APMA 3100

I took this course alongside a heavy CS workload but was still able to pretty easily keep up with the coursework. Hui Ma was an amazing professor who made sure to always check for questions and explain new topics thoroughly and from different perspectives. She also often gave time to work on worksheets in small groups in class so she could help if we had any questions or didn't understand anything completely.

The final course grade is composed of:
- Almost-daily worksheets, due at the end of the day for the class after they were assigned
- 2 projects, with the second was much longer than the first; but both allowed working with a partner, and as long as you started early they weren't stressful
-12 Webworks, which were pretty easy initially but started to have some irrelevant/unnecessarily difficult questions that we never learned how to do near the end (get each one out of the way early, because they take time!)
- 8 Checkpoints (quizzes), which were usually every other week throughout the semester and consisted of anywhere from 2-5 questions on the current Learning Targets (pass/fail, and if you fail you get 2 more attempts to "earn" that target)
- 1 cumulative final exam, which was pretty long and somewhat confusing. If you kept up with all of the work throughout the semester, however, it wouldn't be too bad (especially if you look at the provided practice exam and review well)

Something I really liked about this class was that the final exam could only raise or lower your grade by one level - so if before the exam, you had an A in the class, if you got below/above a certain threshold, your final grade could only be an A- or A+. This means that if you grinded out all of the other assignments properly, you wouldn't have to worry about the exam results too much. Overall, Ma is a great professor and this isn't a super tough course, even coming from someone who strongly dislikes probability and statistics as a whole. Good luck!

#tCFS24

Ma is a bit overhyped. She is definetly a solid math teacher, but she is not some goddess who will confirm that you get an A and understand the material of Probability. At the end of the day, its up to you to actually understand the material. The worst part was the tests. The first test was ok, but after that one it felt like we were just being tricked on every question than being tested on our probability knowledge, since the APMA likes to pick questions that are loosely in the content we learned, yet just hard enough that we never covered that difficult of a problem. Also, the webworks are sometimes just unreasonably difficult. Overall, if you don't get Ma its not the end of the world, and whether you have her or not, you will not gain special knowledge of prob that you wouldn't have otherwise. Though with Ma, its nice to have printed classwork though and fill in the blank note sheets like in high school. Absolutely love how much she cares about her students, and still had an ok experience with prob.

Professor Ma's class was awesome! Her lectures were incredibly clear and concise, and she usually left enough time for us to complete worksheets or WeBWorK assignments in class (it was a great opportunity to ask her questions about the material outside of office hours). She is very flexible and really wants you to succeed in her course (if you can't make it to her OH, you can send her an email and she'll work things out with you). I'd highly recommend taking APMA 3100 with Prof. Ma if you get the chance, you won't regret it!

Professor Ma helped make Probability my favorite class last semester. I enjoyed it so much that I changed life plans to attempt to double Major in Applied Statistics. Definitely don't treat Probability as something to be feared, just go for it! It'll be very difficult to not understand the material with Professor Ma.

The stuff below this statement is what I have written in response to someone asking about studying Probability over break and if there were any tips/ advice for the course. I'm a bit too lazy to go back and change the tone of things from 'you' so I'll leave it as-is.

Most of the material in Probability is the same regardless of the Professor. The WeBWorKs are exactly the same for each section, and the three projects are mostly the same but might have a few small variations between professors. I believe that all professors have their own version of worksheets, although the amount of additional work you will receive varies by professor. I had two friends in Professor Ryals' section at the same time, and they had fewer worksheets than I did (which was a slight detriment for them, as Prof. Ma's worksheets were very useful).

If you have taken CS 2102/ 2120, then you'll have already had an introduction to set notation and Permutations/Combinations, which are the first topics covered in Probability.

I don't believe it's necessary for you to prepare for the class over your break, you don't really start using calculus until halfway through the semester so you'll have eased yourself into the material by the time you get to needing to remember how to double integrate. The only calculus concepts you need to remember for this class are how to double integrate and take a derivative of a function, they say that you need a working knowledge of series as well but that is only for a very small percentage of WeBWorK problems. The material that's covered in the first 4-5 weeks doesn't involve any calculus, and is very easy in terms of algebra (the only thing that can get you is if you don't have a conceptual understanding of the problem). Everything in Probability builds upon each other very heavily though, so I'd highly recommend not missing out on any of the material covered in class (and if you have to miss, definitely make sure to ask a friend or go to office hours to get caught up). The semester won't treat you too kindly if you end up getting behind in Probability. I'd highly recommend completing all of your assigned tasks at least two days before the deadline and to start on group projects no later than a week before they are due (a week gives you enough time to go to office hours and get help if you get in serious trouble). I'd say that the earlier you complete your assignments the better this class will be on you from a time management perspective; my recommendations of 2 days for WeBWorK/worksheets and a week for projects are what worked for me, though.

