Well, I feel mixed about this class. Tsiang is really a nice person. Besides what I experiencing in the class, I do really like him. He always care about the students and let us know that wellbeing is the most important thing in our life. But I don't think this class is meaningful.

First, the class is just like from CS department. As a CS major students, R is not a good language to write functions. But we have to spend more than 5-10 hours if you decided to finish all the homework(based on completion, you can show you hard working to get a full credit.). It's not difficult for me but very boring.

If you have coding experience and not a stats major, buy a book for R and don't take it. Else if you(haha) are a beginner, maybe this is a gate for coding. Don't take it as a stats class, it's a CS class. Trust me.

Second, the exams are very difficult. I have no idea how my classmates can get a perfect score on it. But this class is not a GPA killer, prof will curve your score. Even you mess up all the exam, you can get a B or even a A-.

STATS 20 will let you feel depressed. But you will learn a lot. Make the decision by your own.

To preface, I had very low expectations going into this class. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Mike, the TA, and the LAs were all very helpful throughout the quarter and really placed an emphasis on thinking critically to solve difficult problems. The homework assignments and exams were all challenging, but not unnecessarily so; I felt that they tested the material in a fair way even though I didn't do as well as I wanted on them. Mike's lectures and notes are all very well-organized, so make sure you read through them thoroughly and reference as needed.

This is a hard class, and there's naturally a lot of anxiety about grades (I know I stressed A LOT). Listen to Mike when he says that he will assign a grade that reflects your learning. If you put your best foot forward and make an honest effort, you will get a good grade. I performed at or slightly below the median on both midterms and the final and ended up with an A, so the curve is very generous.

Lastly, do not hesitate to go to office hours or ask for help on Campuswire. I wasn't able to attend office hours too much due to my schedule, but there are 6-7 different timeslots a week that should hopefully work.

I know the other reviews are scary, but Professor Tsiang has completely changed this course now and there's no more horror stories about the new TA.

It's going to be hard and frustrating at times, but please believe me when I say that your grade is in great hands. Tsiang/TA may be strict at times, but it's for your own good and learning. The course is meant for you to be challenged and get equipped with a toolbox of skills and knowledge.

The way to succeed is pay attention to lectures, everything that Tsiang/TA says, and do your BEST -- just try and put in an effort and your grade will show the same!

Grading scheme: 30% Final, 20% each Midterm, 3% Discussion attendance, 2% Campuswire participation, 15% HW, 10% Final Project

The HWs are graded on completion so that's some easy points (although start early and work strategically on them!)

** Before you take this class please read**

I have a lot to say about this class. This class was seriously what almost broke me. I was having full on breakdowns about this class every day and my friends can tell you that I was a completely different person while taking this class. It took me so long to write this review because I didn't want to relive how stressed out I was while taking this.
First of all, I ignored the reviews on Bruinwalk before taking this class and this has officially made me learn my lesson. This is the first B I've ever earned in college and as a previously 4.0 student, this was a hard blow. If you do NOT have prior coding experience or familiarity with computers, have SERIOUS CAUTION about taking this class.

ABOUT THE PROFESSOR AND TA: Even though this class was literal hell, I don't have much bad to say about Dr. Tsiang. If you go to office hours, he will spend hours and hours of his time trying to help you understand. He's a likable guy and I liked that he kept his Christmas tree up in the back of his zoom calls through March lol. Additionally, he does curve grades a lot which is greatly appreciated. I really think that he's a great professor and Edouardo was a fantastic TA. However, I think they greatly underestimate the workload. I think that since this is introductory coding and they are much more experienced at coding that they don't understand how difficult this can be for beginner coders.

ABOUT THE MATERIAL: I have taken calculus, biology, and chemistry classes and earned A+ in all of them so I thought that I would be okay, but coding is a whole other monster. Even though previous coding experience is not required and the professor insists that, it truly puts you at a disadvantage because coding requires a very different logic and way of thinking.

ABOUT THE WORKLOAD: The workload in this class is A LOT. There are 2 midterms, a final, a final project, weekly in-depth homeworks, and participation credit through an online forum. I hate to say it, but the TA and professor both insist that the weekly homeworks should not take you more than 4 hours, but that's just frankly not the case. I spent probably 20 hours at least per week on the homeworks and that's lowballing it. The questions are never basic and require you to know the lecture material IN DEPTH and think very outside of the box other than what he's shown you to use. Also you are not allowed to have tutors outside the class.

TLDR: The professor highly curves this class and is helpful and kind, but the material is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT especially if you've never had interactions with coding before. My personal experience with this class was also combined with personal emergencies that made trying to juggle both REALLY difficult and gave me some extremely dark thoughts that a class has never given me before. Designate A LOT of time for this class and GO TO OFFICE HOURS. I could not have survived this class without office hours. And DO NOT**** plagiarize!!! The professor is VERY SERIOUS about plagiarism and if you get even close he will report you.

This was my third class with Professor Tsiang (STATS 20 and STATS 199 prior to this) and he never ceases to place things into perspective. As another review noted, this class provides the reasoning behind STATS 101A (and a little of STATS 102B). The pacing of the class was nice as, because this quarter was conducted remotely, Professor Tsiang made the class asynchronous and held office hours during the time listed with the registrar. Professor Tsiang gives ample time for both the midterm as well as the final and combines a little theory with a little application so that we understand not only the reasoning but also the practical use of the concepts of 100C.

My experience is during the covid period. I think the past reviews don't do this class justice. Mike is a great lecturer and everything is clear. I have a very bad coding background but I have taken coding classes before so my experience could have been a lot worse. This class is difficult but yes, you do learn a lot of information. There is a very nice curve at the end so just focus on learning and not on your grade.

Alright, well this review is going to be slightly different from the others.

