Professor
Amanda Montoya
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2019 - I have never taken a stats class before this one. The class overall really wasn't too hard. Hard, but not too hard. The textbook was free and online with interactive homework embedded into the book. These readings were due every week and are an easy 20 percent for the class. The first week she has you read 4 chapters which is a lot, but it's definitely doable. I joined the class a couple days late and I managed to do it by the deadline (HWs are all due on Mondays). To be honest, the only reason I went to class was for the clicker points (it's called PollEverywhere and it's all done online, no clicker needed). The class was pretty much a repetition of everything that was in the book, not necessary in my opinion. Tip: do your homework during lecture. Nothing too important is said during class and all the lecture slides are online. AND the lectures are bruincasted. You need to learn some coding throughout the course, which I think is one of the tougher things to understand about the class. I also never went to discussion sections (except for the first one) except for the quizzes that were every other week. I can't say whether or not the discussions are helpful because I never really went, but I'm coming out with a B, so not too bad. Discussions (once a week) are lectured by the TAs and it's all the students in one big classroom, just like lecture (no small, 20-30 student discussions). You are allowed a cheat sheet for quizzes, the one midterm, and the final exam, so that's helpful too. The final exam was a lot of copy and paste from past quizzes and the midterm. Numbers were changed around but all the processes and questions were pretty much the same. If you understand your mistakes from the quizzes and midterm, then the final should be really easy to do. I wish I had known this before taking the final. The final was also just an hour as opposed to 3 hours, so bonus (but you are allowed the full 3 hours if you needed it). The professor didn't seem super confident in her lectures, or she least seemed a little awkward. I don't really know how to describe it, but kind of like another student giving a lecture. She was professional and everything, but I don't know... This was her first time teaching this class and a class so large so I think that has something to do with it. Also, she doesn't curve the class, so your grade is your grade. r/ucla
Spring 2019 - I have never taken a stats class before this one. The class overall really wasn't too hard. Hard, but not too hard. The textbook was free and online with interactive homework embedded into the book. These readings were due every week and are an easy 20 percent for the class. The first week she has you read 4 chapters which is a lot, but it's definitely doable. I joined the class a couple days late and I managed to do it by the deadline (HWs are all due on Mondays). To be honest, the only reason I went to class was for the clicker points (it's called PollEverywhere and it's all done online, no clicker needed). The class was pretty much a repetition of everything that was in the book, not necessary in my opinion. Tip: do your homework during lecture. Nothing too important is said during class and all the lecture slides are online. AND the lectures are bruincasted. You need to learn some coding throughout the course, which I think is one of the tougher things to understand about the class. I also never went to discussion sections (except for the first one) except for the quizzes that were every other week. I can't say whether or not the discussions are helpful because I never really went, but I'm coming out with a B, so not too bad. Discussions (once a week) are lectured by the TAs and it's all the students in one big classroom, just like lecture (no small, 20-30 student discussions). You are allowed a cheat sheet for quizzes, the one midterm, and the final exam, so that's helpful too. The final exam was a lot of copy and paste from past quizzes and the midterm. Numbers were changed around but all the processes and questions were pretty much the same. If you understand your mistakes from the quizzes and midterm, then the final should be really easy to do. I wish I had known this before taking the final. The final was also just an hour as opposed to 3 hours, so bonus (but you are allowed the full 3 hours if you needed it). The professor didn't seem super confident in her lectures, or she least seemed a little awkward. I don't really know how to describe it, but kind of like another student giving a lecture. She was professional and everything, but I don't know... This was her first time teaching this class and a class so large so I think that has something to do with it. Also, she doesn't curve the class, so your grade is your grade. r/ucla