course
Introduction to Statistics (A)

Fall 2020, Prof Zheng decided to make Intro to Stats election-themed which was good in theory but terrible in practice. Every Wednesday we had a guest lecturer talk about election stats which had nothing to do with the class. Every Monday we did a review of the stats formulas and assignments that we needed to teach ourselves. We also did labs with R code which was fine because I've coded before but it wasn't really coding it was just hitting buttons and analyzing the graphs that would show up. But since all of our stats knowledge was essentially self-taught attending class was pretty much a waste of time in my opinion. Prof Zheng is nice but she only spoke 25% of the time at most. Overall I can't assess what a normal Intro to Stats would be like because this was far from normal. It was just confusing when stuff was due and if what we were doing in class was even relevant. Tbh I don't think they'll be teaching stats in this format again so you won't have to worry. Other than the confusion, this class was not difficult: weekly assignments and the final were very straightforward and totally open note and open book. Also no midterm!

Goes straight from the Book. Very nice man and flexible. Easy class no complaints

I really enjoyed this class but most of my classmates did not. Here is why: Miguel's pedagogical teaching method is to assign daily readings, do a brief over of them, and then have you work in collaborative homework groups on his assignments during class. His idea is that you should teach yourself through reasoning and collaboration. The catch is that his homework assignments are long and hard. They require a serious understanding of the material that you need to teach to yourself. His exams and quizzes are also challenging. He aims to have average grades in the C range and does not curve. I found that my peers who spent a lot of time on the course material and spent time thinking things through liked Miguel, and those who expected to be taught everything themselves did not like this course and performed much worse. That being said, when you ask Miguel a question he is a literal angel. SO KIND and SUCH A GOOD EXPLAINER! Honestly the clearest math/science prof I have ever had. Take advantage of his office hours and the TA's office hours as well. It was a lot of work and I only took this course to fulfill my pre-med requirement but I'm leaving with a genuine interest in statistics and a feeling of pride for my efforts. I think I learned so much more by embracing his pedagogical style than I have in a traditional classroom setting. I finished this course with an A-

I'm gonna go ahead and say it: she's amazing. I don't know why some of the other reviews were so mean. She is so sweet, caring. Very approachable and understanding at office hours. I thought she did a really good job with her lectures especially with such dry material. She loves to do fun group exercises and "networking" is a big part of the class and you even make friends!! She loves when students participate and is such a sweetheart. When the semester was cut-short because of COVID-19 she was very accommodating and made the second exam and final optional as long as you passed the first. The only in class exam we had was super easy. I really miss her and would love to take more classes with Prof. Baydil. Finally, a good stats professor!!!!!!!!!! It is an 8:40 but worth it. Take her if you have the chance!!!! (This was regular intro to stats 1101 btw).

I agree with most existing posts, from the perspective of the grader of this class this semester, but not a student. This is supposed to be a core course for a lot of undergrads, and of course, everyone wants to do good and get a good score. As both a grader who grades the assignments of this class, and a student whose assignments are to be graded by someone else, I can definitely feel for the students and will surely grade the assignments as fair and reasonable as possible. However, there's already a problem for me as soon as I started to grade the very first assignment. It involves quartiles, and as far as I know, there are multiple ways to compute them, as are suggested by different statisticians. They all make sense, but I would still like to know whether the professor has any specific requirement on this. He uses slides that come free with the textbook without personalizing it and catering it to the class, which don't really say anything about how he teaches. So I wrote an email to him about this, no reply. Another time, I asked for a solutions manual so that I can prepare the solutions for the students and post them on Canvas, he said "later", and so far, still not a frigging thing. The rules from the stats dept forbids me to have any contact with the students, and since I also have my own courses to take, it is impossible for me to sit there and listen to him during this course. But from my short experience as a grader, I can already see that he doesn't care about this class at all. I feel really sorry for the fellow students.

It's not a hard class, but do NOT rely on this professor. Decoding what he says will leave you more confused than when you started. Just read the textbook and do the homeworks. Take this class only if it's a necessity for your major!!!!!

Cannot soell trials - spells it as trails

Would not advise. Rios is not very good at explaining concepts. He seems to be very smart, but his teaching skills are just not there. He will work through complex problems in his head, skip steps, estimate numbers "to make it easier for him," and his handwriting is horrendous. The class follows no particular order and he says that the book is useless even though his syllabus says you won't succeed unless you use the book... Overall, a very unsatisfactory experience. The only issue is, it seems that all the professors in the Stats department here at Columbia are just as bad based on other reviews. I have yet to find a teacher that has more than 5 reviews stating that they're "good." For anyone wishing to take statistics, search for Professor Leonard on youtube. He has a robust channel that covers all of the concepts and he is amazing at explaining them. This is the only reason why I did not fail miserably in class.

Do NOT take this class with this professor unless you already have a stats background. I'm taking Intro Stats with her in the spring and the previous reviewer is on point. The class is extremely disorganized and during lecture she blows through PPTs that are just copied text/graphs from the textbook. It wouldn't be so bad if she gave us the PPTs before class so if we missed something we can note it, but instead she refuses to do that and posts them WEEKS after class. She also posts problem set assignments late so sometimes you'll have a week to do it and sometimes less because she forgot to post it, which sucks because it takes FOREVER to complete it. You have to constantly check online if she posted anything, or make it so that you get an email notification. The problem sets themselves are ridiculous...so many problems!! AND it's only 5% of your grade. I've tried to see her after class because I can't go to her office hours but she never responds to emails, and when she does it's weeks later saying she didn't have time. If you ask her a question after class she'll say "It's in the textbook or class notes". Funny, because if I had understood it or saw it in the textbook then I wouldn't be seeing her for extra help! She's a nice person, but absolutely the worst professor I've ever had. It's like she doesn't even want to teach and does the absolute minimum. For about a month we had to do "in-class group worksheets". AWFUL. She doesn't lecture and then picks people to put their answers on the chalkboard, but she doesn't get through all the questions on the worksheet (of course doesn't post answers) so you don't know if you did it right. If you have to take this class and find yourself struggling, get yourself a tutor or go to the Stat help room. Maybe you'll have a different TA for the class but I found the one we have this semester to be too smart to teach so he made concepts even more confusing. The midterms are easy - if you know what to do study for. Absolutely frustrating because it's so much material and she picks random things to test you on. If you didn't study that random thing, well, good luck because it's 1/3 of the midterm. Oh and if you have a question during the exam, GOOD LUCK again! She doesn't allow you to ask questions during exams. Everything should be "straightforward". They are also cumulative, you get no practice midterms, and she doesn't post answers to the midterms. The group project is a joke and only 5% of your grade. Needless to say, this class has been the most disorganized, frustrating class I've ever taken. Take it with a different professor or in the summer if you can.

