STAT 2020

This is a backward class, where you have to watch a video before going to class, so class itself is pretty boring. I rarely paid attention in class. If you really try you only need to study for the class 2 days before the exam, and the practice exam she gives is basically the actual exam. I highly recommend taking this class, but just be ready to be bored during class and heads up the prelab video are all always about and hour long, they do not get shorter like she says they do.

I took this class Fall 2022, which was my first semester at UVA. I really liked biostats but I absolutely hated Maria. She was always grouchy and made it clear on the first day that she did not like lecturing so we had to teach ourselves through her slides and groupwork. She seems like she hates her job and always has too much on her place. It just never seemed like she cared about her students and I was scared of her. The class itself was not hard, but she was a bad teacher. For me, math is simply one of those subjects I find hard teaching myself, but I had to because she refused to lecture. She literally told us the first class that she did not like lecturing so she would not be doing it. If you can take a different stats class to fulfill the requirement or don't need stats or can do it with another professor, please do. It will make your life so much easier.

STAT 2020 mostly focuses on hypothesis testing after glossing over probability and its applications in cancer screenings. The instructor was very knowledgeable on the topic yet could have improved with respect to her content delivery. She utilized a flipped classroom, which I find frustrating by itself. Yet she ended up reviewing what she expected you to go over prior to lecture anyways. It isn't a particularly exciting class, but you do learn some good information and end up learning "R." Her exams are actually quite challenging compared to her homework and classwork. So be sure to understand the content enough to get her multiple choice questions (they're brutal).

I found this class relatively engaging and not too difficult. I have never taken any stats class before, but I found each topic pretty easy to understand. Prof Ferrara goes very slowly but this helps you to understand the content. Because it's a flipped-class structure, the lectures can be pretty boring if you understand a topic. The labs are interesting and not too hard to do well on. The class and labs involve some basic coding in R Studio, but you're not required to memorize any code. As this class is "for biologists", all the questions are related to medical or scientific research/experiments. However, you don't need to know anything about medicine or biology to do well in the class. She provides tons of resources to do well on the exams, including practice exams that are pretty similar to the actual exam. The final exam is somewhat cumulative, but not very, which makes it easier to study for. #tCFF23

Unlike what it seems to be the popular opinion here, I actually enjoyed this class! Although Maria doesn't necessarily lecture during class, she makes sure to hit all of the important points we needed to know while doing the practice problems. I skimmed through the slides a few minutes before the lecture and tried to pay close attention while she went through examples, which worked out well for me. I will admit it was VERY easy to zone out during class as she talks REALLY slowly and is a little too thorough to the point where she starts to talk in circles sometimes. She is very nice and approachable one-on-one, so if you missed anything during lecture, I would go to her office hours to get them cleared. Attendance is a decent part of your grade, but you get 4 free skips! Exams are pretty fair and you get a one-sided cheat sheet for each exam (two-sided for the final). The multiple choice questions can be a little trippy and missing those can really add up, but the free responses are very similar to those on the worksheets/practice exam. Labs are also very straightforward - Maria provides you all the code in the pre-lab video (which I recommend watching on 2x speed) and all you have to do is change some of the parameters. If you have a good lab group, you can get the lab assignments done in 20-30 minutes. She can be a little nitpicky with key words and notations, so make sure to get those cleared up during lab. She offers a lot of extra credit towards the end of the semester, so it's very doable to end with an A even if you fumble a little on the midterms. #tCFS24

I did not like this course. I took it because I needed statistics for pre-med expecting statistics to be pretty easy. Overall, the material is not that hard but the structure of the class is irritating. Instead of lecturing, Maria just answers questions and expects you to look through the power points before class on your own time. Reading power points is NOT a good way to learn math. She gives a lot of time to work with a group on practice problems, but usually we did not understand what we were doing because she never lectured. In this course you will learn all the basic statistical tests and the coding language R, which happens to be used in a lot of clinical research. The lab period is used entirely for coding. The exams take more reviewing than you expect, especially because she never taught the information. She also has a habit of over-explaining the easy stuff, talks extremely slow, and acts like we are elementary school students. If you need this for premed it is probably the best choice, but it will be pretty time consuming and not very enjoyable. #tCFS24

If you need to take a stat class, take this one, even if you aren't interested in bio. It's genuinely just an intro stats class, the only thing that makes it biostats is that all the practice problems are biology/healthcare themed. You will probably have to teach yourself the content, but as long as you take notes on the detailed slides before class you can tune out during class. The labs were just coding with R and they were super easy (and even fun, as long as you get a good lab group). The exams weren't bad because you got to bring a full sheet of paper with anything you wanted written on it to the two midterms, and a full sheet of paper double-sided to the final. At the end of the course, she surprised us with two extra credit opportunities that would add 4 percentage points to our final grade. She definitely has the course set up to put you in a good position to get a good grade. #tCFS24

