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