I loved the TAs, LAs, and Professor in this class. Extremely interesting content, everything condensed manageable. Very practical, it's the diamond at the end of the LS30 Math Series, would make the effort to take this class, yes, Stats 13 is easy. But the skills and learned concepts learned from this class and Professor are well worth the time put in. Love Garfinkel as well.

Alrighty, so basically, if you take this class, you can get an A. However, that’s also true for Stats 13, where the workload is wayyy lighter. My main problem with LS40 is the homework, which is almost entirely coding. It unlocks Tuesday night, and you have until Friday at 10 PM to submit it. This seems reasonable until you factor in your other commitments and the fact that the homework takes half a century to complete. I spent at least 12 hours a week coding, and it was beyond brutal. Content wise, the class is interesting, easy to understand, and actually applicable.

So, the class is easy but also I wish I had taken Stats 13. In hindsight, this class wasn’t that bad, but I complained every single day about LS40 and told everyone how much I hated this class. It was beyond frustrating, and the content isn’t even hard. Like, the content and lectures were totally easy. My only issue with this class is the homework and the countless hours I spent on the stupid, soul-sucking coding.

As a professor, Garfinkel is engaging and an amusing guy. The TAs are helpful, and the LA review sessions were actually super duper helpful. The content you learn can definitely be applied down the road, but I don’t think the workload is worth it unless you’re taking a light schedule and want to learn something applicable. If you want to get your stats credit without losing your marbles, take Stats 13.

As a survivor of the LS30 series, I DID NOT want to take LS40 but heard amazing reviews from many students and gave it the chance. This class is so much more interesting and rewarding. I previously hated coding because of LS30 but this class made it SO MUCH more enjoyable, and Professor Garfinkel actually discussed the coding during class. The material we covered was relevant and applicable to the medical field, and we also delved into why some form of modern statistics are inaccurate. Garfinkel is by far, the best professor I've had at UCLA. He's engaging, funny, passionate, and actually cares about students and the class. I'm ngl, homework was lengthy and would take me around 2-4 hours and it is graded on completion (but that's the only workload I had from the class). If you go to OH or refer to campus wire, you should be fine. But it srsly helped for the midterm and final. Exams were some of the easiest I've ever taken at UCLA because we reviewed so much and they were similar to the practice exams they give out. Also bless up that they let us use a notecard for the final exam. There's also a data analysis project that I was scared about when it was assigned at the end of the quarter, but it's pretty light as it is based on the labs and homework you've done. Only downside is it's assigned during finals so make sure not to fall behind. Highly recommend this class if you're willing to put in the time and even if you disliked the 30 series.

Honestly there is absolutely no reason not to take this class. The midterm and final are content based and as long as you go to or watch most of the lectures there is no reason you won't do well on exams. The labs are very straight forward and only based on completions (and the TAs and LAs will hold your hand through any lab you find confusing). Homework is graded on accuracy, but as long as you understand the labs it is a breeze and you can always use campuswire to help. I nervous for the data analysis assignment since it is no longer a group assignment, but as long as you got the correct code from your TA/LA during labs throughout the quarter you will have zero issues with the coding aspects plus the conceptual/interpretation aspects are really straight forward if you got the content from the lectures. You also learn some coding that has more real life implications compared to LS30A/B. Overall if you have the option to take this class I would take it 10/10 times ESPECIALLY if you get Garfinkel, he really is the best!!