I am just going to reiterate what everyone else is saying: This is not an easy A class! Professor Ferrara seems like a very nice person, but that does not mean that she is a good professor. First, she talks WAY too much, and she does not have an understanding of time. She is very condescending and lectures students like they're in elementary school. For the labs, she makes you watch a usually 45-minute video of her yapping and I put in on 2x speed every time and honestly you couldn't even tell. If you happen to finish early in lab and you're not 40 minutes into lab, she doesn't let you leave (lab is 50 minutes long). If you do leave even after submitting, you get marked as not present. She has lab peer reviews that are really dumb and should be a grade booster, but sometimes are not. I got 10 points taken off my peer review because "I worked at a faster pace and knew the code better than my partner." She told me that I needed to understand that everyone has a different level of understanding when it comes to R, mind you that everyone has access to the same lab material, and I had never previously been taught R. Her homework and classwork are basically worth nothing as well, which is unfortunate because the homework takes forever to do. Her exams are the WORST. I promise you that Professor. Ferrara accounts for at least half of the paper waste at UVa. You get a quarter of a desk, in a hot room, and like 8 pieces of paper for questions that could just be put on a double-sided paper or two separate sheets. She does not curve, which is understandable before you look at her exam averages. Most of your grade in the class will stem from the lab assignments and the exams, so if you do bad on one exam say goodbye to that A or A-. Most people this year, I think either got around a B+. It really is not a hard class, but the structure is just awful. If you want to take a stats class with R, take Stat 1601.

Here's what everyone's going to tell you about this class: take it because it's an easy A. That much is true, but God this class is so awful that I genuinely would recommend taking 2120, or hell, any other stats class over it.
Let's start with the substance: this class is an overview of descriptive and inferential statistics, highlighting data visualization methods and hypothesis testing. What makes this a "biostats" class is that the datasets you use for problem solving and labs are themed around medicine and biology. Otherwise, the content is much like any introductory statistics class. You learn via a flipped setup where you take notes at home and practice in class. Or, at least, you're supposed to. Prof. Ferrara gives you slideshows to take notes on, but classes are so interminably slow and boring that you will NEVER need to learn beforehand.
Highlights of each class include:
1. Repeating the same thing three or four times in a row with no changes.
2. Running through the most basic assumptions and principles over and over again instead of focusing on applications and practice problems.
3. A fundamental distrust of students' ability to retain information and act independently. It feels like I'm back in high school. This is a 2000 level class!
4. Forcing you to stay in lab for 40 minutes, even though most of the assignments can be completed in 10 minutes if your group members have a functioning brainstem.
Prof. Ferrara seems nice, and she usually is, but she can also be quite inflexible on accommodations and often answers questions quite rudely. This combined with the interminably slow and boring classes makes this class a hard lift. It is easy, though. Just study for the exams the day before using her practice exams and you'll make an A no problem. #tCFS24

I really enjoyed this course! I liked how we had to go through the slides before class and she would go over practice problems with us in class. That really helped solidify my understanding as she took time to explain each step and all the solutions were also posted with ALL the steps. Going through the practice tests before you take the actual exam will help you a lot. I found the homework questions a bit hard sometimes, but it was probably because I never left myself enough time with to finish the homework. The labs usually do not take more than 50 mins, and my group sometimes finished in 30 mins. We never spent any extra time outside of lab to work on the assignments. But, I think I got lucky because I got a great group. If you get a bad group, she will change you to a different group based on group evaluations (3 of them). She also gave us 2 opportunities for extra credit - one for lab and one for the final exam. Since 80% of us finished the course evaluation, we got 2% points extra on our final exam grade. The last lab also counted as an extra credit for 2% points that go towards the lab grade. Overall, I really liked this class and Maria! #tCFF23

This course is not bad at all. There is weekly homework and 3 exams. The exams are exactly like the practice tests so be sure to do those. It is a flipped classroom where you have to take notes outside of class and then in class you go over practice problems. The lab portion of the class was harder than expected. They grade pretty harsh. There are definitely opportunities to get your final grade up if you take advantage of them. If you work hard in this class, it is doable to get an A.

This isn't a terrible class, but I do not recommend taking it over the summer. Maria is kind and helpful, but I think she tried to smush a full semester into 4 weeks rather than restructuring the class for the 4 weeks. Her timing isn't great (for example, she has us filling out a lab group evaluation 1 day after we filled another one out, which doesn't make much sense). This class would probably be great during a normal semester, but it just doesn't work over the summer with the way she teaches it right now.

It is a flipped classroom, yet she reteaches everything during class anyway which is a waste of class time (and also not how a flipped classroom is supposed to work). It gets pretty slow, making it hard to focus for 2 hours 15 minutes, but I am learning.

I wouldn't say this version of the course is an easy A; you def have to put in good effort since its so condensed. There are labs multiple times a week (and one lab project), group class work every day, and about 6 homework assignments. There's a midterm halfway through and a final. Exam questions are harder than anything we see in class or on homework (I wish she would show us the hardest stuff in class when we can still ask questions, but alas). Exams are 50% of your grade.

Like I said, Maria is definitely kind and organized. She will help you if you ask. The main thing I didn't like was the structure and timing of the class; if that was altered this class would be perfect for summer.
If you absolutely have to take it over the summer, you will 100% be fine if you have the time to devote to studying for exams. But again, if you have the choice, take a different summer class and take this one during a normal semester.

This class is easy, which makes it perfect to fill a requirement and boost your GPA. Maria is a slow talker, which made lectures tedious and hard to pay attention in. I had never taken stats before, and I found it easier to use her power points to teach myself before class as she intends for us to do. Then I would ignore what was going on in class and do the hw instead. I studied for tests by doing the practice exams she gives and retaking them until I got perfect scores. Her MC is hard so make sure you can get close to perfect on free response questions. If you’ve taken stats before this class should be a piece of cake. I never had any experience with stats or R, and I got an A.