This is literally the WORST class I have ever taken in Columbia. If you care about your time just a single tiny bit, DO NOT CHOOSE HER CLASS. I've taken AP stat in high school so the class turned out to be easily doable, but I find it EXTREMELY BORING. She reads off her powerpoint which is directly taken from the book WORD FOR WORD, and when people ask a question in class, she would just REPEAT what the slide says, no explanation ever. Well, you might say, what if I care nothing about STAT and I'm only taking this for the requirement? In that case, I can tell you that it's still not worth it. I'm taking this class for this exact reason. I would expect that I can skip class if all she wants to do is read the powerpoint. However, she gives a ridiculously easy "attendance quiz" EVERY SINGLE LECTURE, forcing people to come to class. This point basically defeats the purpose of taking it since it's easy. If you're a perspective Stat major or even considering it, DO NOT TAKE IT. It would be a huge turn off for stat and you might not want to take a stat class ever again in your life. Personally, I don't care if I get a heavier workload if I know I'm learning something, but if I'm not learning, I want to save time to go to the EXTREMELY BORING lectures. This class is neither: it doesn't teach you anything, and it wastes your time forcing you to go to all the lectures. You might consider this class for its extremely light workload, but remember, you go to Columbia to learn, and there's a reason your major requires you to take this class. If you took AP Stat in the past, you will learn NO new things and waste at least 3 hours every week, and if you haven't taken stats before, you will waste 3 hours in lecture every week and have to spend extra time teaching yourself the material. I have this class on Fridays from 11:40-2:25. Let me tell you, because of this class, I no longer look forward to my Fridays.

I immediately dropped his class within the shop period. I had hoped that his Introduction to Statistics without Calculus wouldn't be complicated, but I was wrong. His lessons were incredibly rushed. His homework almost seemed unrelated and too much in comparison to what we had accomplished during the shop period. He made us use excel (which I usually have no objections to) but did not teach us or tell us how to use certain functions necessary. Any questions that were asked were not answered well and he seemed condescending about us not knowing the material well. He told us we didn't really even need the textbook and that we could technically use any statistics textbook. He only had 1 TA with very limited office hours. In summary, his class was unorganized and he gave off the feeling that he did not plan ahead too much.

DO NOT TAKE THIS COURSE! Rios is the most disorganized and confusing lecturer and showing up to class often feels fruitless since you feel more confused on the course material after a lecture than before it. There are weekly homework assignments and though they aren't typically too long, they often make no sense and I've spent hours in the statistics help room trying to decipher what he means. Half of the class dropped it by the first midterm.

Professor Neath is a little quirky, but his lectures are very organized and complement the textbook well. For a subject like statistics, I was pleased to find that Neath was engaging and made the information interesting. I would highly recommend him for STAT W1111. In terms of work, the project was fairly simple to complete, and all of the homework assignments were straightforward and definitely helped prepare you for the exams.

Usually it is the older professors, those who are so far removed from learning the basics of their area of study, that they can no longer remember how to convey that knowledge to beginners. Professor Wang, despite being very young, is one of those people. This is not her only extraordinary talent. She is also a clairvoyant. She can assume any student's experiences. "You will probably remember from your Physics classes..." she said as she ripped off a quick formula in a blur of hand movement and chalk dust to the befuddlement of most of the class. All formulas and slides will equally fly through the student's consciousness. You will swear that you thought you saw her blink the information to you at some point -- ah, but 'did she really?' 'Was it a dream?' Truly, she is a great magician! Professor Wang also knows your schedule. Can you come in every Friday for class this summer? Of course you can! She asked us, counted to three in her head, and then said, "OK, we'll come in every Friday." Most people had not even figured out their schedules in their heads yet, but it's no matter. She KNOWS you are free for class! Perhaps you can talk to her during office hours and come to some decision about whether you should drop the class. Actually, she already knows that she is a great teacher, and no one would ever drop her class before the deadline, so she doesn't always show up for office hours. No emails or announcements on Courseworks are necessary to announce these cancellations, of course, because everyone attending Columbia lives on campus anyway, so what's the big deal, right? Have you ever wanted your professor to answer a question that you didn't ask? Professor Wang will do that as much as you want. Ask her anything. She will interrupt you (she KNOWS WHAT YOU ARE THINKING! Spoooookyyyyy), and answer a long-winded, unrelated question completely generated from her mind. But you were surely going to ask that question anyway...you know it's true. Professor Wang's greatest gift may be that she can talk you out of understanding concepts that you had previously mastered. It is truly exceptional. Had you used those concepts before without issue? Had you understood them completely? Be ready to be amazed because Professor Wang is about to blow your mind, and "misanswer" your followup questions when you become confused. I had yet to experience such a thing.

Prof. Donoghue is kind and approachable. He encourages participation and student questions. He brings the material to life with really interesting examples and, occasionally, videos. His lecture delivery could use some work, as he can be a bit difficult to follow, but all in all, he means well. I had two main problems with this course as it was offered in Fall 2014: 1. The size - There were 160 students in the class, and it was by far the largest section of Stat 1111. (The other sections had about 60-80 students). Prof. Donoghue said on the first day that he tried to learn every student's name, and he seems like a professor who would really shine in a smaller class. I think that this semester, Prof. Donoghue's effectiveness as an instructor was hampered by the class size. For one, our class was so big that we were placed in a room that is not typically used as a classroom. The makeshift projector screen was small and difficult to see from many parts of the room. As the semester progressed, attendance dwindled down to embarrassingly low levels. I would say that less than a third of the class attended regularly. Some students imagined that, as a result of the sheer size of the class, they were basically anonymous to the professor. People would regularly walk in late, walk in to turn in their homework and then just leave - this is not only distracting, but incredibly rude. 2. Homeworks - HWs are graded based on both completion and correctness. Students who gave the homework their best shot might still have gotten a low score if their answers were incorrect. Homework was originally 25% of the grade, but then the professor learned that some people were cheating. As a result, he made homework just 15% of the grade, and made the midterm and final each worth 5% more. My advice to the professor: Rather than assigning textbook questions, write your own homeworks. Heck, have one of your TAs do it. As long as the answers are out there, and some students have access to them while others don't, it is unfair to grade homeworks according to how correct they are.

I found Professor Baydil to be a kind, generous instructor who recognizes that W1111 is an introductory course and does not try to push her students too hard. Baydil often responded to student requests for extra time with problem sets positively, and was open to changing dates as students requested. I highly recommend this course - while the class was dull at best, it was not hard to get an A, and Baydil was pleasant and responsive to student queries. If you speak occasionally and sit in the front/middle, she will favor you and will be incredibly friendly. Not a challenging course for non-math/science majors.

