This review is meant for people with programming experience

I took this as a 3rd year CS major, and I found that my programming experience helped a lot. The class moves relatively slowly compared to cs32 or cs35L, which makes R easier to pick up.

Projects take about 3-5 hours/week, and are a series of 1a,1b,1c... questions that ask you to implement length() or greatest_common_denominator(), stuff like that. I never needed to go to Jake's discussion; most q's get answered quickly on Campuswire.

Mike is an awesome prof-- very accommodating, very understanding of ppl's situations so if you need an extension or something, you'll feel comfortable asking for it.

Exams were extremely fast paced, there were like 9? questions in 50 minutes. They're similar difficulty as the HW, and everyone does poorly so there's no need to stress-cram especially if you have prior programming experience.

Overall, pretty average class, easier than cs31 imo, so don't be afraid to take this with your hardest class.

the best teacher ever at UCLA! as a comm major student I took his class as a minor requirement. haven't taken any "math" related course since high school so I was super scared in the beginning. he made the course fun and easy to understand, His handouts are very straightforward and have all things you need. however, the speed is a little fast for me to follow in class so I always go back to look at the videos again. pay attention to the little things in the lectures he likes to test on those. reach out for help if you need anything, he responds really fast and is always super understanding. I ends up with a B+ cuz I wasn't in the mode for final and I m satisfied.

anyways, best prof

Michael truly concerns about students' learning. Whenever a student asked how he would give our grades, he said like 'Don't worry about your grade too much, but focus on your learning.' After the final, it is turned out he is pretty lenient on grading. His lectures and slides are well-organized and easy to follow up even when you miss a day.

Regarding the exams, both midterms and final were ALL multiple choice questions and somewhat tricky. You should know every single detail of R in order not to spoil the tests.

Never left my trace on Bruinwalk before, but I am writing one for this class as almost all the reviews for Fall 2019, most of which have been unfavourable, were posted before official grades were released and hence I feel that they may not convey the fairest representation of the class as a whole...

You probably heard/seen what others think about the course solely in terms of workload/difficulty - and yes, I concur - the assignments are pretty tough and time-consuming - and this I say as someone who has taken CS30/31, for your reference.

There are weekly homework assignments (total 9) that, for me took around 10 hours on average for each and a final project around week 9/10 that I think spent good 30+ hours on (yes during week 10 & finals week but we were given two weeks and even two-day extension in the end).

Talk about exams - the median for the first midterm was about high 50s and the second one was about low 50s. Standard dev. was around 20 for both exams. The final exam was much less nerve-wracking in terms of time.

The exam questions were focused on surprisingly minute details that you've probably never encountered before unless you have memorised every single detail of the materials prof. Mike posted on CCLE and did extensive experiments on your own. Bottom line the exams really teach you a lesson that the world of R is extensive and you probably still have a long way to go before labeling yourself as a true expert.

Here's the thing though. Having spent loads of time and effort on this course alone and been stressed out pretty much the whole quarter, I still have an overall positive impression of the course. For starters you learn lots - this is inevitable as you are to be faced with loads of assignments and, well, the best way to learn anything is by getting your hands dirty. Secondly the faculty members - the prof. and the TAs - do care about your learning experience, and this I say based on the following reasons

1. Both the professor and TA (Jake for me) offer plenty of office hours (like more than any other courses I've taken).
2. They really want you to learn lots and be prepared for future endeavours; prof Mike threw in loads of outside learning materials on CCLE and Jake always went great lengths to cover more than what were covered in lectures
3. Prof Mike really does mean when he says that he cares about our mental/physical well-being. He's always willing to listen to our concerns and suggestions and takes measures when necessary... and of course, ah, the curve - the curve is the prime evidence that prof Mike really does care about your grades.

For those who haven't taken yet - chances are this course is tough and you will likely be putting in heck tonnes of time on this course unless you've already got sturdy background in R. You're a sailor on an adventure and there's thunderstorms called assignments and exams waiting for you - but fear not, cause you are not sailing alone and in the end your journey shall be rewarded with invaluable treasures called knowledge and you'll be compensated by the curve for all the damages your ship sustained. Just keep pushing yourself and weather the storm... Good luck to all future sailors out there...

Thank you very much prof. Mike and TA Jake for all the things they've offered.

Currently in this course as a freshman and don't know what I should do to survive. Literally prepared for midterms and homework for a long time. I can't remember a single week not putting more than 10 hours in doing HW, usually it is around 15. I had almost no programming experience before this and this is my first ever coding class, and I don't recommend Stats 20 to ANYONE who doesn't have much coding experience. Even if you do, I strongly recommend you to self-learn R before coming here otherwise it would be a disaster. Trust me you can't imagine how much details you need to remember for the midterms. Don't ever trust any comment before Fall 2019.

Redacting my past review. The stats dept is dealing with rapid growth and has some bad actors, which is made clear by this course. Do not take this course if you do not need to, or make sure to not take it with Tsiang and Jake.

He claims you don’t need any prior programming experience. This is not true. Homework takes a very long time, and there is not much help given. The professor and the TAs don’t like to give answers when you ask for help. Instead, they ask you questions that you need to think through by yourself. The tests are hard and out of left field. They cannot be done in the time given. He said he wanted at least an 80% average on the midterm. The actual average of the first midterm was 58%. If you enjoy this kind of environment, you might enjoy the class. However, if you don’t need it for your major/minor, I’d recommend not taking it. If you absolutely have to take the class make sure your other classes aren’t too difficult.

This class actually kinda kicked my ass. Everything seemed straightforward and then wasn't. I walked out of the first midterm thinking I couldn't have gotten anything wrong but I got a C. Lectures are basically useless, and the TAs that we had at least SUCK. Labs and HW are easy, it was really the midterms and finals.

But Tsiang is a really cool dude and obviously cares. I should have gotten a B- and he bumped me up to an A-

Michael truly cares about his students. He's AMAZING! His lectures are easy to follow and he posts lecture notes online. The class is also bruincasted. Homework can be a little bit challenging, but he uses campuswire to answer students' questions. He's really passionate about R. If you're taking STATS 20, choose Professor Tsiang. 12/10 recommend.

I really enjoyed taking this class with Tsiang. He explains all the material very clearly and puts in a lot of effort into teaching. Stats is not the most interesting subject (at least to me) but he makes his lectures as engaging as possible. He was also super helpful during office hours and was willing to spend lots of time with students to make sure they understand a concept. In addition, his exams were completely fair and by no means challenging as long as you put in a little bit of effort into studying. He even let us use a cheat sheet which was really helpful.
If you're hesitant about taking this class with Tsiang because of the reviews - don't be! I don't understand why people are upset with his teaching. I thought he went above and beyond to help students and is in general a super nice person. Would definitely recommend this class with him.