I was genuinely surprised at how much I liked this course. After nightmarish experiences with the math department here and the flipped classroom style they employed, I wasn't sure what to expect with this class. But I can confidently say that this was the only class where I've experienced a flipped classroom being used and taught incredibly well. Maria explained concepts incredibly thoroughly. If you're someone who picks up on things quickly, and read over the slides beforehand, it can definitely feel a little bit slow. But going to lectures and following along/completing the classwork REALLY solidified my understanding of the topics and made things a lot less stressful when it came time to study for the exams.

The labs were incredibly easy and definitely rewarded those who watched the videos beforehand. Aka you will not be able to do the lab if you don't watch - Maria lays practically everything you need to do during the lab out during the video which was INCREDIBLY helpful and stress relieving. You don't need to teach yourself R or anything crazy, she really does make sure that everything is being explained, and the structure of the lab with 4 lab assistants made it so that questions you had in lab would be answered quickly.

I truly only took this class as a requirement for my major. But I thought Maria was a great professor and honestly will consider taking more classes in this area in the future. Put in the work she asks you to (literally just reading over the slides before each day, doing the homework, watching prelab videos once a week) and your grade will reflect that.

#tCFfall2022

This class is basically just an intro stats course, if you took AP Stats in high school this should look somewhat familiar. You do most of the reading/learning outside of class and in class you do some review and practice problems. Maria teaches reallllly slowly but for some people thats good because it guarantees that theres time for everybody to know whats going on. Try to do well on the homeworks and labs as much as you can as they can buffer your grade. Exams are honestly not bad at all if actually put in a little time to study. But make sure you do study, because the three exams make up 50% of your grade! The practice exams are amazing, if youre able to do well on those then youre gonna do well on the exams (theyre almost the same). For me going through all the relevant powerpoints and taking the practice exam was enough to be well prepared for each exam. Overall class is pretty good! Content was kinda boring to me but im sure some people would find it interesting. Maria is also a nice person and a good professor.

#tCFfall22

This class was really easy. The labs are a breeze if you literally just watch the lab video on 2x speed. R is also super easy even if you suck at coding like I do. If you pay attention in lecture and study by doing the class practice/practice exam, the exams should be easy too. The homework is really short and doesn't take long if, again, you paid attention in class. She explains things really simply so you literally just have to memorize some formulas and practice. She's also really chill and even let us watch the world cup penalty shoot out on our last day. Overall don't worry about this class

This class is essentially an introductory statistics class with a biology theme. To my knowledge, most or all the concepts taught in this class compared to another intro stat class are the same; the only difference is that our application problems will be related to medicine or science.

I ended up enjoying this class. It starts out slow, going over mean/median/mode, but the later concepts become interesting and challenging.

This class uses a flipped classroom model, which I didn't really like. Maria started to change this model midway through the semester, so maybe the next section she teaches will be less flipped. Before class, it is expected that you will have read/taken notes on the slides so you can do practice problems in class. I was unmotivated to take notes at the beginning of the semester, which made class confusing. When I actually started taking the notes seriously, the class became a breeze. Maria also started to review concepts in class, which also helped.

The biggest parts of your grade are the tests (15% each for exams one and two, 20% for the final), followed by the lab work and project (25%), so it is important to do well on these. Try to get 100% where it's easy, like the classwork grade and homework/symposium grades. Homework questions give you two attempts: if you get it wrong the first time, DO NOT try again until you confirm you have the right answer. If you go to office hours, Maria will help you out and explain the problem to you. Alternatively, ask your class friends for homework help. It's always better to ask questions and look a little stupid than to bomb your lab/homework assignments (I lived by that and ended this class with an A).

Overall, I ended up enjoying this class. There were some days I had to do a whole lot of studying to figure out what was going on, but when it clicked, it clicked. Use your resources, take your notes, and ask questions when you need help, and you'll do just fine.

If you have taken a statistics course before (such as AP Stats in high school), this class will be a breeze. 90% of what we learned in this class was material I had learned in AP Stats. As a result, this class was easy and I don't feel like I learned much. Professor Ferrara is nice, but she talks slowly and explains everything multiple times, so class time tended to drag on. The course itself was structured so that we took notes before class and did practice problems in class. Usually, we would do about 20 minutes of practice problems, and then Professor Ferrara would spend the next hour explaining those problems. Tests were very predictable, and there was only about an hour of actual homework per week. There is also a 1 hour "lab" each week, which is just basic coding in R, and can easily be finished during class time if your group is motivated. I actually really liked the lab component of the course.

I got an A+ in the course. In my opinion, this class is doable. It's easy to get an A if you do the work.

The style of the course is strange. The homework is to review the powerpoint and teach yourself the content. Then, in lecture, in a small group you work on 1-3 problems. She monitors attendance by the classwork, but you do get 4 drops. In lecture, she does go over the content as if you have never heard anything before, but doesn't do a full overview. There is also a lab section of this class, but do not be intimidated as she makes lab very easy. The lab uses R studio and her pre-lab videos cover exactly what to do. I do not feel I actually learned the coding content, but more just copy and pasted code and changed a word or two. I had never coded before, and I felt it was a breeze.

Advice:
1. Know the vocabulary - The hardest portions of the exams were NOT the statistics/ math parts, but the multiple choice. If you want to do well, make sure you know the vocabulary
2. Go to office hours for homework problems - On every homework problem you get 2 attempts to get the correct answer, and it is graded. I recommend after the first attempt to go to office hours to have the TAs check your new answer. It is annoying, but they will confirm your answer so you are guaranteed a 100% on the homework.

