APMA 3120

I was kinda scared by this class at first because Lark starts by laying out a bunch of strict rules that make it seem like he's a hardass, but once you sit through a few lectures and do a couple homeworks, you'll realize it's not scary at all. Lectures are just straight-up chalk and blackboard lectures and he repeats material from previous lectures often, so even though I went to all of the lectures on required content, you're probably fine with using the recorded lectures and slides instead. Homework is 50% of your grade and collaboration isn't allowed, so make sure you give extra care to it. Good news is, if you do the homework properly, the test problems will be a breeze. If you can memorize some formulas and procedures, this class will be straightforward for you.
#tCFS24

Honestly just a weird class. He starts off the semester sending all these scary formally worded documents and requirements and stuff but the class itself is pretty chill. The first few weeks are the worst I think, because you have to adjust to his style and are uncertain about what to expect from the homeworks. After that it gets better.
Lectures: he gives you recorded lectures that are almost identical to what he says in class. He tells you this and says you can come to lecture or watch the lectures but he recommends doing both. I did both but I'm still not sure if I really needed to. It's good for cementing your understanding I guess but he literally just goes through exactly the same problems in class as he did in the recording so can get pretty boring. Also, you do no practice problems besides the HW so just be aware lecture is different than any other APMA class you have taken. Lark also writes on the chalk board and proceeds to stand in front of what he wrote and speak so it can get pretty annoying. I would recommend sitting on the front and side so you can see the board even when he stands right in front of it.
Homeworks: There's one a week and will take you probably like 1-2 hours to go through it. The TAs are very nice and helpful so if you are having any issues they are great (wouldn't recommend Lark's OH). Definitely make an equation sheet as you go through the class because there's a lot of equations and it'll be essential for studying for exams.
Exams: There are 2 - a midterm and a final exam (cumulative). The whole thing is really memorizing equations because you aren't given equations on the exams which is very stupid. The exams themselves are pretty easy - if you know what you're doing (and know the equations) you will be fine. Nothing surprising on there.
Overall, the class isn't too bad but is very different than other APMA classes.

Instructor was great. The classes are not required there are lecture videos online. Going to class helps as most of the lecture are example problems. The layout of the course made it very manageable. The homework weighed a lot of your grade. The office hours for the other instructor of this course was way more helpful. Homework were manageable but took quite amount of time. There was only one midterm and a final which reduced the stress of having to study a lot for test. A lot of the test just required memorizing the different statistical test and formulas less understanding and logical thinking.

Lark is a great professor who is very helpful if you are willing to reach out and contact him. Statistics is definitely easier than basically all of the other APMAs but if you are slacking off I could see how it would be easy to fall behind. Make sure to take the homeworks seriously because they are a huge part of the grade. The exams are fair and not particularly hard as long as you prepare reasonably. Lark's a good guy and I would recommend taking it with him over basically everyone else because he's been doing it forever and definitely knows how to drill the concepts into your head. #tCFF23

Honestly if you have taken AP Statistics or another intro statistics course I would skip this class. Over half of the course was material covered in AP Statistics. There was kind of a insane amount of repetition in the lectures, which did help me understand the material, but got quite boring. Homeworks' were long, but you are given a lot of time to finish them, and given it is worth 50% of your grade, make sure to do well on them.

Exams were easier than the homeworks, only annoying part was not getting a formula sheet, so just spend an hour or two to memorize the formulas before the final, and it was fairly trivial. But yeah, if you already have a decent knowledge in Statistics you can take this for a fairly easy time, but I would just take another more interesting class.

Prof Lark sounds kind of scary over email and in his course policies but in person he's very friendly and social with his students. Math-wise the class isn't too hard, but it can be challenging to understand what exactly everything is. Lark lets you watch his recorded lectures instead of coming to class which is really nice if you have a high workload, and reading the textbook isn't really necessary. My only complaint is that you have to memorize a ton of formulas for the exams because he doesn't provide formula sheets. The homework is also lengthy but he gives you a week to do it. Overall not a bad APMA class and has very useful applications in the engineering fields #TCFfall2022

Do not get scared on the first day. Lark is incredibly dry and has a very sarcasm heavy personality. The homework is a hefty portion of your grade, 50%. However, the homework is not easy. I typically spent 6-10 hours on the assignments every week. Make sure you focus on the assignments, especially early on in the semester, 1 bad homework grade can bar you from an A very easily. I started off not very strong in the beginning getting C+ and B range homework grades but once I realized a lot of the homework can be deduced through the textbook I ended up doing much better in the class. There is 1 midterm and 1 final and they are nearly as difficult as the homeworks. As long as you understand the homework assignments you will definitely perform fine on any examinations. This class has a strict cheating policy so DO NOT work with others. The homeworks are not to be worked on together and he doesn't give you answers in office hours. Treat the homeworks like take home quizzes, really understand the material and this class is very doable.

