LIFESCI 40
Statistics of Biological Systems
Description: Lecture, three hours; laboratory, two hours. Requisite: course 30A. Designed for life sciences students. Introduction to statistics with emphasis on computer simulation of chance probabilities as replacement for traditional formula-based approach. Simulations allow for deeper understanding of statistical concepts, and are applicable to wider class of distributions and estimators. Students learn simple programming language to carry out statistical simulations, and apply them to classic problems of elementary statistics. Letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2024 - Notes: Much less coding now than previous quarters. Data analysis assignment is solo now. Class uses iClicker for lectures (2? are dropped). The Class: WHO NEEDS STATS 13! Genuinely my favorite class I've taken at UCLA. Thought the material and instructor were great. I did not know I liked statistics, but now I do! Felt like we learned truly cutting-edge methodology in comparison to traditional stats courses. Finishing the course has left me feeling very capable of being a strong asset in a research setting. Professor Garfinkel: Super great guy who's clearly very passionate about what he teaches. He mainly teaches at David Geffen School of Medicine, which I think is pretty cool (as I am one of the many UCLA premeds myself). Lectures were always engaging. He does not post slides beforehand because he wants you to pay attention to what he says during lecture, but he posts them right after class. Favorite STEM professor I've had; it was always very rewarding to talk with him and engage in class concepts, especially with "out-of-the-textbook" ideas. Homework: If you've taken LS30A/B, I would say this is a similar flavor of homework but to a significantly lesser extent. Roughly 50/50 split between conceptual and coding questions, the vast majority of which the labs/lectures prepare you well for. In my experience, LS 30A/B homework took me roughly 6-12 hours a week (I take a very long time and am not the norm). The homework in LS 40 took me roughly 4-8 hours a week. Labs: Graded based on completion. Usually a reasonable length to finish during our 2 hour lab (unlike LS 30A/B). I thought they did a pretty great job preparing you for the homework. Our labs had 1 TA and 2 LAs, which was a pretty healthy allocation of learning facilitators for our lab of ~32 students. Understanding Checks: Every week you get a quiz on Bruinlearn covering concepts from that week. You get two attempts with the highest score saved. Felt kind of similar to the prelabs from LS 30A. Doesn't take long, maybe 20-25 minutes if you're slow like me. Pretty reasonable content-wise. Exams: You're given a very healthy amount of prep resources with problem-solving worksheets, practice exams, and the core coursework. Both the midterm and final were very predictable, and I felt the homework/labs/understanding checks did a good job preparing. I did not read the textbook in this class except for assigned problems and certain conceptual holes I had (though the textbook is pretty good). The exams were based purely on material we learned in lecture and homework. Combination of very basic calculations, conceptual questions, and pseudocode. Felt very fair. Data Analysis Assignment: More so than anything else, this is the culmination of what the class teaches you. It's open book and you have many days to complete it over, but you're not allowed to collaborate. It's very similar to the homework data analysis questions that you get throughout the course, except you have the reins on the kinds of questions/analysis you address. As the name implies, it's basically a mock study where you do everything. I REALLY liked it. Conclusions: This is the class my bros, broettes, and non-bronaries. Highly recommend. GOATed. I don't want to leave.