This is the perfect class for anyone who wants to go into health/biology. Stats was never my favorite topic, but she made it easy to understand. The classroom is flipped so lectures are on youtube at home and then practice group problems in class with a once a week lab to learn R Studio. Everything is well paced with good instruction and her office hours are helpful. She is really nice about helping students who are confused as well. Her exams are all a little harder than the practice problems so if you take this class keep in mind to use her practice exams and really study times. Timing yourself on them helps understand your capacity better. Labs and HW are weighted just as much if not more than the exams though so they aren't super stressful.

Good class and relatively easy A if you are willing to devote a little time to it each week! Classroom is constructed to be reverse which I found annoying and not as helpful as a traditional style classroom, but the content isn't hard so it wasn't so bad. Homeworks weekly, but you get two tries on every question. Labs were also pretty easy if you watch the pre lab video. Worst part of the whole class was taking exams in that cramped lecture hall because she didn't staple the pages together.

For background, I took a stats class before taking this course, so the material itself was pretty easy. My friends who took this course thought that the material was also pretty easy to quickly understand (or at least pretty easy to understand after some practice).
Maria, however, is a whole different story. I thought that she would be pretty easy going at first, but it turns out that she pretty much hates her job and takes it out on everyone else. She is an INCREDIBLY slow talker -- I always put her lab videos and lecture videos (which I hardly watched) on 2x speed, and it was still slow. Her lectures are pretty much useless because she posts all the material that needs to be learned before hand as a PowerPoint and video, and lectures are just practice we get already in the homework (I regretted every time I showed up to lecture, but there is a class participation grade). I ended up doing work for OTHER classes during lecture.
This class would be a pretty good grade booster if she didn't make every exam worth 30-40 points when each exam before the final is worth 15% of our grade -- it doesn't seem like a big amount, but it will add up.
#tCFfall2021

Maria provides a lot of resources and is very straightforward about the expectations for this class. I never had to read the textbook for this class, as Maria's PowerPoints and notes were sufficient enough. The homework problems on Achieve is very helpful to understanding the content as well. In lecture, you do practice problems in small groups, and then go over them, although Maria would take way too long to explain the problems and never finish. If you took AP Stat in high school and did well, this class will be very easy. She doesn't teach you how to use the stat functions in the calculator, but knowing that is very helpful instead of knowing the R code. The lab is where you learn to use R, and can be done with no programming experience if you watch the prelab videos. Take this over STAT 2120 if you can. #tCFfall2021

This is a really great survey of statistics with an applied biological lens. I don't think you need to take this class AND another introduction to statistics because the class is 98% statistics and 2% biology (all of the problems have bio applications, but you only learn a couple topics that are, conceptually, a true intersection between biology and statistics such as specificity, sensitivity, and PPV).

During a COVID semester, the class was set up in a way where there were a couple asynchronous videos to watch a week with topic quizzes for each on gradescope (quiz material came directly from the videos). The topic videos were about an hour each, but I watched them sped up and took notes, so it probably took me 2 hours total to watch the videos, take notes, and finish the quizzes every week. There was also a lab component where you watch a lecture tutorial before Tuesday's lab. The lab portion of the class probably took about 1.5-2 hours a week by the time I watched the tutorial and completed the lab with my group. Besides a 10-15 question weekly homework, the final portion of the class consisted of synchronous groupwork on Thursdays that takes up the whole "lecture" period.

Overall, this is one of those classes that looks like it has a ton of work, but once you get on a schedule, it is very routine and not that bad to complete. Maria and the TAs were very nice, and questions on Piazza were always answered pretty quickly.

took this it sucked!! i wouldn't say it was "hard" material wise, but the amount of work it took from week to week was just too much and the lectures are so hard to get through. by the end of the semester i had to watch them on 4x-5x speed to be able to get myself to pay attention. we had weekly homework assignments, daily quizzes, lab, lab prep video (around an hour), lecture videos (around an hour and a half), a lab project, and 3 exams throughout the semester. if you have to do this for a pre-req, you'll get through it, but otherwise i'd recommend taking 1601 or something.

I took this class since I saw that a lot of pre-med students typically do. It was probably the easiest class I had this semester, very doable for a first-year student. During this online semester, Tuesdays were asynchronous and basically OH while Thursdays involved about a half-hour of group-work and then the rest of class was her going over the problems from said group work. The exams are fair and shouldn't be too challenging if you go over the slides and post-lecture "quizzes". Since our tests were open-note this semester, having a well-organized "cheat-sheet" on hand helped too. Labs are where students learn to use R for analysis. If you have any programming experience at all, it should be a breeze. And if you don't have programming/coding experience, it still shouldn't be too hard since Prof.Ferrara makes the instructions very clear.

I didn't go to OH at all so I didn't have much interaction with the professor, but she seems really nice. She was super prompt about responding to questions on Piazza, and I'm sure a lot of students appreciated that.

I recommend taking this if you're looking for an intro stats course and/or want to get some basic familiarity with using RStudio.

#tCFspring2021

I enjoyed this class. It was definitely challenging, even in covid, so don't take it unless you are willing to put a lot of work in. Maria is a very thorough lecturer and a nice person. She teaches you to code in labs, which I found to be very interesting. Maria is very much the professor who's syllabus is final. She does not round (even if you are 0.01 away) and her tests are challenging. That being said, getting an A level grade or even a B+ is very much achievable.
#tCFspring2021

Coming from someone who has never taken a statistics course, this class was very straightforward. You go over a chapter or two every week and there are three tests throughout the semester, including a final, which is not cumulative. The professor's lecture videos were informative and easy to follow. The labs were relatively simple as long as you watched the lab videos. If you put in a reasonable amount of work, you should get a good grade.