I’ll start off by saying I struggle a lot with any programming, math, or stats related courses.

But I actually really really liked Michael and the head TA, Jake. Jake is hands down the smartest TA I have ever met at UCLA. He also dedicated so much time to the students in the class. In addition to his regular office hours, sometimes
he would hold 6-8 hour office hours or additional office hours 2-3 times a week. I never felt like a bother when I asked him a question and he really helped me to understand the material. The truth of the matter is that there are a lot more people posting negative reviews than there were that showed up to office hours. The beginning of the quarter had a large turn out, but towards the last few weeks there was hardly anyone there. Sometimes it was just me and one other person.

Here’s the truth: if you want to be good at programming you’re gonna have to struggle, at least at the beginning. Yes, I freaking died this quarter. I got stuck a lot. I struggled to keep up with assignments and I had to ask for help often. But I have never learned so much from a class at UCLA as this one. By the end of the quarter I really noticed a change in the way I approached problems and how I thought about them.

I know there are a lot of BS classes out there that are hard for no reason and we often find ourselves as students asking, “When the hell am I ever gonna use this?”. But this is NOT one of those classes. R is one of the most desired skills in the job market right now. This class has the potential to provide more internship opportunities, job opportunities, and higher salaries. That might sound dramatic, but proficiency in R and data analysis really is so high in demand for all industries right now. And the better you get at approaching difficult problems the better you will do in stats/ programming interviews. Classes like this one is what makes our tuition money worth it.

Also, this class isn’t a weader. It became more difficult because they wanted to better prepare students for upper division statistics courses and teach them more.

If you’re taking this class, don’t be afraid, especially of Jake. Go to office hours and don’t be intimidated by Michael or Jake after the first office hour session. Yes you’ll have to dedicate a lot of time to this class, but you will learn a lot. If I could finish this class, then anyone at UCLA can. I am really happy I took this class.

Tsiang is an excellent lecturer and his emphasis on learning makes the class worthwhile. If you are a stats major, this class is IMPORTANT. The amount of material that is covered to prepare you for the 101 and 102 series is insane. I wish I tried a bit harder to understand the concepts because honestly I got my ass kicked in 102A. So put in the time now! I went from scoring 30s and 70s on the homework (graded on completion) and then I got my shit together and started getting 100s. PUT IN THE TIME! Tsiang pays attention to your progress, so don't focus too much on your midterm/final/homework scores. As long as he sees you are trying to understand the concepts, you will be alright!

I know there are a lot of grading schemes/grading breakdowns for Tsiang but here's summer 2021:

20% Homework (HW 4 had an extra credit opportunity but had no idea if it was actually given)
30% Midterm
35% Final exam
10% Final project
3% Discussion Attendance
2% Campuswire Participation (Opportunity to get 1% extra credit through lots of contribution)

Later on the quarter, Tsiang canceled the Final Project and made the grading scheme
35% max(Midterm, Final Exam)
30% min(Midterm, Final Exam)

Grading Distributions for exams were
Midterm 1: Q1: 74.75, Median: 84.50, Q3: 92
Final: Q1: 67.50, Median: 78.33, Q3: 84.50

If you have coding experience, this class should be relatively easy (especially the first half). I would highly suggest taking at least PIC 10A before taking this course. Without any sort of coding experience, unless you are very on top of it, this class will leave you confused. I think Tsiang is honestly a great Professor. I didn't attend discussion nor lecture so I cannot comment on his teaching style, but he is very timely with his responses to questions, gives ample studying materials, and is looking out for the wellbeing of his students (I know that other reviews contradict that last statement - maybe he changed but at least in my eyes he was very good about this). His typed up notes are amazing and if every prof released something like that, we would have nice things. The TA seems nice and probably is good but someone else's review could better justify that. ALSO THERE IS A MASSIVE CURVE. I don't know the exact one but so long as you score about Q3-Median, you can probably get an A-. I scored 91 and 85 respectively for the exams and got an A. Also, don't stress about Homework. Definitely try because it is good practice for the exams but they are free 100s (even if you can't do it 100%). The exams were very fair and doable. The timing wasn't bad at all and I also had about 20-30 minutes afterwards to check stuff. Overall, I'd take another class with Tsiang

Took this class over session C and to be honest was a little hesitant after reading reviews / hearing opinions of past students. I’m so happy I didn’t drop it and took the course with Dr. Mike. I should mention that R was my first programming language, and prior to this course I had only worked with R in a very superficial manner in another course. I think the class was split between students who had more programming experience and those that didn’t, so (as someone who compares themselves to others) it felt like I was behind the curve at times. I brought this up once or twice with Dr. Mike during office hours with other students and he always reminded us that we were doing fine and to specifically stop comparing ourselves to others. He also would remind us that it was normal to master some of the concepts in the course, as attempting to learn a programming language in 6 weeks is an especially difficult task. Dr. Mike always made himself available for questions on the course, however what I appreciated the most was that he would also be willing to talk about things outside of the course material: grad school, upper div stats courses, life, really anything.

HW’s assignments are graded upon completion, but there has to be an effort to solve the problems. The questions can be pretty difficult if you’re new programming BUT if you’re actually trying to learn the material they genuinely did help drive the concepts home (at least for me personally).

The midterm and final were definitely hard, however there was a strong curve in the class based upon the grade distributions and other factors. I got a 75% on the midterm however that translated to an A/A- after the curve.

All in all the course was difficult but rewarding. Dr. Mike was extremely passionate and empathetic toward his students and I would 100% take another course with him again. I would definitely recommend going to office hours each week to discuss HW’s and Exams as it gave me the opportunity to get out of my comfort zone and ask questions. I never felt like my questions were “stupid” or anything, which is a big fear of mine.