Spring 2024 - Notes: Much less coding now than previous quarters. Data analysis assignment is solo now. Class uses iClicker for lectures (2? are dropped). The Class: WHO NEEDS STATS 13! Genuinely my favorite class I've taken at UCLA. Thought the material and instructor were great. I did not know I liked statistics, but now I do! Felt like we learned truly cutting-edge methodology in comparison to traditional stats courses. Finishing the course has left me feeling very capable of being a strong asset in a research setting. Professor Garfinkel: Super great guy who's clearly very passionate about what he teaches. He mainly teaches at David Geffen School of Medicine, which I think is pretty cool (as I am one of the many UCLA premeds myself). Lectures were always engaging. He does not post slides beforehand because he wants you to pay attention to what he says during lecture, but he posts them right after class. Favorite STEM professor I've had; it was always very rewarding to talk with him and engage in class concepts, especially with "out-of-the-textbook" ideas. Homework: If you've taken LS30A/B, I would say this is a similar flavor of homework but to a significantly lesser extent. Roughly 50/50 split between conceptual and coding questions, the vast majority of which the labs/lectures prepare you well for. In my experience, LS 30A/B homework took me roughly 6-12 hours a week (I take a very long time and am not the norm). The homework in LS 40 took me roughly 4-8 hours a week. Labs: Graded based on completion. Usually a reasonable length to finish during our 2 hour lab (unlike LS 30A/B). I thought they did a pretty great job preparing you for the homework. Our labs had 1 TA and 2 LAs, which was a pretty healthy allocation of learning facilitators for our lab of ~32 students. Understanding Checks: Every week you get a quiz on Bruinlearn covering concepts from that week. You get two attempts with the highest score saved. Felt kind of similar to the prelabs from LS 30A. Doesn't take long, maybe 20-25 minutes if you're slow like me. Pretty reasonable content-wise. Exams: You're given a very healthy amount of prep resources with problem-solving worksheets, practice exams, and the core coursework. Both the midterm and final were very predictable, and I felt the homework/labs/understanding checks did a good job preparing. I did not read the textbook in this class except for assigned problems and certain conceptual holes I had (though the textbook is pretty good). The exams were based purely on material we learned in lecture and homework. Combination of very basic calculations, conceptual questions, and pseudocode. Felt very fair. Data Analysis Assignment: More so than anything else, this is the culmination of what the class teaches you. It's open book and you have many days to complete it over, but you're not allowed to collaborate. It's very similar to the homework data analysis questions that you get throughout the course, except you have the reins on the kinds of questions/analysis you address. As the name implies, it's basically a mock study where you do everything. I REALLY liked it. Conclusions: This is the class my bros, broettes, and non-bronaries. Highly recommend. GOATed. I don't want to leave.
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Spring 2022 - this class is HORRIBLE with Jane Shevstov. Jane is the WORST teacher ever. She is impossible to understand and should not be allowed to teach ever again. It is absolutely impossible to pay attention in her lectures so you learn absolutely nothing. The grading is extremely unforgiving and the grading scheme for this course makes it really hard to receive a good grade. midterm and final is 75% of your grade and the other 25% is homework that is not graded on completion!! DO NOT take this class! Also, Jane is one of the writers of the textbook and it is horribly written and hard to understand which does not help at all. The only thing helping me in this class is notes that are re-scribed by the TAs. Also the homework is really tedious and repetitive and takes foreverrrr. PLEASE do not take this class with Jane (I have heard good things about other professors but DO NOT TAKE IT W JANE).
Spring 2022 - this class is HORRIBLE with Jane Shevstov. Jane is the WORST teacher ever. She is impossible to understand and should not be allowed to teach ever again. It is absolutely impossible to pay attention in her lectures so you learn absolutely nothing. The grading is extremely unforgiving and the grading scheme for this course makes it really hard to receive a good grade. midterm and final is 75% of your grade and the other 25% is homework that is not graded on completion!! DO NOT take this class! Also, Jane is one of the writers of the textbook and it is horribly written and hard to understand which does not help at all. The only thing helping me in this class is notes that are re-scribed by the TAs. Also the homework is really tedious and repetitive and takes foreverrrr. PLEASE do not take this class with Jane (I have heard good things about other professors but DO NOT TAKE IT W JANE).
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - Dr. Tingley is the best! Spring 2020 was his first time teaching LS40 and you would have thought he has been teaching this course for years. He made the class environment comfortable and enjoyable. I would recommend this course over Stats 13, as we learn skills that are more applicable and valuable for the future. Dr. Tingley did a great job teaching difficult concepts and made doing well in the class highly achievable. There is coding involved, but as long as you took LS30A-B and felt decently comfortable in your coding skills, you will do great.
Spring 2020 - Dr. Tingley is the best! Spring 2020 was his first time teaching LS40 and you would have thought he has been teaching this course for years. He made the class environment comfortable and enjoyable. I would recommend this course over Stats 13, as we learn skills that are more applicable and valuable for the future. Dr. Tingley did a great job teaching difficult concepts and made doing well in the class highly achievable. There is coding involved, but as long as you took LS30A-B and felt decently comfortable in your coding skills, you will do great.
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