Professor
Juana Sanchez
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2018 - Attention: Please read. Juana Sanchez is single-handedly the worst professor I've ever had at UCLA. Of course after 20 years of teaching, the rumors about how awful she is would make one initially hesitant to enroll in the class. However, she was the only professor Spring 2018, and I had to endure it with her. To give you some context, there were over 100 kids enrolled week 1, and during the final there were only 53 kids. OVER 50 KIDS DROPPED THIS COURSE. If this doesn't scare you, please keep reading. During the first lecture on week 1, we were given a pop quiz that counted for a grade. On her syllabus, she makes "participation" worth 8% , and the final worth 35%. If you chose, you can opt out of the in-class participation exercises and make your final 43%. I'm telling you now, this is a TRAP. And it was the first of many I experienced over 10 weeks. Do not drop the participation to make your final worth more, because the final is so anxiety-inducing. To give you an idea of how awful the homework assignments were, she would make you copy-and-paste code from R into a CCLE portal (instead of a rendered HTML or PDF like a normal professor). But if your code had ANY errors at all, she gives you a 0. In terms of the exams, Sanchez puts WAY TOO MANY QUESTIONS for anyone to finish in 50 minutes. Her testing policies are neurotic, and yes, she will read every word on your cheat sheet to make sure it follows ALL of her arbitrary rules. The midterm exams (each worth 23.5% of your grade) are a mix of MC, written response, and analyzing code. She will ask you to read through a page of code and point out ALL of the errors in the code AND fix them. (How was anyone supposed to do this??) Also, proofs are not off limits, and she won't hesitate to ask you for a proof on the exam! (Eyeroll) When it comes to exams, she also gives you the most inconvenient matricies to multiply. We had to multiply a (4x4) and a (4x1) BY HAND. To make it worse, each value had three decimal places. Perhaps the most annoying aspect of the exam is that she is very stingy with partial credit. Each exam question is only ONE POINT. So each exam is /15 points. (If you get two MC question wrong, you're already at a B, and it's worth 23.5%). To put things into further perspective, a 95% is a solid A. 94 or below is an A- . I bet you're wondering how the final exam could possibly be worse. Well, to answer that question: IT WAS ENTIRELY CODING. 100% of the final exam was done in R in a computer lab where we had to code algorithms to data sets she gave us. If you are not a strong programmer- this class is not for you. The final was open note (the only redeeming quality of this class), but the exam averages were awful throughout the quarter. The exam averages were: Exam 1) 57%, Exam 2) 61% , Final) 61% . Personally, I did above avg on one exam, slightly below avg on the other, and scored pretty well on the final, but somehow ended with a B- and do not think I deserved it at all. The smartest friends I had in that class also ended with a B- and I do not know anyone who earned a higher grade. 25/53 kids failed the final exam, so there is a high chance that ~50% of this class received a C+ or lower (just a rough estimate given my personal exam scores). If you are still somehow not convinced she is the WORST professor on this campus, keep reading buddy! On top of these awful exams and homeworks, she also is EXTREMELY patronizing and rude during lecture. She walks around the room while she lectures and actually kicked backpacks to walk through the aisles. I'm not exaggerating when I say almost every set of slides / worksheets she gave us had errors in them. Her lecturing style is very unorganized also. She scribbles all over the board illegibly, and does not post her handwritten notes online. There were SEVERAL instances where we would get emails from her saying "found an error in the notes, please correct it" and sometimes she wouldn't even tell us what the error was. She also frequently keeps you over the 50 minute lecture time. The only reason I got through this class was because the TA was decent. For someone who has been teaching for 20 years at UCLA, I find this all absolutely unacceptable. There is no amount of psychological counseling that can help one cope with the bullshit she puts you through for ten weeks. Absolutely avoid this class at all costs. If you are thinking about taking any other class with her, keep this in mind. She truly does not give a FUCK about any of her students- even the ones who show up nearly in tears to office hours. So glad I'm done with this class. See you in hell, Juana.
