STAT 3080

I'm reviewing professor Richard Ross. He is new to the course (originally taught by Gretchen Martinet). For reference, I took this my first semester of my first year. First of all, the class has the incorrect prerequisites on sis. The Statistics Department recommends either STAT1601, STAT1602, or having taken both an intro stats class and intro programming class before. SIS only lists an intro stats class. For those who have coded in R software before, this class would be easy; for those who have coded at all (in Python) I would say this class is a little harder but still understandable; if you have not coded at all, then this class is a difficult. Professor Ross skims through the material at a pace and with coding jargon that I could not comprehend (Never coded before). This is not a stats class, this is a coding class. R is not insanely difficult, and I've managed to get by, by spending a long time on the homework and looking online for how to do things in R. The quizzes are hard for me but there are only 3 and the quiz category is 15% of your grade (so each is 5% while each individual homework assignment is 4%). There are no tests or midterms or final in the class (thank god) but there is a project. Outside of lecture the class work is 1-4 hours I'd say (depending on your understanding of R). This is not an insane amount. Overall the class is low stress, but I do think lectures are frustrating, can be useless, and need to be better organized. And if they aren't going to require a coding prerequisite, they need to give a better introduction to R. If you want to learn how to do more things in R, take this class. If you want an introduction to R, take the STAT 1600 level class. If you want to learn more about actual statistics, this is not the class for you. Overall I don't regret taking the class. The work is manageable and I love that there are no tests. The homework is possible (I would recommend going to TA office hours even if you feel good about you're homework because I learned a lot in office hours).