Maria is super nice! She dropped our worst grade on homework, lab, and quiz, also ignore three absence without reason. Should be easy A if you take good note watching the video, do homework and practice problems before exams. Don't have to do reading, video includes everything. Remember to be friend with your labmate.

If you're looking for an easy, pre-health related stats class this is it! It's basically an intro stat class with a sprinkle of biology-related problems and I enjoyed it as someone who'd never taken stats in high school. I will say that Maria assigns a TON of outside class work including 2 topic videos that are usually over the typical class time of an hour 15 and on top of that assigns an hour long lab video for your 50 min lab, weekly homework, 2 topic quizzes a week, and 1 synchronous lecture and lab on top of all this. In her topic videos she goes through everything extremely diligently and slowly and I don't know anyone who watched it at anything less than 2x speed. This class is very time consuming but I won't say it's too difficult. If you put moderate effort into every assignment, you'll end up with a decent grade in this class. She also provides practice exams which are super helpful for preparing for her 3 exams which aren't really cumulative either which is a nice bonus. Also, lab is a complete waste of time; you basically learn R but it's never used on an exam and I don't feel like it's a good use of a lab. TLDR; loooots of work, but easy. Maria is super nice and approachable. #tCF2020

The professor: Honestly I loved this class, and I thought Maria was truly an effective professor. She explains everything, and I mean everything (including every detail and method) very slowly, and I absolutely appreciated this!! I'm a snail when it comes to learning math/stats, so I really appreciated her explaining things that way. As the semester progressed, I started to increase the speed in which I watched her YouTube videos, and I highly recommend the following: go through the slides first and take notes on the writings etc., then watch her videos on 2x speed. It's a lot faster and more efficient than watching and copying her videos on 1x speed or pausing on 2x speed, and without pauses, you can learn things a lot better without breaks in them. Maria makes herself readily available literally every day of the week, multiple times a day. I've NEVER had a professor be this available before, and I appreciated that literally any student could have a chance to meet with her. She is kind, a bit quirky, and definitely helpful with her explanations. Loved her!!

The class: There's asynchronous days to watch her videos on Tuesdays, and live classes on Thursdays. I had to do this class during COVID. She used Teams instead of Zoom, and we would get assigned to random groups on Thursdays to do the class problems/participation. If your group mates slack, absolutely don't put their name on the work and let Maria know. I wish I was more vigilant about this during my time taking the class. We also had labs on Tuesdays, which were fine. If you have 4 people in your group, you can easily get the labs done in 25 minutes tops. However, if you have 3 people, it can take most of the time. If you have questions about the labs, I'd say to ask once during lab and then to go during a lab OH and double confirm. Sometimes it can be really easy to lose points on labs, which make up 20% of our overall grades. My group would often ask a TA to check things, and he would say they're right, and then we'd get them marked wrong by our grader. Labs can be an easy grade if you let it, but you just have to make sure that your stuff is right! Homeworks, we have them weekly and we get 2 attempts on each problem. If you have any issues with understanding a homework, just go to OH and Maria will gladly clarify them (same with the YouTube video grade scope quizzes). Finally, you'll have 3 exams (2 exams and a final, which is just an exam 3). I'd say make sure you read every detail carefully, including the fine print to make sure you don't miss any points. The exams are timed, and they can be kind of difficult to take with poor or spotty internet.

Grading: I think the grading is fair, but because this is such a large class and it's online, mistakes may be made at times. Definitely make sure you check your quizzes and your exams and labs to make sure no mistakes were made. Besides that, I thought it was pretty lax and fair (for exams). I would say this class is an easy A- for sure. If you put in the work, an A would be attainable absolutely!

Professor Ferrara's class is a great class to take as a beginner Statistics class. Although she does tend to overexplain concepts— which can deem to be a little much, does help to reinforce test prep in the long run. This class was online when I took it and I really liked the concept that the lecture were asynchronous with a "discussion section" being one of the lecture days to go over practice problems. Labs were slightly relevant to the topics and also provided a background with using R. Overall really great class and an easy A.

I took AP stats in high school and stats always seemed fairly straight forward and easy to me so I'm not sure if this review will be applicable to everyone. I thought this was the easiest 4 credits of my life. The labs were annoying to go to but a joke for the most part if you watch the lab videos. The exams had some tricky multiple choice questions but there were not many at all. The homework can also be annoying but they weren't bad. Every week there was a synchronous lecture which also sucked to go to but only a little over 2 hours a week for synchronous sessions (lab+class) for a good grade is worth it. Maria was also very nice and approachable.

For a stats class, I would say this one was pretty good. Maria is a good professor, although at some points I found lectures to be a drag because she would over-explain some concepts. I went to every lecture even if there was a pre-recorded topic video, but you could get away with not going if you understand the concepts in those videos (certain topics she will post a video of her going through the power-point and then in class she reviews the major concepts). The sapling homework can be time consuming, but you do have two chances to answer questions correctly. Labs are pretty easy and you can go to office hours and they will tell you exactly what they are looking for. Make sure to fully explain your answers though because, depending on the TA, they may nit-pick and take off points. I would recommend this class if you need to fulfill the stat requirement for pre-med or just need to take a math class; the work isn't too bad, but make sure you put in the effort.

I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend you take this course if you are are premed (or related) and/or you need to fulfill a statistics requirement. Maria is one of the better professors I have had here at UVA. She makes sure to go in depth in class and leaves room for questions. She is very willing to help you out if you are struggling, but you have to be willing to put in the work if you want to do well in this course. Once again, highly recommend!