Spring 2018 - Attention: Please read. Juana Sanchez is single-handedly the worst professor I've ever had at UCLA. Of course after 20 years of teaching, the rumors about how awful she is would make one initially hesitant to enroll in the class. However, she was the only professor Spring 2018, and I had to endure it with her. To give you some context, there were over 100 kids enrolled week 1, and during the final there were only 53 kids. OVER 50 KIDS DROPPED THIS COURSE. If this doesn't scare you, please keep reading. During the first lecture on week 1, we were given a pop quiz that counted for a grade. On her syllabus, she makes "participation" worth 8% , and the final worth 35%. If you chose, you can opt out of the in-class participation exercises and make your final 43%. I'm telling you now, this is a TRAP. And it was the first of many I experienced over 10 weeks. Do not drop the participation to make your final worth more, because the final is so anxiety-inducing. To give you an idea of how awful the homework assignments were, she would make you copy-and-paste code from R into a CCLE portal (instead of a rendered HTML or PDF like a normal professor). But if your code had ANY errors at all, she gives you a 0. In terms of the exams, Sanchez puts WAY TOO MANY QUESTIONS for anyone to finish in 50 minutes. Her testing policies are neurotic, and yes, she will read every word on your cheat sheet to make sure it follows ALL of her arbitrary rules. The midterm exams (each worth 23.5% of your grade) are a mix of MC, written response, and analyzing code. She will ask you to read through a page of code and point out ALL of the errors in the code AND fix them. (How was anyone supposed to do this??) Also, proofs are not off limits, and she won't hesitate to ask you for a proof on the exam! (Eyeroll) When it comes to exams, she also gives you the most inconvenient matricies to multiply. We had to multiply a (4x4) and a (4x1) BY HAND. To make it worse, each value had three decimal places. Perhaps the most annoying aspect of the exam is that she is very stingy with partial credit. Each exam question is only ONE POINT. So each exam is /15 points. (If you get two MC question wrong, you're already at a B, and it's worth 23.5%). To put things into further perspective, a 95% is a solid A. 94 or below is an A- . I bet you're wondering how the final exam could possibly be worse. Well, to answer that question: IT WAS ENTIRELY CODING. 100% of the final exam was done in R in a computer lab where we had to code algorithms to data sets she gave us. If you are not a strong programmer- this class is not for you. The final was open note (the only redeeming quality of this class), but the exam averages were awful throughout the quarter. The exam averages were: Exam 1) 57%, Exam 2) 61% , Final) 61% . Personally, I did above avg on one exam, slightly below avg on the other, and scored pretty well on the final, but somehow ended with a B- and do not think I deserved it at all. The smartest friends I had in that class also ended with a B- and I do not know anyone who earned a higher grade. 25/53 kids failed the final exam, so there is a high chance that ~50% of this class received a C+ or lower (just a rough estimate given my personal exam scores). If you are still somehow not convinced she is the WORST professor on this campus, keep reading buddy! On top of these awful exams and homeworks, she also is EXTREMELY patronizing and rude during lecture. She walks around the room while she lectures and actually kicked backpacks to walk through the aisles. I'm not exaggerating when I say almost every set of slides / worksheets she gave us had errors in them. Her lecturing style is very unorganized also. She scribbles all over the board illegibly, and does not post her handwritten notes online. There were SEVERAL instances where we would get emails from her saying "found an error in the notes, please correct it" and sometimes she wouldn't even tell us what the error was. She also frequently keeps you over the 50 minute lecture time. The only reason I got through this class was because the TA was decent. For someone who has been teaching for 20 years at UCLA, I find this all absolutely unacceptable. There is no amount of psychological counseling that can help one cope with the bullshit she puts you through for ten weeks. Absolutely avoid this class at all costs. If you are thinking about taking any other class with her, keep this in mind. She truly does not give a FUCK about any of her students- even the ones who show up nearly in tears to office hours. So glad I'm done with this class. See you in hell, Juana.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - I don't say this lightly. She is by far the worst teacher of knowledge I've ever witnessed in my entire life, perhaps throughout the entire existence of human history. She is, without a doubt, 95% of the reason for my crippling depression. The other 5% is the death of my dog. You heard it right folks, she makes me 19 times more depressed than the death of my dog. Her homework ruins my days, make me fall into an existential crisis and makes me cry. I truly cannot tell you this feeling of dread I experience thinking about her class, it's a feeling I hope none of you reading this will ever need to experience.
