STAT 2120

This class isn't too difficult content-wise, but it's pretty time-consuming. There are 2 labs per week that you do with your group of ~4 people; the class time given to complete the lab is 50 minutes, but if you don't have a great group, it usually takes about 20-30 extra minutes to finish the labs (the labs are fairly long). There's one homework assignment per week; I worked through the homeworks fairly efficiently, but it still took me about 2 hours on average to complete it. I also went to his office hours every week to clarify homework questions that I was unsure about, which was helpful. Although Professor Ross doesn't give you practice exam questions, which makes it difficult to know what to expect, his exams are fairly straightforward and he also offers 2-4 extra credit points. #tCFfall2021

To put it simply, this course is a lot of work. You have lecture twice a week and lab twice a week (my lab was online which wasn't ideal but obviously not a fault of Ross) and homework due almost every saturday, so you're doing some sort of work for this class almost everyday. The first two weeks are chaotic because you don't have a consistent lab group until add/drop ends and because you are simultaneously having to learn how to use Python outside of lecture on top of stats content. That said, Ross does give you some leniency - he offers a decent amount of extra credit opportunities and your 2-4 lowest scores on lecture quizzes, HW, and labs are dropped depending on the type of assignment. I felt that lecture was sufficient in teaching the information, and the textbook is 100% optional but some people like having it. While this class is definitely doable and you can do well in it, I wouldn't recommend it unless you are really interested in stats or need to take it as a pre-req - if you're just looking to fulfill a gen ed I would not recommend taking this course due to the workload. If you have a little bit of time before taking this course, I would recommend trying to familiarize yourself with python a little (nothing extreme, just the basics of how the program works) so you aren't caught completely off guard at the beginning of the semester.

Professor Ross and the TAs were not very helpful. This is a course with a LOT of content and units. There was an extremely large disparity between students with and without coding backgrounds that was not justly accounted for. Professor Ross did not receive constructive criticism well (when it came to technical issues of virtual exam formatting) and was quite hostile in response to many students.

Richard Ross was better than I expected. That being said, my expectations, from what I was told before taking his course, were very low. He is a genuinely nice dude and gives opportunities for extra credit. However, the amount of work he sends is ridiculous. The homework each week takes at least 2 hours to finish and thats apart from the group labs he sends. His lectures are alright, and its helpful that he allows us to use our class notes and resources during the exam. But honestly, the TAs are the worst part of the course (At least some of them). They all seem in a rush and rather give you a wrong answer or advice just to get it over with. Some were helpful though, but most sucked tbh. The project was fine, just not explained at all.

I personally recommend the book if you can find it at a good price because the powerpoints and lectures weren't enough for me to fully understand the material, if not the resources he provides are enough. He gives opportunity for extra credit like posting on campuswire (up to 2% I think) so it's not like he's unforgiving. This is a class where you're going to have to put a lot of time and effort in (like A LOT of time) but overall it's not the worst. I had to take this as a pre-req for something else, but if you're genuinely interested in stats I don't think that this class should be that bad. My advice is to go to OH more if you have any questions because most TAs will check over your homework answers before you turn it in to see if they're right if you ask. Calc 1 is recommended for this class but honestly it wasn't ever used so if you haven't taken calc before I think you can still take this class.
#tCFspring2021

this class is so much freakin work. You truly never get a break. the exams are hard cuz theyre nothing like the labs and homework you've spent so much time on. if you're like me u had to take it for mcintire so you don't really have any options but just go in knowing this class takes up a bunch of time. OH also -- textbook is not necessary at all.

STAT 2120 is a lot of work. Do not take this class at the same time as other difficult classes. I took it with managerial accounting and it was a bad decision. The first two weeks are especially stressful because you have to do an online Python course IN ADDITION to all the regular class responsibilities and assignments. The main issue with the course is that so much content is covered in such a short amount of time, arguably to a fault. The class as a whole does badly on exams, so I suspect people aren't learning as much as they should be due to how crammed the content is. Professor Ross is also not amazing at explaining advanced concepts. Labs help so much because they take his vague and awkward descriptions and make sense out of them through application. Professor Ross is generous with the grading distribution, however, and you do end up with a better grade than you'd expect.

Ross is a decent professor. I think he seems to get more hate/criticism than is deserved. He probably won't be the greatest professor you ever have, but certainly for an intro class like this, he does what is necessary. He also tends to keep his lectures short which is nice. I for one appreciated the class in the sense that it strayed away from more theoretical material and made sure we applied the things that we were learning to real and practical data. Instead of memorizing boring theorems and such, we were taught several important tools for inferential statistics that are actionable. I would say to not be discouraged from taking this class just because Ross is teaching it.

This was Professor Ross' second full semester and he did a decent job for his experience. Don't get me wrong there were some portions I wish he would've listened to student feedback for but overall he did his best to be a fair grader within reason. This class was a lot of work and your experience depends a lot on how good/bad your lab group is as you have to do 2 labs a week and then a final project with them as well. If I had one piece of advice it would be to learn python ahead of time if you can help it- he only gives you a week to learn it essentially. Make sure you take good notes and prepare for exams by making sure you understand how every piece of code works and when to use it. Python is your best friend or your worst enemy in this class.

If you don't read anything else, just read this: there are not that many office hours each week compared to other introductory level classes I've taken, but they are super helpful to ask questions about topics or the labs and homework and they will help a ton. just go you won't regret it!
This course is a lot of work: two labs and a homework due each week at the minimum. However, the course is not as hard as the amount of assignments indicate. As long as you put in the work, your grade should be fine. Something nice Professor Ross did was to provide all of the labs/ homework/ lecture videos far in advance, so it was easy and helpful to work a few days ahead. I made a habit of starting the weekly homework a week in advance, which helped with managing the course load. We used an online question forum website, and students could get up to 2% extra credit on their entire grade for effective participation there. I highly recommend answering your classmate's question there. We had permanent lab groups (~4 students) the entire semester. Regardless of how good your lab group is, I HIGHLY recommend previewing the lab before meeting with your group. If every member reads through the lab questions beforehand and starts answering questions they know how to do, your lab group will be much more productive. Only 50 minutes is allotted for lab time, which in my opinion is not enough for most of the labs, so looking over it beforehand makes those 50 minutes count more. Prior coding experience (this course uses Python, but any language works) is very helpful because teaching Python is not a focus of the class and can save time.
I don't like that the final project was crammed into the last < 2 weeks, but office hours were super helpful for clarifying the abundant unclear instructions. I don't think this is a very enjoyable class for most students, but there is a lot of information taught. I was unsure whether to go into statistics before taking this course, but I spent a lot of time and learned a lot in return and am overall much more interested in statistics.