This class was definetly worthwhile. I learned alot, and I would definetly recommend it, especially if you need a math requirement and a cs integration elective! Maria really teaches it like an introductory course; the beginning is quite slow as she introduces many concepts that alot of people already know, but still makes sure that everyone in the class understands everything. She posts topic videos on YouTube which are very detailed and beneficial for doing the homework assignments and understanding the concepts of that topic. I wouldn't say it's necessary to go to class if she posts a topic video, but it can be helpful to if you want to ask questions. Lab is mandatory attendance, but it's super helpful as what she does in lab during her code-alongs is very similar to the questions on her lab assignments. If you ever get stuck, just go to office hours; they will literally check over answers with you. Homework might take a bit, but it's not hard. So overall, per week, you have 1 lab and 1 hw assignment due. Certain topics have online videos you need to watch for them (which I usually put at 2x speed cause she goes a little slow), and then take a quiz on, which just asks you something you learned or something you still don't get (very easy), so you might have that additional assigment certain weeks. There are 3 exams. The multiple choice can be tricky at times, and are mostly concept based. There are usually 15-16 questions so you can only miss a few. The open ended questions are very similar to her practice problems, so do them! I will say, the exam averages were higher in my semester due to the covid situation as our exams 2 and 3 became open notes, however, our exam 1 was in person, and if you do the practice problems that she posts for each topic covered on the exam and take the practice exam (these 2 are key!!!!), you will be solid. Be aware though, to get an A in this class, you need to get a 94. She only rounds to 2 decimal places in all her grading, so even if you get a 93.99, it will still be an A-, and she makes no exceptions. I ended the class with an A, and I would say it is an easy 4 credit A/A- if you put in the work to study, which you should cause Maria provides you with more than enough study material to succeed.
For reference, the syllabus breakdown for this course was: Homework (10%), Symposium (5%), Lab (25%), 3 Exams (60%).

Easy class if you need a statistics requirement. Maria is a very fun person, and she speaks very slowly, so it's easy to understand what she's saying. Course starts off very slow, because you'll most likely have experience to the topics taught in the beginnning, but as the semester progresses the difficulty picks up but it's still not by any means hard. Maria gives practice tests before each test. These practice tests are almost the exact same as the actual tests, both in content covered and format. Do the practice tests, review over difficult concepts, and you'll be fine. I have a 100 in the class going into the last exam. The exams are not difficult if you just take time to practice and understand what is being taught. Also, labs are a good introduction to R. Not really applicable for the tests, and I appreciate that. I like learning stuff for the sake of learning it. Highly recommend this class!

Not a difficult class at all. If you have any math proficiency it'll be a breeze. Don't take it too lightly though. Don't need the textbook, work together on lab assignments and how to maximize those points. Exams are weird in that they're not too difficult but it's easy to do bad because of the weighting. They're half MC/half open-ended but there's only about 13 MC questions each exam so if you miss one that's about 3-4%. I would study hard for the exams about 2-3 days in advance going through all the ppts, hw, and the practice exam. I wouldn't pay attention to the lecture either and got an A overall. Not a hard course, you'll be fine.

This course's lectures are mostly online, which makes attending the class unnecessary. However, the lab is required. The homework and labs are simple and easy but can be time-consuming. The instructor attempts to make this course interactive, but based on my experience it was not. The exams were difficult due to no credit on the multiple-choice section and can lower your grade quickly. This course is very quick-paced. If you need a statistics class however I would recommend it over the others, but would not take it if you want an easy A.

The class is 60% exams, 5% symposium, 25% lab, and 10 % homework. The homework is all online but she only gives you 2 attempts to get the right answer or the whole problem is wrong. The labs are easy if you go to office hours. As long as you do the practice exam bunch of times then you will do fine on the actual exam. This was the first class ive ever gotten an A+ in at UVA.

I absolutely loved this class! Professor Ferrara is a really good instructor and she makes sure to explain things slowly and emphasize the important stuff. If you already have some knowledge of Statitics, the class may seem a little slow for you. The exams are super easy and often are similar to the practice exams that she gives out. There are multiple extra credit opportunities from doing little things like taking a 2 question "quiz" before each class (it just asks if you have any questions on the videos you were supposed to watch before class). I honestly loved this class, and I felt like the only outside work I had to put was before each exam. Labs are annoying but are also very easy

To be fair the material isn't enjoyable. Maria does what she can to engage the class but sometimes doesn't seem to know some of the material herself. Don't buy the book, it's useless. Take advantage of the webassign and get all of your points there. Go to office hours if you can't figure out the labs but most should be fairly straight forward if you use the examples from the lab period. Don't worry about the R dictionary. They will tell you 483758372 times that you won't do well on it if you don't do it as you go.... I did it in two hours by just looking back at the old labs and using the "?" function in R. They don't teach you calculator skills but 90% of the tests can be done in a calculator and they allow it. Be real with your TAs, they are undergrads. Youtube it and get As on all the tests. Easy A if you play the system.

The lecture was somewhat boring but Professor Ferrera made it interesting sometimes. The exams are difficult but if you do a lot of practice problems to prepare they're not too bad. Doing well on the labs evens out exam scores by the end of the semester.