Totally chill and super nice instructor. Really patient with questions if you want concepts clarified. Kristen clearly cares about the course as she dedicates a lot of time outside of class to answering questions in extra help sessions and over emails. Midterm and final were super easy- they were basically questions we had seen in some form in class or in homework. The homework grading was also ridiculously lenient. I have no idea how she grades her homework because there were a couple of times when I went over the graded homework and realized I got full credit for questions that were done completely wrong. Basically, if you're not getting an A range grade with the combination of Kristen being super available to answer any questions you have, her TAs' ridiculously lenient grading, and random bonus points at every turn, you're doing something wrong.

Professor Gore was a great instructor. Her teaching style is very easy to understand, and she did an excellent job of injecting examples for every concept into her lectures - a great way to reinforce the new material as we went along. She was much more concerned with conceptual understanding than mathematical computations, which showed in her generous grading system for homework. Professor Gore also made herself available for extra help sessions before both the midterm and the final, and provided practice problems for both of these tests.

Thoroughly OK class. You know, the kind where the whole population shows up the first day to get the syllabus, then the population turns into an ever-dwindling sample as people start skipping. Come midterm time, it's like "Whoa, where did all these people come from?" But if you'd rather catch up on your Z's than brush up on your Z-Scores, that's fine. Seriously. I am 95% confident that Prof. Nguyen let us out 10 to 15 minutes early every class. And everything he covered in class is also clearly explained in the textbook. Hence, no need to attend class except to turn in homework and take tests. If you choose to attend this class faithfully (which I did), here's what to expect: - Prof. Nguyen speaks with an accent, but it's not too hard to understand. - His lectures consist of him reading powerpoints and scribbling notes/diagrams using messy handwriting. Not too hard to decipher, though. - He will answer questions in class. Sometimes, it's helpful. - He will ask questions in class. Usually, no one responds. - You will get out early. Having had almost no background in statistics, I learned a good deal in this class. Once we got past the median, mean, mode stuff, we covered normal distributions and probability before taking the midterm. It got significantly harder after the midterm due to more advanced topics such as hypothesis testing and comparing means. Prof. Nguyen does a pretty decent job explaining things, and he's a nice guy. But the book is decent and nice too. Like I said. Thoroughly OK class. No harm in taking it. If you have a background in stats, I would recommend a higher level course unless you take pleasure in skipping class all the time and getting an easy A.

Professor Emir is actually one of the nicest professors here and is highly unappreciated. The problem sets and project are not bizarre, they just challenge you to think a little. His slides are easily understood and if you do the reading and participate (and actually show up) you'll get allot of out them. He is an expert in using statistics in the real world and focuses on statistics methods that you will actually use. The biggest problem with the class is the students. It was mostly seniors and post-baccs who looked him up on Culpa and picked him because it says the class was easy and it's W1111, which is one step above the lowest intro stats course here. They were all looking for an easy A and only 10% of showed up to lectures. I learned allot from him and did poorly in the class. I found the exams to be challenging (not ones you can cram for) and because he didn't baby sit you and give you home works you had to keep up with the reading (which I didn't do and suffered for). Most of these students had experience using much more advanced statistics in the lab and were whining because they wanted easy 100s on the quizzes. Allot of cheating went on with the homework and some serious ass kissing was going on in the lectures. Most of the people complaining about him here are arrogant seniors and perfectionist post-baccs who never showed up to class except to complain. Im not sure if I even passed but I have to say something because this professor does not deserve what these students are writing about him here.

This is a fantastic class! Because homework/project are such a large percentage of your grade, it is a fairly easy A with a little bit of effort. Homeworks provide a good opportunity to learn the work, so I didn't mind that they were a little time consuming. Professor Donoghue is engaging, and he really cares about his students. It's nice that he will always email back right away. He teaches statistics in away that is both straight forward and interesting. Highly recommend this class!

Terrible, terrible experience. Emir is incompetent. His lecture slides are right out of the book, the examples he gives are right out of the book, his explanations are right out of the book. A waste of a teacher. The examples he gives that aren't from the book are generally useless. His problem sets range from five-question packets that take half an hour to forty-problem p-sets that take days. He gets half of his tests and problem sets from outside sources and does not write his own p-sets or tests. He is inconsistent in his expectations. The second midterm was a graduate-level project on statistical analysis and modeling that was actually a lab: totally inappropriate for an intro-level stats class. He handed us the packet and left us to our own devices for one weekend with no guidance whatsoever. The project was nearly impossible and the whole class had to talk with him for an entire class period to clarify his expectations for the project (even then, he did not provide a grading rubric). We had to approach the department head, who agreed that the project was ridiculous (he made us do it anyway). He occasionally takes attendance, which is the only reason anyone really attends class. I haven't finished with the class. It wasn't difficult; mostly inconsistent, confusing, frustrating, and extremely boring. Avoid if at all possible.

i have never left a review on culpa, but i felt i had to. THIS IS THE WORST CLASS I HAVE EVER TAKEN AT COLUMBIA. FRANK CARIDI IS THE WORST TEACHER. i really don't mean this to complain or hurt anyone's feelings, but you really should try to find a different course or a different section. the book is TERRIBLE, the lectures are worse, and i came out with no more knowledge than i came in.

I took this course for a pre-med requirement and had no previous experience in Statistics. Professor Nicolaou taught very much so from a powerpoint presentation that she would upload the night before on courseworks. I found her lectures helpful as they clarified the harder parts of each chapter and gave specific examples that were similar to both homework and test problems. She sometimes used the lectures as review sessions to go over the more difficult chapters a second time. To do well in the class it is necessary to show up for all the lectures and read the chapters as well. Overall, it was a time-consuming class, but possible to get a good grade.

Professor Nguyen is a horrible teacher. This class was uninteresting, poorly taught, and an altogether disappointing introduction to the field of statistics. His English is understandable, but only if you really focus (which will get more and more difficult as the class/semester goes on). Professor Nguyen went extremely slow in the beginning of the semester, ran out of time at the end, and then rushed 5-6 chapters in in two weeks. Take this class with him only if you are already familiar with all of the concepts (AP Stats) but don't plan on being taught any of them. I was unfortunate enough to be unfamiliar with the concepts so I spent most of my time for this class teaching myself the chapters. The class isn't hard, the professor was just bad.

I currently have Professor Nicolau for STAT W1111 and I couldn't be happier. I have heard horror stories about math and Statistics teachers. They don't speak English. They don't provide homework, or the homework they do provide is impossible. Professor Nicolau is a rare exception. Although she has a moderate Greek accent it never prevents her from getting her point across. She truly loves Statistics and works hard to make her students appreciate it as well. I am so happy I took her class.

