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.

Terrible class, insane workload for each homework and the final project, unreasonable deadlines on homework, terribly designed midterms and final (they were unfinishable for the vast majority of students), and TA Jake Kramer was very rude, unhelpful, and made you EXTREMELY uncomfortable with asking questions. Campuswire is filled with his snarky, rude comments to questions. Mike's a little bit more approachable.

I did learn a lot about R programming. But I don't think the emotional abuse from the heavy workload was necessary.

Avoid this class if possible. I know many of my friends are considering dropping a stats minor because of this class, which is what the Stats department wants I suppose. Not cool.

Easier than AP stats.

Just look at the slides which were very complete and helpful.

Dr. Michael was super chill. Loves waffles and parks & recreation

Loved Tsiang! He's an amazing lecturer, and made sure that all the concepts he taught were super clear to us. He's also super helpful in office hours! He always told us that our health is of utmost importance, and academics comes second, and not to worry about our grades because he would made sure that our final grade reflected our learning in the end. This way of thinking made me feel a lot better about the class, since I really just focused on learning R Programming, and wasn't that worried about my grade. His tests can be kinda tricky, but if you study the homework closely and also go over some of the example questions he does during lecture, you'll definitely be fine! Tsiang uses Campuswire for this class, which was my savior for homework questions. He also offers a bit of extra credit if you're active enough on Campuswire, so make sure to take advantage of that!

I definitely recommend Tsiang for this course. He is super clear, concise, and straightforward just like the notes that he provides (you don't need to get a textbook). He's also one of the most genuine, caring, and passionate professors I have ever had. He truly cares about his students' learning and their well-being, always reminding them to take care of themselves during exam season and emphasizing that grades are something he needs to worry about, not you. Exams are multiple choice and call for a good amount of detail, but they're really not too challenging if you put enough time for studying (just like most other classes). He also gives several extra credit opportunities, so take advantage of those! Lastly, if you love parks and rec, you'll enjoy his references throughout the quarter.

NMGB WZNS

The class is overwhelmingly hard, and I don't recommend anyone taking it. Lectures are clear, but the tests are non-sense. We are tested not on the ability to analyze data by R, but simply some weird rules and edge cases. Homework are good, but gradings are incredibly strict. We can be deducted for more than 10% of homework grade just because of style of coding. As a "fair" CS student who almost got an A in every CS class I took, I still find this class very confusing.

Wow...... what a quarter. First off, if you do not have any programming experience, the homework is gonna take a lot of your time as it did for me, also the grading rubric for the homework is very specific so you can lose points very easily. Homework was very tedious especially when it had that killer question on each that many students struggled with and had to go to office hours for.

Second, the tests were difficult because of the time constraint and the free response questions. The multiple choice was easy for the most part, but some of it required answers that only you can get from messing with R.

One thing I regret in this class is taking it with a major class that made balancing classes very difficult. With that in mind, if you love R or need this class for your major,minor,etc, and have easy classes to balance this out with . Go for it. As for me, I gonna take a long break because this class sucked out a lot of energy from me. Peace and Love folks.

Contrary to prior quarters, this class has been changed and made far more difficult than it used to be. There were two midterms and a final all of which were multiple choice and written. The exams were difficult and tested minute details of R, but the curve made up for them. Nonetheless, studying for the exams was difficult seeing as though we’d receive homework assignments due the same day as exams only to be postponed at the last minute after students have spent all week doing them instead of studying do to their length. The homework assignments were lengthy, time consuming, and difficult, but if you put the time into it you will genuinely get a lot out of them. You will actually gain a lot of knowledge in R from this class and you will be more prepared for 102A than students from previous quarters were if you are able to invest the time into the class. The TA Jake is not as bad as others depict him to be. He extended his office hours almost every week an assignment was due. His office hours were the most helpful of all the TAs, so definitely take advantage of it. As for the professor, he genuinely cares and only real downside about this class is the time you need to spend on homework assignments and the group projects. I definitely don’t recommend taking this class unless you’re a stats major/minor or considering becoming one. Also, if you do take this class try to take a lighter course load as this class will take up a lot of your time especially if you do not have prior programming knowledge.

To start off, Mike is an amazing professor and the most dedicated and hard working teacher I've ever had. He really really cares about his students. He'll respond to emails instantly at any time of day and has lots of office hours availability. This is a tough class though. The work load is quite heavy. Coding homework every week that usually takes like five hours (obviously depends on how good you are). The exams test for a deep knowledge of the material and how code functions. The averages on the midterms were 50-60% and very time pressured. Final seems to have been about the same, though not at all time pressured. Obviously the class is scaled at the end. It seems like the top 25-30% got As and the median grade was a B. Prior understanding of CS stuff probably helps a lot in this class but even without it you can do pretty well if you put the work in. I've never taken a CS and pulled out an A- after being barely above average on the midterms. The exam multiple choice is based heavily on the lecture notes so have those down really well. Exams are way harder than the practice ones he gives you.