Overall, Maria , though quite forgetful and sometimes moody, was great at helping us understand the statistics concepts. She would work out problems in class and even though this may have put us behind sometimes it was worthwhile because it would give you a better understanding of how to work out the problem. Not too much work associated with this class other than the weekly homework and weekly lab which together would take at least two hours. On weeks of tests I recommend studying and practice and repracticing the problems a lot! (Also Maria and Rebecca post additional practice problems on Collab for each unit and I recommend practicing those around the time of the exam).
The lab is really annoying--a lot of busy work if you ask me. Sometimes the class can get boring because you're busy just writing and listening about statistics.
Also, a fair warning, but the exams can be tricky, particularly the multiple choice. Make sure that you not only understand how to do the math, but that you also understand the conceptual ideas behind the topics.
Would recommend going to Maria's office hours as she is really helpful if you have a specific question and does a good job of helping to simply the concept even more than was discussed in lecture.

STAT isn't the most interesting subject so lectures are lowkey drawn out, but Maria truly has a talent for conveying the topics to the students. The only studying necessary is through lecture notes and WebAssign homework. Everything you need to know is straightforward. You can definitely get an A if you do your assignments and pull decent midterm grades. Overall nice class!

This class is kind of a joke. Barely showed up to class and still got a 95 average on the tests. Teacher's voice is kinda annoying but overall her lesson plan is well thought out. Powerpoints are easy to follow so it's easy to teach yourself the material. Don't waste money buying the textbook cause all important info will be covered in slides.

This class is still a joke. It is stupidly easy if you have any sort of math proficiency. Maria is fair and easy. Her voice is annoying, and she is a little odd and can be annoying, but it does not take away from the class. I have heard Rebecca the other teacher is awful, and I do believe that Maris's test scores were higher. If you need an easy stats/math course for any reason then this is the one for you.

I was really nervous to take this class, especially after hearing that it had changed over the past year and went from being known as an "easy A" class to a very difficult class. I took it because I am pre-med, and for someone who has never liked math that much, I really didn't find this course to be that difficult. As long as you put in the work before the midterms (go over the powerpoints and ALL the practice problems on the powerpoints and extra powerpoints-- don't worry, there aren't too many practice problems) you will be fine. There are about 10 webassigns over the course of the semester and maybe 5 lab assignments. There are also 2 small projects that you complete with a partner. None of them are too difficult, and I would definitely recommend putting in the maximum effort to get full credit on these.

Maria was extremely helpful in office hours- definitely knows how to explain concepts well. The class itself is not hard at all- just put in a little effort and you are on your way to the grade you want. Don't get scared by the previous reviews- the class seems to have evolved for the better since then.

I was told this class was an easy "A" class but they significantly changed the class since last year. I am not a bio major and would highly recommend non-bio majors to stay away from this class. I am a straight A student but got a terrible grade in this class. Definitely one of the hardest classes I've taken at UVA.I went to extra help, office hours, and got a tutor and still could not do well in this class. Don't take it unless you have to!

As you can see, they changed this course A LOT since this past fall semester. IT'S NOT AN "EASY A" CLASS. I believe the reason they did so is because this class is now a required course for Biology majors. So I took this class because all my friends said it was easy--it was not a prerequisite for me because I declared Biology before they changed the requirements. Yes, this class was terrible, but there is definitely a way to succeed. I'm not sure about Curran, but Ferrara is not a good lecturer. It's almost impossible to pay attention to her and she has little authority over the class. I believe that she's just very good at statistics and solving stat problems.

That being said, YOU CAN STILL SUCCEED IN THIS CLASS! The best way to succeed in this class is to do as much practice problems as you can. What I've realized while taking this class is that the tests are somewhat fair if you know all the types of problems you go over in the class. So for every practice problem she does in class (she does a lot), make sure you understand it. Please pay attention in class if you can! If you struggle with paying attention like I did, just make sure to write down all the work or at least take a picture. Studying for the tests will then be just you trying to figure out how she did these problems, and you'll learn this way. Of course, lecture material is all fair game. She also gives you a practice exam (which is quite difficult) which is somewhat similar to the types of questions you'll see on your tests. The tests are by no means easy if you don't study.

I think it's also really helpful if you know how to do stat functions on your calculator. Saves you so much time--they expect you to be able to do all the work but your calculator does a lot of it for you very quickly.

Do all the work. Homework, projects. Your final grade distribution is pretty fair--it's not overly heavy on tests alone. Good luck!

Do not be fooled by previous reviews of this class - they change the structure this semester and whatever they did it was horrible. The class itself could be incredibly useful and interesting but the way they have structured it, its lack of organization, and the professors/TAs in charge just utterly ruin it. Maria is a nice enough lady but she is a poor lecturer and I felt as if she was condescending to students who didn't understand a concept. The tests are not easy and do not correlate well with the Webassign homework or examples practiced in class. Do not even get me started about lab. Learning to code with R-studio in relation to statistics could have been cool but it was just terribly executed. For both labs and the group projects TA's would give you different answers to the same question if they knew the answers at all. The two group projects were awful as well. The last group project they assigned to us about a month before the final so we could "get ahead" unfortunately they didn't actually teach us the material we needed to know in order to do the project until a WEEK before it was due. So yeah 3/10 would not recommend.