An utter embarrassment to Columbia University, the Department of Statistics, and to the profession of teaching. He was absolutely terrible at teaching and extremely organized. He will assign extremely bizarre exams and confusing assignments that will stress you out for weeks on end. Because he teaches you absolutely nothing and wastes class time, you will have to dedicate a great amount of time to statistics outside of class. He is totally unprepared for class and treats it like a joke. He will teach you nothing but will grade harshly and give unreasonable assignments. Don't be fooled by his grading system and the other reviews. He does not abide by the grading system and gives out grades arbitrarily. Very random, tough grading (which the whole class was not expecting once they received their grades).

Below is my course evaluation for Professor Emir. I have not yet taken the final or gotten a grade, so I cannot speak to that. Professor Emir is the worst professor I have ever encountered. He did not communicate the subject matter coherently. He did not prepare adequately for class. His assignments were unclear both in the content (poorly worded questions) and the process (changing the requirements and the due date multiple times). As far as I can tell (everything in this class is really unclear), Prof Emir grades everything out of 110 possible points so that everyone will get good grades, regardless of his poor teaching. All of the material we covered up to the midterm was covered in my 4th grade arithmetic class (with the exception of how to take a standard deviation, which I both already knew and could have googled and learned in 5 minutes). He assumed that since the course was statistics without calculus, we had no prior math exprience at all and actually asked us if we knew what even and odd numbers were. In addition, he repeatedly made inappropriately classist comments (comments which assumed that and made fun of us for all coming from extremely privileged backgrounds). I have honestly never written a course evaluation like this, and I hope I never will again. I imagine that Professor Emir is a brilliant statistician at Pfizer, but I should not have wasted my time in his class and I hope nobody else ever has to.

Speaking from an English major's point of view (and not one who, by an interesting character-twist, loves math), this was the wrong course to take. I was hoping that I would end up like stats and find it interesting, but it was both boring and difficult. How is that possible? Well, taught myself. Badly. I spent hours on something I was definitely not capable of understanding alone. Yes, I actually did go to every single agonizingly boring 9 a.m. class, unlike half the students enrolled, but Mr. Caridi's power-points are about as helpful as spending a whole class JUST reading Hamlet without discussing it. Not to compare statistics to Hamlet (sorry Shakey.) Not that I intend to take too many more math classes, but I've heard that, while Columbia has many great departments, statistics is not one of them. If, like some people (and believe me, the average for this class was extremely low and NOT CURVED) you are a stats-smart person and think you can handle it, take the class. But don't expect to be thrilled by Caridi's teaching style. Looking back, I should have taken astronomy or something more challenging, but also more interesting. My Advice: 1. Start early, learn the powerpoints before class 2. See the TA 3. DO THE PRACTICE PROBLEMS 4. Don't take this class. :l For serious, not worth it unless you have a particular interest in statistics.

Although I'm sure Professor Caridi has an excellent knowledge of statistics, he does not have an excellent method of teaching. He fails to teach the concepts, just creates excessive amounts of slides and doesn't explain them well. All this could be manageable if you read the text -- unfortunately he decided to jump around in the textbook a lot and the textbook really requires that you read all the chapters leading up to a chapter --- so it is very difficult to supplement the lectures with the recommended reading. if you take this class start reading the textbook right away on your own.

(I don't think Andrew is teaching this semester, but Val is. She was on his team last semester and is great, you should take her class.) Having had a beast of a Stat teacher in high school (I'm talking about you Mrs. Campbell you ogre, wherever you are!) who I literally learned ZERO from, I was not looking forward to having to take Statistics. At all. To the reviewer below I say the following: the first day of class Andrew told us he would be teaching the class in a different way to the other sections, and that if you wanted a more traditional approach to Stat (in a class that would not be using R) then you should switch to any another section. So, perhaps you should have switched to another section then? I decided to stick with Gelman's class, and am glad that I did! (By the way, I have no computer programming experience whatsoever, and absolutely loathe math.) Andrew, along with Val (who was a HUGE help with the class), Vince the TA, and Daniel the R programming guru, taught statistics in a way that illuminated why the subject is in fact important and exciting as well. Yes the weekly homework assignments sometimes took a long time. Yes the book wasn't always as clear as it could be. But, we were told from the beginning that Andrew was in the process of writing a new book, and that would be the "textbook" that we would use. So, all students knew that the book/class was a work in progress and some kinks might need to be ironed out along the way. Also, in general the R-code could be copied/slightly modified from examples in lecture for the homework. And the Stat team encouraged doing the R portions of the homework in this way. As far as workload is concerned, especially in comparison with other Science/Math classes, the workload was totally doable. And, the whole Stat team were ALWAYS available to help work through homeworks/questions about the material. That's more than I can say about other classes. The key to being successful in Andrew's class was attending recitation with Val. Within the course of an hour she would breakdown seemingly impenetrable concepts into straightforward formulas, ideas, etc. Andrew really seems to care about his students, and its hard not to enjoy a class where the professor says things like "noise is the data's way of getting jiggy" on a regular basis. If you just want an easy A without much thought, then perhaps you should take another Statistics section.If you'd like to be in an entry level class where you can participate, where the professor values your ideas and takes criticism into account, where you can ALWAYS find someone to help you with the material when you're stuck, and where you'll actually learn something, then take this class. You know, if more professors (I'm looking at you Calculus professors!) quoted Will Smith raps on a regular basis, perhaps Columbia's math classes might be a little more bearable...

THE HORROR, THE HORROR… Abandon all hope ye who enter here, for ye will feel like Sisyphus, continually rolling a rock up a hill, only to watch it roll back down. At least Sisyphus though was being punished for what he did. This is more like Kafka. Watch! Just watch! as you are metamorphosed from the primarily positive person into an angry bridge troll, lacking sleep while kicking people in the shins for HAVING THE GALL to smile. In this class, you will learn the fine line that can often exist between tragedy and comedy…you will start to laugh if only to keep from crying. But enough with might seem to the uninitiated like hyperbole, but so very very unfortunately isn’t. It is not as if Mr. Gelman does not know the material, or even doesn’t care (though complaints fall on deaf ears). No. He is just teaching the class wrong. It is not as if the material is difficult—it’s rather that I could learn far better with an Idiot’s Guide to Statistics than with his manner of teaching. His lectures will take a simple concept, and in the interest of making it simpler by providing illustrative examples, actually ends up twisting the material into an unrecognizable glop, leaving you scrambling to ask your friends “What was this class about….?” He once made an analogy that learning statistics is like learning a language, where you learn individual phrases and eventually put the rules together. I wanted to scream. NO, actually, that’s not your job. We should learn the rules in a straightforward way and how to apply them. THAT’S your job. That’s how you should teach. And BEWARE, those who think they are taking simply a statistics class, for it is also half a computer science class. Didn’t tell you that in the class description now did they? Yep. You will be learning R! A cruel and unusual form of torture masquerading as computer software! This is necessary to do the homework. You will spend your weekends trying to write intense code that you have been given only the slightest clue of how to write all for a meager few points, points that add up though. Also, no partial credit. It’s okay though, you can go to office hours. All the way in the social work building. At 1 pm on a Monday. YEAH. If you were like me, you missed out on an opportunity to be GIVEN the answers directly, cuz you got shit to do yo! My time ain’t free! Regarding the positive review….I don’t know, I really don’t. I read it thinking, what??? How??? At least know I’ve talked with many in the class and have never heard positive comments about the class. Maybe it’s my habit of talking to non-masochists, I guess. I can barely go on…I may be a healthy 20 year old, but I fear my blood pressure when talking about this class. In summary, this would be the level of hell if your sin were having excessive joy in your life. “BAHHAHAH YOU LIKE JOY DO YA!?! WELL ENJOY INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICS WITH ANDREW GELMAN!!! MWAHHAHHA!!!”, said the demon.