I’ll try to talk about the main stuff:
- ended with a 95%
- he records his lectures and participation is counted
- midterm and final very similar to practice exams and past exams so recommend studying those as well as the PSS worksheets they have questions from past exams so good for seeing the type of questions he might ask
- I’ve never coded in my life before so I was intimidated at first. You aren’t really going to be doing any type of math you just code. That said it’s doable to take this class with zero coding experience. Just pay attention in lab and utilize the LAs and your labmates.
- the prof. is very passionate about teaching and is very nice and engaging
- Homework can be difficult since little points get taken off here and there. But once you figure out what you keep losing points for it’s very easy to get As on the homework. For me I kept losing points for the written portion explaining my results and data because I was missing info or just wasn’t explaining it correctly. Highly recommend reading the feedback given on gradescope on what you did wrong and look at the homework answer keys.
- The midterm and final (you get a notecard cheat sheet for the final) are fair and reflect well what you learn in class and lab
- You’ll have a data analysis assignment towards the end of the quarter and it’s essentially free points. You just do a mega assignment encompassing some of the stuff we learned in lab and homework. It’s pretty much the homework and as long as you reference the homework answer keys and your labs you’ll pretty much get full points for the assignment.

This is by far my favorite class at UCLA and I would recommend this class over stats 13. Professor Garfinkel is amazing and is very passionate about statistics. His lectures are super engaging and I feel prepared to work in a lab because of this class!

Garfinkel is the GOAT! I went into this course just trying to get my statistics lower div finished, but his lectures are some of the best I've ever had and he makes statistics incredibly interesting, engaging, and applicable to your own education. Highly highly recommend this class, but especially this professor. The workload could get heavy at points, but if you are coming directly from LS30A or 30B you will honestly be fine since the coding syntax will be fresh in your head.

I really liked him as a professor, he was funny and engaging and he has a really interesting perspective of statistics and STEM in general, the class was easy, homework was graded harshly and that is what tanks your grade, for tests your descriptions of things need to be written very detailed, but overall this class wasn't my biggest stressor, easy concepts and little need to memorize equations (only like 2)

If you are a pre-med student or student interested in research: I'd highly recommend this class.

Overall: I was initially dreading taking stats and only took this because the other stats was full, but this class far exceeded my expectations and was genuinely fascinating. Dr. Garfinkel essentially spent the entire quarter shitting on traditional statistics and teaching more cutting edge approaches through computer simulations. There are no complex formulas, it is largely conceptual, so if math isn't your strong suit you'll definitely prefer this.

For research/premeds: Unlike LS30 A/B, lab coding and class are directly applicable to one another, and to real life. Dr. Garfinkel literally gives you scripts in class on how to present the different things you learn in research papers or to a PI. You use real life disease examples and data which is really cool since you could essentially just replace the data with your own if you go on to work in a lab. This class is essentially an intro to the statistics they teach you in med school rather than useless formulas!!

Learning team: The learning team was extremely responsive and listened to student feedback. They gave the majority of the code to us after previous quarters complained about too much coding (it was all pretty easy after the 30 series), and when our quarter felt there was too harsh of grading on homework, they reduced the amount of points taken off. They were also extremely accommodating for me as a non-UCLA athlete with conflicts and making assignments up. Grading on the final was very forgiving and Garfinkel is also just generally hilarious and a great lecturer.

Tests/assignments:
- Exams were extremely predictable and similar to practice tests (although the answer keys could be conflicting on wording sometimes), and I didn't feel the need to go to any PSS.
- Biggest tips to succeed would be to do practice tests, memorize the specific wording of responses in class, and learn distinctions between different resampling methods well. We also got a notecard for the final exam which made all the tiny difficult differences between the resampling methods easy to just write down beforehand.
- (For once) campuswire was also a great resource that TA's and classmates were all super active
- homeworks could be difficult (similar to 30 series length), but 95% of my questions could be answered on campuswire or with the textbook
- Overall courseload was similar to LS30A, and is very doable with any class combination

Not the easiest class in UCLA but definitely one that I would recommend EVERY pre-med student to take. Honestly if you can't get an A in this class, you probably won't get into med school anyways. You learn the cutting edge techniques of modern-day statistics but tailored towards pre-med students. I've never took a single statistics before in my life but still managed to get a 98% on this class. The final exam allowing a double sided cheat card also helped.

overall, if you want a free A, take stats 13. If you plan on doing any sort of research in the medical field in the future, this class is almost a must-take.