Spring 2020 - I don't say this lightly. She is by far the worst teacher of knowledge I've ever witnessed in my entire life, perhaps throughout the entire existence of human history. She is, without a doubt, 95% of the reason for my crippling depression. The other 5% is the death of my dog. You heard it right folks, she makes me 19 times more depressed than the death of my dog. Her homework ruins my days, make me fall into an existential crisis and makes me cry. I truly cannot tell you this feeling of dread I experience thinking about her class, it's a feeling I hope none of you reading this will ever need to experience.
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Most Helpful Review
I found this to be one of the easier courses I have taken at UCLA, and I did not find some of the previous posts about Professor Sanchez to be true at all. To the contrary, I found her to be an excellent professor. I did not find her difficult to understand or follow at all. She was very concerned about students' progress in the class and I always found her willing to help and take the time to answer my questions. Exams were straight forward and similar to the homework and all of the material we covered in class could easily be found in the book. Homework was also usually out of the book and the TA goes over similar problems in the discussion section. I think what is actually going on here is statistics is the highest "math class" the school requires of non math and science majors. If you are from north campus, you will only find the the subject difficult because you probably just don't like math or don't have much experience in it. If you're from south campus, you should find this to be one of the easier courses you will take. All in all, I'd say she's an excellent professor.
I found this to be one of the easier courses I have taken at UCLA, and I did not find some of the previous posts about Professor Sanchez to be true at all. To the contrary, I found her to be an excellent professor. I did not find her difficult to understand or follow at all. She was very concerned about students' progress in the class and I always found her willing to help and take the time to answer my questions. Exams were straight forward and similar to the homework and all of the material we covered in class could easily be found in the book. Homework was also usually out of the book and the TA goes over similar problems in the discussion section. I think what is actually going on here is statistics is the highest "math class" the school requires of non math and science majors. If you are from north campus, you will only find the the subject difficult because you probably just don't like math or don't have much experience in it. If you're from south campus, you should find this to be one of the easier courses you will take. All in all, I'd say she's an excellent professor.
Most Helpful Review
She is both unorganized and confused. She flies all over the chackboard, and has a hard time figuring out what she wrote last (and where she wrote it) She gets lost in her own notes, and has a very very hard time communication the ideas effectively to her students. I learned everything I know about the material by reading the book. I kid you not: I did not learn a thing from her...I wouldnt recommend her at all...I felt she was the most ineffective teacher at UCLA
She is both unorganized and confused. She flies all over the chackboard, and has a hard time figuring out what she wrote last (and where she wrote it) She gets lost in her own notes, and has a very very hard time communication the ideas effectively to her students. I learned everything I know about the material by reading the book. I kid you not: I did not learn a thing from her...I wouldnt recommend her at all...I felt she was the most ineffective teacher at UCLA
Most Helpful Review
I think Professor Sanchez was great at helping students understand Statistics. Compared to my Stats 110A Professor, she is definitely better because she provides handouts that really explain concepts better. The only thing to watch out on is that she can be very intimidating during class. She tends to make students feel as if they have to take her orders, which is not her role as a professor. Depending on the student, this might make him/her not want to go to office hours. Her midterms are fair and she offers extra credit, but I would say that the open book idea doesn't help us. Overall, I recommend her because she is a fair grader. She may assign a good amount of homework but it really helps, just don't let her intimidate you.
I think Professor Sanchez was great at helping students understand Statistics. Compared to my Stats 110A Professor, she is definitely better because she provides handouts that really explain concepts better. The only thing to watch out on is that she can be very intimidating during class. She tends to make students feel as if they have to take her orders, which is not her role as a professor. Depending on the student, this might make him/her not want to go to office hours. Her midterms are fair and she offers extra credit, but I would say that the open book idea doesn't help us. Overall, I recommend her because she is a fair grader. She may assign a good amount of homework but it really helps, just don't let her intimidate you.
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