Great professor in a course that has a lot of potential for boring-ness. Gelman taught the whole year from his own free textbook that he is writing to compete with "normal" textbooks, which he thinks are overpriced. The material was pretty standard...surveys, standard deviations, confidence intervals, probability, but Prof. Gelman was extremely good at breaking the fourth wall and getting the class involved with engaging and creative activities (the first day of class he filled a bucket full of ping pong balls with everyones' names on them and randomly called out people to answer). There was a lot of work, much of it using R, an open-source statistics program, although it was not nearly as difficult as Stat B sounds...more like busy work. Bottom line is that Gelman is hilarious, engaging, and you will not regret taking this class.

Because the previous reviewer did not attend class frequently, I feel that he has a different point-of-view compared to someone who did. I attended every single lecture and let me tell you, this class is HARD if you do not have any background in Calculus or Stats (which I didn't). If you don't read over the chapters before class, you will be very lost and that was my problem most of the time. My saving grace was going to the TAs office hours. They were the only ones who could really help in terms of availability and teaching the material. (Prof. Emir is an adjunct; he works at Pfizer full-time and does not have the time to meet with students even though he claims he will be available before and after class). He reads from his slides and you do have to get used to his accent because most of the time, he is hard to understand. He tries to make jokes which are funny sometimes but all in all, he isn't a great professor because of the way he teaches and his unavailability. He is notorious for not replying emails so don't even bother sending him one. The lectures (chapter slides) are posted online. They are not very helpful if you don't read the material and attend class. Sometimes, he covers 2 chapters in one class! I am just glad I am done with this requirement. The subject was awful and the professor much worse.

Please re-train the instructor. At such an elite institution it is understandable that brilliant faculty is more synonymous with excellent researchers than excellent instructors. I have gotten used to having to learn on my own more than in the classroom. This class is not the exception. This is where the departments should take a hard look at who they hire. His method of "death by powerpoint" should in no way be considered an acceptable alternative to effective communication of course materials. Though his powerpoint slides are incredibly through, his inability to engage the class, provide an effective method for learning the material, and lack of curiosity as to why his class size was so small except on exam days, goes to show his lack of touch with pedagogical methods. If it wasn't for his TA's, this class would be a nightmare not because the material is difficult, but because you sit and waste an hour an change of your life when it would be better spent in the TA's office hours.

As for the course itself, of the two Intro to Stats courses, 1111 is the baby one. While 1211 requires calculus - which you should know if you are taking a quantitative science anyway - 1111 only requires a high school level of math according to its own description. If you happen to have dealt with any statistics before, or have a background in research science, this class is an easy A. And that is even made easier by Professor Lindquist. The material was made astoundingly clear by him. I am not kidding, even the lecture slides on Courseworks (posted up the day before) are clear enough that you could have not even shown up to a single class and done fine - which is probably what happened since our room was too small, but I digress. That being said, if you have time, you should show up to class since he throws in a few examples to clear up any confusion that you may have. He typically assigns two chapters in the textbook each week, and a problem set to accompany it. Some people find the textbook a bit annoying with all the self-referential jokes, but I enjoyed it, so that may be a personal taste; however, you could not deny that it was still effective in teaching the material rather clearly. I plan on keeping it as a reference instead of selling it. The textbook problems take maybe an hour, but the TAs can bring down the hammer on the grading from time to time. Sometimes he attaches a STATA problem set, which involves going down the computer lab, doing a tutorial on the statistical software offered there, and then doing a problem usually from the textbook the method of which you have just been guided through. There is a project during the second of the semester, which involves forming a group and conducting a study. Just make sure you don't have a deadbeat group of friends and you should be fine. He's pretty lenient on the grading of it; even if you screw up, if you can explain what went wrong, why it was wrong, and what should have been done for it to be correct, he'll give you credit for knowing how to conduct a study though you had to learn it the hard way. About 1/4 and 3/4 through the semester, he gives a quiz at the end of class. 10 multiple choice questions; mostly theory, a few calculations you could do in your head. If you paid any attention to the lectures, or the slides, or textbook, it's an easy 9-10/10. Halfway through he gives a midterm that takes an entire class session; a few multiple choice questions like on the quiz, and some homework-like multi-part problems that are usually straightforward. He allows a one-page, front and back, cheat sheet for formulas and the like. Go through the lecture slides, write down any formula that looks important, and you will walk out of the exam early. The final is a little bit longer than the midterm but the same format, and has about a 1/3 focus on the first half and 2/3 focus on the second half. You are allowed two cheat sheets for this. Same deal as the midterm: go through the lectures, take down the important looking formulas, walk out halfway through the three hours given with a smile on your face. Never went to office hours - never needed to. On the whole, the class was easy and informative. Lindquist sometimes teaches 2110, so I plan on taking that if it fits into my schedule.

Great class, nice guy, lots of work but fair. I thought I would hate having a quiz every week but they're really straightforward if you've read the book and done the homework, plus they're open notes. The project is a really cool addition to the course and Tyler does a great job helping you and gets really excited if you go talk to him about it in his office. Classes also are also a mix of lectures and working problems in small groups or doing other activities. The lecture portion is really clear, but Tyler's style is pretty relaxed so you can ask questions. Several times he posted links to things in the news or studies that were related to what we were talking about, which makes the material seem more relevant. Working problems in groups in class is different, but works for a class like this where solving problems is so important for the material. Overall, if you need to take statistics, I would definitely recommend waiting until Tyler is teaching. I went in thinking the class would be boring, but now I think statistics is actually kinda cool.

This guy is a grad student, which usually raises warning flags for me...especially in math/science related classes. Honestly, though, Tyler is one of the best teachers I've had at Columbia. It is obvious from the first day that he has things organized and that he's put alot of thought into how to make the class relevant to as many people as possible. His lectures are clear and he tries to be funny (sometimes successfully). He had to leave for a couple of weeks near the end of the semester for some kind of family emergency. It disrupted the flow of the class, but I think he did the best he could given the circumstances and he had lots of extra office hours when he got back to try to catch up, which was nice.