Based on previous positive reviews, I think this course lost something in its transition to online. The course is mainly watching lectures and doing problem sets. His lectures were mostly reading the slides so I just read the slides directly.
Since the midterm was removed, homework is 70% of your grade. That means that each problem set is 10% of your grade. It's a lot of pressure and one problem set can set you way back.
My advice for the class: find a group you can communicate with to ask questions on the problem set. Start the problem sets early. Also, get the textbook since it can help you out with the problems (I know that seems obvious but I didn't get the textbook until later)

While the class isn't that hard, and prof Lark is a descent lecturer. He wasn't very helpful in answering questions in OH, even if I had worked out a homework problem and asked him if that was correct he would say that it was for me to learn and he wouldn't give me any pointers.
But other than that, the class is pretty easy, homework aren't too crazy

Enjoyed this class overall. Professor really made an effort to make sure we knew the material well and that we knew how it actually applied to the real world.

Very straightforward course. Lark communicates exactly the information you need to know (which frankly isn't too much) for exams and essentially all homework problems. For the homework, be sure to get going on those early, have some amount of probability fresh in your mind for some homework and test problems.

I would say that the professor goes through the material really clearly, but the lecture is kind of boring and homework weighs far more than necessary in this course (50%). Definitely pay attention to the homework!

Lark is a fantastic lecturer. He covers the material very well and is really good at summing up what material is necessary. Way easier than reading the book.

However homework can knock off a lot of points and you're not allowed to collaborate. He is also notorious for refusing to answer homework questions if he feels like that would "give it away"

Good subject matter, useful class, but needs dedicated time

Very straight forward and fair professor, I highly reccomend him.

HW is a large part of the course. If you go to lecture and understand the hw you will do fine on exams

Very fair teacher, teaches you the basics. Fair warning is that the grade distribution is not near as favorable as the one posted most recently. actually gave out a fair amount of C's this past semester. Do your homework thoroughly and you'll be fine

Lark is a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic teacher, but has a teaching style that was difficult for me to adjust to at first. You really need to listen to what he is saying, rather than just copy what he writes on the board. That style actually helped me learn even better, and he is always willing to meet with students for extra help. There is very little emphasis on the midterm, it is 50% on homework.

Dry lecture but he tries to add comedy throughout. Subject matter is just hard to make interesting, but does a lot of board examples. HWs are very helpful

Easy class definitely take with lark. He makes weird jokes in class, but he tries to be funny at least.

This is one of the only APMA courses that I actually enjoyed. Lark's lectures are nothing but clear, and he makes it very obvious what he expects you to know for the midterm and final. He also tells really bad jokes, which actually are funny but you don't want to laugh because no one else is but you know everyone else also thought it was funny. The only thing is that there are only 5 (some semesters, 6) homeworks, and homework counts 50% of your grade and you are not allowed to collaborate on the problems. They aren't hard problems, but you have to take your time since they constitute such a high percentage of your grade. The grading on the midterm/final is very fair. Textbook is helpful. Take this class.

Lark is an extremely funny guy who made Stat a lecture worth staying awake for. He sometimes uses complicated phrases to explain simple ideas, which can throw you off, but he will gladly answer any questions you ask. Only 5 homeworks and two tests, so make sure to take each seriously. Not too much work though.

Awesome class. Lark is the man and makes the class as easy as possible

50% HW (5 HW assignments of varying value), 20% midterm, 30% final exam. One of the best math teachers I've had at UVa (provides a lot of examples, explanations are very clear). Class is straight-forward.

Lark was a good lecturer, he kept the material easy and straightforward. 50% of the grade is HW, which isn't very difficult. The other 50% is the two exams, which are also not very hard but he grades strictly

Half of the grade was homework, but the grading for hw was inconsistent at times. Lark doesn't like to budge on his TA's random grading unfortunately.

He knows his stuff, he is a really good teacher and the exams are pretty straight forward

Lark knows how to teach and cares a lot about his students.

Great course with Lark. I took it early and I am very glad I did. Lark is a very engaging professor, and holds a wide office hour range which is nice whether you use them or not. Homeworks were 50% of the grade and two tests made up the other 50%, but there were only 5 homework assignments (which were all relatively easy) so focus on those and you should be set

I took Professor Lark's statistics course over the summer and had a very good experience. A great guy, and great professor, I fully reccommend him.

Very thorough in explaining concepts while relating relevant applications in finance, engineering etc. Tests and homeworks are fair and straightforward. Can be weird in being very stingy in providing help during office hours but overall is a very good professor. Most interesting of all the APMA classes.

If you have to take APMA312, take it with Lark. He makes it as easy as he possibly can.

Overall a good class. There are only five homework sets and two exams throughout the semester. Professor Lark is always willing to make the class more reasonable based on students' schedules, especially for the final exam.