This was honestly one of the most frustrating classes I have ever taken. I took this class because it is useful for what I plan to do after college and previous reviews said that it was easy and didn't require a ton of work. The course material WAS easy, which is what made the rest of the class so frustrating. Only about half your grade is based on tests, and the rest consists of 1. group projects that are long, frustrating and graded very hard, 2. homework that is long and unnecessarily difficult and 3. the lab sections and homework, which is based on R-coding and was an unexpected portion of the course that everyone, including myself, found unbelievably frustrating. Maria was nice but not particularly helpful - when asked questions, she struggled to explain basic concepts, and on multiple occasions I heard her get frustrated with students just because they were having trouble understanding something. Everything useful that I learned about statistics in this course came from studying for the tests, and 95% of the time I spent on this class was on other pointless nonsense. At the end of the day, I am probably going to get an A or A- but it was not worth it, don't take this class

This class was so frustrating and just an absolute mess. They changed the structure of the course to prepare biology students for reaserch, so the homeworks and labs were different from previous semesters. The lab was pointless and the R program was taught very poorly. Half the time the TA's couldn't even agree on the correct code for assignments, which actually ended up in a lot arguing. You're required to go to lab, but they basically just give you the code you need to submit the assignment. Labs assignments were also returned very late. The homework wasn't difficult, but it did take a lot of time. However, the homework doesn't correlate to the exam well at all. The group projects involving R were completely pointless and described so vaguely that you'd have no idea what you needed to do unless you went to office hours. Even then, people were told different things, so you're kind of left hoping that you have everything you need. For being so open ended, the projects were graded very strictly. Exams were multiple choice with maybe 1 free respone, and they were definitely tough because the types of questions on the exam were different from the problems we practiced in lecture. This class was just so disorganized and it just always felt like nothing correlated from lab, to homework, to exams. I hope for the sake of future students that this course is structured much better than it was this semester. If you need a stat class, look elsewhere. If this class is a requirement, I'm sorry.

The class started off okay but devolved into a trainwreck in roughly a month. They changed the class this semester and whatever they did must have completely ruined it because before I've only heard good things about the class but now it's infuriating and not easy at all. Maria is nice enough but utterly hopeless as a teacher. Exams are worded so badly half the battle is figuring out what the heck they're asking. The R component was a joke, TAs had no idea what was going on and assignments were returned months late. Overall I'm just disappointed. I was looking forward to useful, not too difficult class to fulfill some pre-reqs and take alongside biochem. Instead I got this.

If you're thinking about taking this class because you heard it was easy- don't. The class was redone this year and it's different. It's very unorganized and extremely frustrating at times. The added component of R serves no purpose outside lab classes and assignments, which are tedious and worthless. Webassign is infuriating because of its specificity in answers, so you need to use R. However, you can't use R on any of the tests, so you don't know how to do the problems. Contrary to what the reviews below me say, the 2 midterms and final exam are not easy. The group projects are extremely open ended and graded very harshly and once again, hardly tie into the course material. Maria is cool, but she's a pretty bad lecturer and makes you feel stupid if you don't know what's going on. If you don't need this class, don't take it. It's an easy subject turned into a class designed to give you a bad grade. One of my least favorite courses at UVa.

Easiest class I've taken at UVA. Been to class maybe 5-6 times the whole semester (mandatory labs) and still did well. The power points were really helpful and you don't need to read the textbook. The homework can little time consuming but fair. The two midterms and the final were relatively easy. If you need to take a math class and your major doesn't require you to take STAT 2120, this class is a god send.

Generally a pretty easy class, especially if you have any prior experience in stats whatsoever. Lectures are completely unnecessary aside from 4-5 labs completed throughout the semester. Just read through the chapters and flip through the posted slides as you complete weekly homework, which is often time consuming and varied a lot in difficulty week-to-week. Aside from homework and the labs, you have 2 midterms and a final, all of which you can have a cheat sheet for. Be warned that Maria is a bitch about homework. If its not turned in at the beginning of class, you get a 0, no exceptions.

This class is pretty straightforward. The work includes two midterms, weekly homework, and occasional labs. Maria is not very helpful and is not the best at explaining, but if you teach yourself the material you should be fine.

This class was very easy and very useful. If you ever think you might need to do data analysis or any type of statistical analysis in research, take this! Lectures were very boring and the weekly homework assignments were tedious, but the book was great. Maria is a really nice lady but not a particularly effective teacher - I did most of my learning from the book. The group projects are kind of a pain in the ass...but again, all very doable, and the professors are very approachable. so go to office hours if you need!

This class is pretty easy. The homeworks are straightforward and you can get high As on all of them if you take them seriously. Tests are similar to homeworks and practice tests and you get to bring notes. The projects are the most difficult part, but there were only 2. Def. buy the book, you'll need it. You don't have to go to class, everything you need is on the powerpoints. This class is critical for anyone who ever needs to read/interpret research papers or who is doing their own research.

If you are choosing between STAT 2120 and this class CHOOSE this class. On one of our midterms the average was a 92, whereas the average for 2120 was a 62.

Both Jessica and Maria just read of the slides, so going to class is really optional (as most of the class discovered). For exams you get to bring in cheat sheets and you can write most of the slide info on them, and you'll be golden. Homework takes longer than you'll expect it to, but it's helpful to keep you on top of class topics if you don't go in.

Maria is a really nice person, but not the clearest lecturer. Her slides are very clear, however, so it's not that important. She often seemed a little frazzled in class, but I think it was also because the students were often pretty unresponsive. People only take this class for a requirement, so there wasn't a lot of enthusiasm.

STAT 2020 is really laid back and Maria is chill AF. This class is the applied version of STAT 2120 just as MATH 1210 is the applied version of MATH 1310. Concepts are straightforward and exams make sense. Maria is helpful as well. If you got an A in MATH 1210, then STAT 202 should be easy.