Great class. Tough but worth it. Take this guy for statistics if you possibly can. Much better than just an average intro class.

Tyler is awesome. I really wasn't looking forward to taking statistics but after taking Tyler's class I can actually see why he gets so excited about it. He did a great job making the material relevant and trying to keep people motivated. He's also very clear and patient with non-math people, like me.

The course syllabus and the grading curve that Tyler uses is, in my opinion, a little misleading . You need to develop two study styles to get through this class with a good grade, one for the homework/quizzes and one that allows you to manipulate the material with ease. The are many components to this class, this is the misleading part because the level of understanding you need is completely different for the quizzes compared to the midterm and final. I was surprised at the level of difficulty of the midterm after feeling that they understood the material based on his quizzes. This course is basically curved on the two exams. After people realize that the quizzes are mostly homework questions and you can bring your notes/homework, the standard grade on them is 10/10 - this grade, the lab grade, and the project grade (which we put SOO much time into), is (based on the curve) cancelled out from your final grade because everyone does well on them. The quiz grades and the project grade won't help even out your grade, but you must do well/perfect on them. Make sure you know the material inside and out for the midterm and final, the questions are more theoretical and require more than knowing the mechanics of a problem. Suggestion to Tyler: level the playing field with quizzes on par to the level of difficulty to the exams.Tyler is really nice and willing to help. I just wish we were more prepared for his exams. We were not given problems that were of the same style in our preparation for the exams. One last comment, I had a hard time grasping the overall concept of the class until the last couple of weeks, I think it's the way the course/book/statistics is laid out. Tyler did give us a diagram that explained the overall picture during the first class, but for someone who never took a stats class before it took a while for it to sink in.

Tian makes intro stats painless. Her lectures are well-organized, and though they are all Powerpoint-based, she works out a lot of examples on the board. She answers questions during class and always stresses the important points. She also provides in-class copies of lectures and uploads them online afterwards. When she taught us, she didn't hold a lot of office hours, but there were two Tas, each of whom held a recitation during the week (separate from her office hours), so it was easy to get help. Her accent is not an issue, and she's very good at explaining confusing concepts. The final data project is pretty annoying and useless, but the grading is generous, and she provides plenty of resources. In short, this is a very easy class with very fair and transparent expectations. Can be easily tacked on as a sixth class. Tian is understanding of the fact that her class is probably not a priority for most people.

Better then average professor. He makes sure the students understand all the examples covered in class. Very straightforward while answering questions and will spend a good amount of time during office hours to make sure the concepts are fully understood. Take his class if you want to get a general idea of the concepts without diving into hard derivations of the formulas etc. He makes it a point on his exams to not have any complicated computations. Tries to ensure everyone has a good chance to get an A.

This course was terrible. I was accepting to leave the class with some sort of general knowledge of statistics but found that I left only with higher blood pressure. I must agree with the previous review in that the professor often spoke so quietly that I could not understand 50% (just to throw a "statistic" in here) of what she said. seemed inexperienced and defensive. When asked a question she would do one of two things: 1) try to explain, become frustrated and tell the student to go to her office hours (something I STILL don't understand since she didn't have set office hours), or 2) say "hmmm" several times and avoid the question altogether bye translating things into Icelandic. We rarely did examples because we rarely finished the material she had hoped to cover in class. Consequently, I taught myself out of the book. This review is harsh, but as honest as I could possibly be. I did not do horribly in the class but feel that it was a waste of time. And now I have higher blood pressure. : (

Lindquist is a great professor - the class is pretty easy but he curves to a B-, be weary.

Terrible...apathetic teacher, mumbles, refuses to explain things in class ("come to my office hours").

Professor Kim is AWESOME. I would highly recommend that everyone take his class. He loves to make jokes, the workload is extremely manageable, and his exams are more than fair, etc. He truly wants everyone to do well, is patient...the list goes on...I have nothing bad to say about him. If you go to class (which he really encourages), pay attention, and do the problems, there is no reason you shouldn't do well on the exams and get an A in the class.

I took Lucy's summer intro stats course. Since it was a 6- week class it was a lot of work but Lucy made it quite pleasant. Very fair tests, ample office hours, generous curve. I was warned about how awful and boring statistics class would be and I ended up loving it! Do anything you can to register for her section.

I've read Kobi's other reviews and after taking his class this is my statement: If you are willing to work to learn the material you will love Kobi's class because he really wants you to understand and loves statistics. If you don't want to work and just want to get past the course you will not like Kobi and will have a hard time with the material. His tests are not the "regurgitation" type: you have to understand the material to do well. And if it is worth anything to say, I got an 'A' in his class.

Statistics as a subject is a freaking esoteric nightmare. However, Martin makes it almost bearable. He is the most disarming and frankly mildy goofy teacher ever, but it is hard to imagine anyone else being so enthusiastic about statistics. Take copious notes and make sure to do well on the midterm. It counts for like 25% of the grade.

Wonderful Professor! Very clear and organized. He covers a lot of material, but does so in a way that you end up understanding everything. He is very approachable. Overall, he's a gem.

I read the previous review and I have to say that some of it is unfounded. Personally, I am a big fan of Chang although I do realize he has his faults. It is true that class often runs past when it should end- the day we took the second quiz it ran over by a lot but usually it only runs over about 5-10 minutes. When I signed up for his course, it was the only section that fit with my schedule and I was afraid that I would not be able to understand him as is the problem with many foreign math professors. As for his English, it's true he does have an accent. However, his English is very good and it is easy to understand him. I think he is actually very considerate to his students. He is very approachable and wants to help you understand the material. He holds office hours and you can make appointments to go over things with him if you cannot go then. He regularly checks his email and responds in a timely fashion. He even gave his cellphone number to a student to call him for help. He gives a mock midterm and a mock final to help you study and everything is open book/note. He changed the way he grades to make your total grade add up to 105% and said he would drop your lowest 5%. He also said your lowest homework would be dropped. Chang is extremely funny and makes a point of getting to know all of his students by name. His awkwardness and inappropriate/unPC comments and contact with students is charming and refreshing at times. He even came in voluntarily for one or two extra sessions to help us review. I took a stat course in high school and learned the material from a whole new perspective with Chang. He wasn't so clear about the last project we did but i don't think it counted for that much anyway. At times his teaching can be a little confusing or you don't know where he is going with something but the majority of the time it all comes together in the end. Overall, I would definately recommend this course to someone who wants to geta science requirement or a stat requirement for a major out of the way and wants a relatively painless and funny experience.