When it comes to completing your assigned worksheets and WeBWorK assignments, I'd strongly recommend to only use the formula sheet that's provided to you at the beginning of the class (it should be somewhere in the resources folder, I'd print it out and use that formula sheet copy for the rest of the semester). You'll only have access to the formula sheet when you are taking your 50-minute tests, so it's best to complete all of your problems with the same amount of given information that you'd have when you take the test (tests are closed-notes, closed-friends). The only time you'll want to look at your notes, ask a friend, or go to office hours is when you are completely stuck on how to proceed with the problem (but definitely do ask once you're stuck! You won't gain much by staring blankly at something). I'd also recommend not using an integral calculator, as you'll be expected to compute the same types of integrals that you do in the WeBWorK on the tests. While an integral calculator will save you time in completing your homework, you might regret not being able to integrate as quickly as possible on the tests. Unfortunately, it's really easy to run out of time on the tests, so being able to do everything as fast as you can helps. An integral calculator won't really help you get faster with integration, so use it with caution. On my third test in Probability, I had exactly 2 minutes to carry out a not-so-pretty integral (as I had spent all of my other time on other problems), and it was just barely enough time.

#tCFfall22

To start, I initially took this course with Chris Hellings, and while he is an okay instructor, I dropped the course at the 50% mark because I wasn't sure if I would pass the course (2 ~50% grades on 2/4 midterms). Then I took the course with Hui Ma, and it went swimmingly. I did put a little more effort into the course than the previous semester with Professor Hellings, but the course was way easier due to how awesome Hui Ma is. She is definitely the best math instructor at UVA by a lot. Have you ever cried from frustration of not knowing how to solve a math problem? Well you won't with her! (I've had her for 3 math classes).

All instructors have to cover the same material, so online homework, projects, and midterms/finals are either exactly the same or vary slightly between all instructors. Worksheets might vary greatly between instructors, but those are a minor percentage of your grade.

We had 3 group projects that are coding heavy. If you're a CS major, they are a piece of cake. If you're not a CS major you should still be fine, but might need to spend more effort coding due to less coding experience than the CS majors.

If you can solve all the Webwork (online homework problems) problems easily, the exams should be easy. To study for each exam, I redid Webworks and thought the difficulty was about the same; however, exams didn't require as much work to solve problems even though the difficulty was about the same. Go to class, and don't cheat on any homework problems and you should do fine on exams.

I got an A in the course even though I technically received an A- on a typical UVA scale so there must've been a *slight* curve at the end of the course that is not apparent to students. Overall spent ~3-15 hours in the course per week. It varies because if I have Webwork/Worksheet/Project and Exam due the same week then I had 15 hours of work. If I just had an easy Webwork, it might take me 3 hours to finish work for the week. BTW, go to office hours if you are struggling to solve a problem for homework/worksheet/project-- don't waste time struggling when someone could help you. I often just started and finished homework in office hours just so that I'd actively work on homework early.

This class **heavily** builds on previous topics, so if you don't understand a topic from week 1, it will progressively get more and more difficult to do well later on in the course.

The material for this class is hard. It's required for most engineering majors so there's really no way to avoid the class itself. Ma is a really good teacher and lectures in a very organized way. She prints out the lecture notes for everyone to go through while she teaches. She's very nice and is extremely helpful in office hours. If you have to pick a teacher, I would definitely pick her.

Hui Ma is a fantastic professor who is able to explain concepts clearly to students. She was also very willing to talk to students during office hours about the course, and really cares about whether you learn the material. I couldn't recommend a better professor for this class!

If you have to take probability, take it with Ma. She is one of the best teachers I have had during my time in college. Probability can be extremely theoretical and dense, but Professor Ma made it easy to understand and gave us students a strong base in these useful topics. The lectures are clear and easy to follow, and she posts them all online very soon after. The weekly homework can be challenging, but is a good reflection of what was learned in class and office hours are always available to explain concepts. The exams are very reflective of what was learned. The only caution I have is about the projects. If you are not in the E-school (and are a stats major taking this class through the APMA department), the projects will be challenging, unless you have experience with Matlab or Python. It's definitely possible to code them through Excel, but it is not easy or quick. Start them early and go to Professor Ma for help.

TAKE THIS CLASS WITH MA!! She is the best.

Professor Ma is one of the best APMA professors I have had! I came into Probability worried about the class but Professor Ma made this class very bearable. She posts all her lecture notes handwritten online and is always able to answer any question or doubt you have. The quizzes are difficult, but good preparation for the exams. I can't recommend her enough as a professor for this class!

Ma is said to be the best APMA professor, arguably the best professor in the entire E school, and after taking this class I agree. I loathe probability/stats with a burning passion but I ended up really enjoying this class (not bad for a required math course). It ends up being a lot of calculus, so brush up on multivar. Ma is a good lecturer and she prints out/posts her example problems. You could definitely skip most of the classes (there is some required classwork that you need to turn in) but I really enjoyed Ma's lectures and found them better than the posted notes. What really sets Ma apart from other APMA profs I've had is her ability to answer questions on the spot. She intuitively grasps the concepts students need help with and explains it in a way that almost everyone can understand on the first try. Her office hours are super helpful, and when I couldn't make it to her OH she scheduled time with me earlier in the week! The homework varies a lot in length, it could be anywhere from 5 to 20 questions, so you do have to start early, but the TAs are very helpful and if you're really having trouble the APMA workshop TA has the answers. Tests/final were reasonably difficult but not absurdly so. Final grades got curved, I pulled an A- without the curve and an A with even though I came into the class hoping for a B at best. Overall, a great professor for a not-so-great subject makes this class decent.