam grades. I definitely recommend Jeff if you want to get through this class relatively unscathed, take it with him before another bad professor teaches it again!

Good class to learn the basics of statistics in. There was a heavy emphasis on Excel (partially because McIntire asked him to do that) which was fine except for the fact that it was sometimes difficult to understand what we were doing conceptually. So on the exams when he put a lot of conceptual questions on it, many of us were thrown off. Also midterm exams only had 20-21 questions and the final had 33, all multiple choice with no curve. This made it extremely difficult to get a good exam grade (except on the first exam which was very easy). Homeworks, lab quizzes, and reading quizzes bring up grades in the end. Statistical study also wasn't bad. In the end, I was surprised by my grade (A). Overall, not too bad of a class.

Not a bad class at all. Yes stat is a bit tricky and not your typical math, but it is very manageable and there are many ways to boost your grade. Woo is entertaining in lectures and although he posts all his lecture slides online, he does practice problems in class that are very helpful. I didn't take stat in high school, yet still managed a solid grade in here. Definitely don't let the fact that it is stats scare you away.

Jeff Woo was a fantastic professor. He took the intimidation factor out of taking STAT 2120, since it is generally viewed as one of the harder Econ/McIntire pre-reqs. He really does his best to look out for all of his students and he's very flexible when it comes to office hours. Make sure you do the homeworks strategically, really work with your groups on the labs + ask the TAs for help if you don't understand so that you do well on the quizzes, and study the material as you would normally for every other course and I can personally guarantee you an A-. I had never taken stat before and I did better than people who had taken AP Stat in high school simply by doing my assignments early and strategically (and honorably). I didn't do as well on the final as I had hoped (I had like 4 finals in 3 days. Hey, what can I say, I wanted to go home) so I actually ended up with an A-. If I had gotten one more question right on the final I would've had an A. He grades the statistical study super leniently as well, so just make sure you put in a good effort on that and you'll get a 100. Overall, I'm glad Jeff Woo was tapped as the new STAT 2120 professor because you'll learn the material without worrying whether or not you're going to get an A- or a B-.

People who took STAT 2120 in Fall of 2016 got incredibly lucky with Jeff (Professor Woo goes by Jeff). Didn't do any readings, you really don't have to attend class unless it makes you feel better, and the reading quizzes/Homeworks aren't bad if you have people to help you/have the book in front of you. (Personally I didn't need help with the homeworks but found many of my peers did.) The math on each exam was fair, especially since you were able to bring a 1 sided hand written cheat sheet to each exam (2 sided for the final). The concepts were very trick, especially on the second exam where he meant to trick you. I got an A, D, and B- on the exams and ended up with an A- in the class because of the buffer HW, statistical study (my group got a 100, as I am sure did every other group who met the criteria), homework, group projects, and reading quizzes. If you have to take STAT 2120, TAKE IT BEFORE WOO LEAVES.

Definitely a difficult class, especially if you haven't taken Statistics before. Professor Woo was great though. First exam was ridiculously easy, second one was ridiculously hard, and the final was somewhere in the middle. Ended up with an A- even though it was very difficult. The book is pretty helpful, and make sure to do as well as possible on Reading Quizzes and Lab Assignments because they can boost your grade up.

Professor Woo is great, but there is a big difference between those that go to lecture and don't. If you haven't taken statistics before, the material gets deep and often the textbook explanations are confusion. But don't fear, Prof Woo (though by his own confession he hasn't taught this class in a while) is great and very modern in his examples. Exams are tough but there are enough booster grades to get a solid B+ or higher with a little effort.

TAKE THE COURSE WITH HIM!!! He is honestly the best professor for this class. He is clear, concise and manages to use real life examples to solidify the material. He uses a balanced combination of ppts and the overhead projector to explain the examples. Learned a lot!!

I enjoyed this course up until the point where we had to do the Statistical Study, which wasn't very hard but still time-consuming/stressful. The tests were pretty difficult as well, but you can still get a good grade without doing extremely well on the tests because homework, reading quizzes, and labs all have a significant portion of the final grade.

In general:
- There's a lot of buffer for your grade if you get 100% on your homework and labs.
- I took AP Stat before and blazed through the units until linear and multiple linear regression, so I'm assuming other students in similar situations will do the same.
- lab groups are randomized for a stat project but mostly done with people at your table

Tips:
1. Go watch STAT videos on YouTube to clarify concepts because the textbook was boring and hard to understand. AP stat videos should be sufficient.
2. Don't skip class unless you are sure you are super self-disciplined.
3. He has revamped the first midterm so that the distribution doesn't lean so heavily towards an A.
4. Divide and conquer in labs by creating a google doc with the people sitting at your table