Kobi Abayomi is, without a doubt, the WORST TEACHER I HAVE EVER HAD. He managed to make concepts that should have been easy to understand absolutely impossible to grasp. His writing was illegible and students were constantly forced to correct his calculations. He put problem sets on Courseworks, but often neglected to post answers. At one point, I asked him if he could put answers to a practice exam online, and he laughed in my face. Data for projects was posted a few days before the projects were due, making it impossible to avoid having to do all the work at the last minute. Attending lectures is pointless, as the only way to understand concepts is to read the entire text book. Students who had taken statistics classes previously did fine in the class, while those who had never been exposed to Stats had absolutely no idea what was going on. Kobi seemed to think that the success of the students who had taken classes before was a reflection of his teaching. When I expressed dissatisfaction with one of my test scores, he told me that "other students got A's." Not helpful. AVOID TAKING ANY CLASSES TAUGHT BY KOBI. YOU WILL BE CONFUSED AND FRUSTRATED ALL SEMESTER.

I hate writing really negative reviews, but I have to say that Chang Ha is a very bad teacher whom should be avoided at almost any cost. His English his poor, so poor in fact that no one can understand the questions on the tests. We recently had a quiz, and he left out an important part of the question, and this went uncorrected until about halfway through the quiz-taking time when someone spoke up. He keeps us after class almost without fail, despite the frequent complaints of the students. He handed out the aforementioned quiz, designed to be completed in 30 minutes, with less than 15 minutes left in class. For those people who needed to get somewhere after class, it was just tough luck. He is very inconsiderate of his students, although I do not believe it is intentional. He has a good sense of humor and seems to be trying pretty hard, but I'm afraid that at this juncture trying hard isn't even close to good enough. The only good thing about the class is it is incredibly easy for anyone with even passable math skills who reads from the book.

I found this class to be challenging and rewarding. I started off with a low C on the first quiz, but after meeting with Kobi a few times I was able to turn things around and end up with an A in the class. Kobi really pushed us to challenge ourselves and to think through these concepts instead of simply memorize them. Math is not my strong suit, but now that I've walked away with an An A in this course, I feel like I can succeed at anything Columbia throws my way. There were a few slackers in my study group who complained a lot about how hard the material was. They didnt seem to want to come to class regularly or put in any effort, but in the end more than a third of the class ended up getting an A. One thing that really helped me was Kobi posted every lecture on the web so the few times I had to miss class I was able to stay caught up.I found the quizzes were pretty easy if I did the problem sets and read the lecture notes from the web beforehand. All in all, it was a very rewarding class, and I feel fortunate to have had a professor challenge me to believe in my abilities even though I have always been initimidated by math.

I disagree with the previous reviews. I thought Kobi's class was challenging, not difficult, and he did his best to make the grading extremely fair. I actually did go to his office hours regularly: he has a way of making you find the answer out rather than just telling you. Looking back, while the class wasn't easy, I learned alot.

DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS!!!!! Simply the worst teacher I have ever had. He writes the wrong equations on the board, gives quizes that dont cover what was taught in class, and simply cant explain even the most simple concepts. Everyone was always confused and I basically had to teach myself everything through the textbook.

This semester was Kobi's first time teaching his own course, and it showed. He definitely viewed it as a hassle and did not put very much time or effort into it. At the beginning of the semester, the quizzes were easy because they were identical to the problem sets he gave us a day or two before. However, just as we got comfortable with this system, he apparently became lazier and stopped making lecture notes or problem sets for us, also cancelling quizzes (though not telling us until he had kept us in class for more than 30 minutes) because, I suspect, he didn't get a chance to write them. If he runs his next class like this one, do as well as possible in the beginning of the semester so once it descends into chaos, you'll at least have a good enough average to compensate. He's a nice enough guy, but not a very good teacher.

Gerardo is really nice and understanding. He moves relatively quickly but you learn a lot in the class. He's a really fair grader as well.

Not only was he the worst teacher I ever had, I think he is quite possibly the WORST TEACHER IN THE HISTORY OF THE TEACHING PROFESSION! Kobi never, ever explained anything clearly. Everyone in class was always ocnfused. He rushed through lessons without explaining the material and why it was important. We had wekkly quizzes which often contained material we had never gone over. In the beginning he sent out practice quizzes before the actual quizzes, but often doing so the night before the quiz. But the absolute worst thing about him was hiS ATTITUDE! He is the kind of teacher that makes you feel stupid. He often made smug comments when students would ask him questions. He would often let out annoyed sighs, roll his eyes, smirk and chuckle when students asked questions he thought were simple. It was horrible seeing him in office hours because he was just as bad. The TA was a little better, but even she was confused by some of the work he would give us. I took this course for my major and it was supposed to be the easy one, but he made it a nightmare because he just can't teach! If you see his name anywhere on anything, do yourself a favor and RUN!

So the deal with Kobi is that he's actually a pretty bright guy, but doesn't seem to be very interested in teaching undergrads the basics of stats. The result is a pretty crappy intro to stats experience where you'll learn minimal info and will suffer through boring lectures and brainteasing quizzes on material that he didn't teach well (sorry for the long sentence). I'd definitely recommend staying away from his section because he won't give you or the class the attention you need to understand basic stats. I ended up doing fine in the class, but that's only because I was able to BS through the quizzes, but many people ended up pass/failing because they were getting B's and C's on quizzes and Kobi didn't seem to have much mercy on them. Overall, don't take this class, take it Tian Ziang or someone else who actually cares.

Oh, Tian! Listen, I do not like math very much and I wasn't looking forward to statistics. But Tian made this class go as smoothly as it possibly could have. She works extra hard to insert jokes into lecture and write problems about interesting things. She is completely aware of the fact that not many people enjoy statistics, but her own enthusiasm is surprisingly contagious. I'm not going to say this class inspired me to switch my major to statistics, but Tian got the job done, and painlessly.

kobi was one of the worst teachers i've ever had in my life. the expectations were unclear the entire time. we had quizzes once a week (which lasted the entire length of the class) on material we were never taught. this left us with one hour per week to learn new material we were to be tested on the following week. needless to say, the pace of the class in combination with the poor teaching quality makes it extremely difficult to say anything positive about him. addtionally, he has very poor hand writing which made note taking very tedious, and whenever we asked a question about the material, he answered as if he was annoyed that we didn't understand. the book that is used for this class is extremely convoluted, so it is important to find a teacher that has the patience and skill to relay concepts. kobi has neither of the attributes.

AWESOME. I read some of the older reviews and must say that Prof. Zheng's communication skills were a non-issue. Didn't even occur to me that it was once a problem. She's just awesome! And will make everything possible to make the relatively dry material interesting for you.

I hate to say it, but this is really the worst worst course I've ever taken, and Wang is the worst teacher I've ever seen. Her teaching is so plain and boring. She just repeat the content from the textbook, but not as clear as the book. Reading books is much better than listening to her strong accent bad English. Very few extra examples and little explanation, no slides and study materials online. The worst thing is that she shows no heart in teaching, and just wants to finish a class as soon as possible and leave. She even seems has no passion for statistics!

Statistics is pretty dry stuff. I'd say fairly unbearable, despite its relative ease. That's where Martin comes in. This man makes what has the potential to be the most painfully uninteresting 4 hours of your week (one hour mandatory recitation) very very bearable. His uninhibited awkwardness and sometimes self-deprecating style will make you smile and cringe in interest, his clumsiness (which he recognizes) makes him entertaining---if you walked up to him on the street after class, you'd think he had spent the last hour rolling around in a giant tub of chalk dust. Seriously, though, Professor Lindquist is always excited about what he teaches, always approachable, and a genuinely good guy, who doesn't give you trouble if you need an extension on the problem sets or some extra help. If you have to take Stats, take it with him, you won't regret it.

Awesome professor! I would highly recommend taking this class with Professor Lindquist. He is very clear, thorough and organized in his presentation of the material. Literally, he writes down every single thing on the board; I never opened up the textbook once the entire term to look anything up. Lindquist is very nice, approachable and open to questions. He truly wants students to understand the material and do well. He even said on the first day of class that he wanted to give out as many As as possible...which is a comforting thing to hear from a professor. I agree with past reviewers who claim that the second half of the term is a lot more complex than the first half! I remember Lindquist saying in class after the midterm one day that if we did not get this one concept, we would have trouble understanding most of the stuff that follows it - he was not kidding. Nevertheless, Lindquist was very great when it came to reviewing and explaining things over and over again. In general, if you need to take a math/stat class, take it with Lindquist.....he is actually understandable, fair and even entertaining (esp. when he jumps around, knocks into things and gets chalk all over his black shirts).

Martin is a blessing to the shameful "math realm" at Columbia! His lecture is a lot of fun, considering you can watch him jumping around (the sign of his great enthusiasm!?) and writing down every single word on the "little" blackboard... His lectures are well- structured, and I feel I've taken away a lot from him. A very soild teacher.

Tian is a good professor. She posts lectures online, and gives thorough examples in class. For those who can learn on their own, there is no need to attend the class. You only have to go to the recitations, where there are quizzes and homework is collected and returned.

Tian is very nice person and I am glad her English is improving. In a few years maybe I might understand more than half of what she is saying. The class and the recitation sections are very well organized but you might be better off staying home and doing problems from the textbook. I leave class every day totally lost and hoping the textbook explains it better- and it usually does.

Professor Lindquist is a really nice guy. Everyone says Statistics is a really easy class and an easy A but it is still tricky stuff, and Prof. Lindquist was very good at explaining everything in detail. Recitations are "required" but the only time people would go is when he would have quizzes in them, which was about every other week. There was also a problem set assigned every week consisting of problems out of the textbook. They weren't difficult but definitely time-consuming and tedious. Also, the first half of the semester was insanely easy and then the class became tricky practically overnight. Same thing with homework problems. The midterm was incredibly easy but the final was trickier. But overall, Professor Lindquist is an excellent choice and you would do well to take his class if he's teaching it.

Martin Lindquist is GREAT. He is a great lecturer, but is this class easy?? No. The class is pretty easy pre-Midterm, and sitting in class as he explains the "theory" behind means is pretty damn funny...but anyway after the Midterm, the stuff is hard. I don't know why everyone says W1111 is so easy, maybe it's because you ask them after the midterm and not the final....the final is a killer...let's just say many many people sat there eyes big and mouths gaping when they saw the scroll. Nonetheless, if you have to or want to take the class, take it with MARTIN LINDQUIST. He is truely a blessing from the Math/Stats department. His lecturers are great and he is very passionate about the subject. Oh and he is quite responsive to questions too! Great prof. but not very easy material.

Two words to say about this class: TAKE IT. Professor Lindquist is incredible - the kind of teacher I wish had taught math at my high school when I was good at math but extremely nervous. His lectures are clear and come directly from the book, so there is little confusion. There is a required 50-minute recitation on Friday where you review the week's concepts with a TA and take quizzes. Unfortunately, many of the TAs have such strong accents that it is nearly impossible to understand what they are saying, but the material is already so clear from the lectures that it makes little difference. If you have any kind of math phobia or get really stressed out about not understanding things, TAKE THIS CLASS!

Professor Lindquist is a blessing! While many other Stats. students were complaining about not being able to understand their profs, Prof. Lindquist spoke very clearly (although a bit quickly). He practically transcribed the entire book on the board during class, so the lessons were very thorough, and there was never any chance of missing important info during class because it was always written down. Prof. Lindquist was also very entertaining, as he was constantly tripping over his feet, dropping chalk, or getting caught in those tricky movable blackboards in the Math building! I definitely recommend Professor Lindquist!

I really enjoyed going to this class. Prof Gelman isn't an excellent teacher, but that was ok. He didn't really teach the material so much as do examples that were kinda hard to follow. But I was never stressed about going to this class. We had a costume contest on Halloween and he gave out the Halloween soundtrack as a prize. We also did stuff like guess how much candy is in the bag. This class was pretty open and everybody always talked.

I don't agree with the first evaluation. Xin helped me once at Butler and was nice to me when I came to her office hour. Besides, I don't think her appearence was that bad. She has Chinese accent though.

Well, out of all the bad teachers in the stats department, she is one of the better ones. She tries to give students as much extra credit as possible, is always avialble to help on the homework during the office hours, and basically will help you out in whatever you ask. The biggest hindrance is her lack of english, which can make things a little harder to understand. She seriously tries her best to teach an understandable class, and her courseworks website has the notes from every single lecture. I would recommend her more than all the other monsters in this department. She is also very approachable.

An easy course overall! The material is comprehensive and does not require much work. No tough Math involved. But Xin is not at all willing to help you out outside class. Extremely irresponsible and lazy plus broken English. She intentionally dresses up for every class meeting, but be prepared to see awkward and out-of-date appearance with an obvious sense of self-appreciation.

The class might not be that hard if you were able to understand her broken english, which ranges from borderline to incomprehensible. She might be nice beneath that robot-like exterior, but its pretty tough to say. The class is bearable, but by no means good. Watch out though, good instructors in this department are pretty slim pickings.

Gelman is the best of a bad group of professors that always teach Stats 1111. He designed the course and knows everything he needs to know about statistics, but he is not a very good teacher, not that responsive to questions, and generally gives most work to the TA's. If there is another section for your course where you know the professor is good, take that professor over Gelman. If you have no idea, than Gelman is a good safety, but not the best professor.