As a Psych major pursuing a Computing Specialization, this was my first coding course. Hands-down, this was the most applicable course I've taken at UCLA so far. While it is definitely challenging, it is extremely rewarding because you learn so much; Professor Mike and the TAs are super supportive and understanding, as well. Prior to this course I already had some experience with using R for basic data organization, graphics, and statistics, but I still found the course soooo helpful and interesting because it really helped me begin to understand the deeper intuition behind everything in R. Homework-wise, some of the assignments were very long and difficult, but as long as you made an honest effort you would get 100% on them (they're completion-based). Exam-wise, the tests were challenging and relatively unpredictable (some had a harder MC while others had a harder free response section, sometimes questions involved super specific syntax stuff and weird edge cases), but he re-scaled them so that the averages were low Bs (and Professor Mike gave us super cute rubber ducks to give us emotional support during exams :). I would be lying if I said I was never frustrated in this class, but ultimately I found a love for it. The professor, TAs, and LAs are ALWAYS available to answer your questions on Campuswire, and there is an amazing emphasis on mental health over grades. If you re-frame this course as a learning experience rather than just another letter on your transcript, you'll probably have some fun and definitely come out of it feeling proud of yourself!

At first, I thought his class was extremely hard. That. was before I fully realized that the homeworks are based on completion. You really get what you put into this class. If you really want to learn R, he is a great teacher. His notes are awesome, and I do think his assigned homework is useful to complete (you do have to attempt the homework, but not graded on accuracy). In my opinion, tests are not easy, but he curves a lot. He also allows around 3 pages of cheat sheets. If you have a coding background - this class is easy.

I would highly recommend this professor. Although the class is quite fast-paced as we go through a lot of R material in the space of 10 weeks, Mike was very good at explaining concepts and was very helpful. Most importantly, he was very fair with his grading scheme. As you can tell, a good chunk of the class ends up with A's as he curves each midterm and then also does a final curve at the end. As someone who has never coded before in my life, I guarantee you will get an A if you are willing to put in the effort to learn the material and complete the homeworks.

Mid class. You dont really need a lot of this later on. The class only teaches how to use R. He's not bad in terms of teaching. He follows his notes. If you have friends from previous years, ask them since his homeworks and midterms (i think) don't really change.

Dr. Mike is a gem. He truly loves his job. Even though you definitely need to spend a lot of time and effort to thrive in this class, the learning experience is wonderful. Homework is lengthy and sometimes difficult, but its grading is based on completion, so you will be all right. The three exams are not too bad; all materials come from either his lecture notes or homework problems. Go to lectures, do homework, and do more practice problems, you will get a good grade in this class.

This was one of my favorite programming classes I've taken so far. Mike provides a safe space for us to ensure us students won't feel as stressed for this class. The content covered is taught straightforward and is simple to understand even if you've never taken a programming class. While the homework may be difficult, he only grades them by completion. The exams are relatively simple as he allows three pages of cheat sheets per test. On top of that, the curve he gives is insane and basically ensures that his students won't fail. I've learned so much in this class without having to stress much about it and definitely recommend taking this class with Mike. Waffles!

Mike is really good at doing his job. I came in with some experience of R before so the class content wasn't brand new to me. Mike curves a LOT. He will only try to help you and he never curves down on you. His tests are very very fair. We had our midterms on paper and in person but our final was online and open notes open R. To be very honest, I did not really study for the final since all my attention was on another notoriously hard class so I got a 75% on the final. BUT I still managed to get an overall A in the class because how generous Mike is with his curve. If you have the chance to take stats 20 with him definitely take him!

I went into this class with zero coding experience whatsoever. Mike was so helpful for teaching beginners. He explained everything very well and let us make mistakes. Everything was explained really well in the notes and he and the TA were great for clarification. The homework was definitely a challenge, but it was graded on effort instead of completion. Despite a daunting class, I didn't feel like I was drowning. Challenging class but amazing professor.

Make no mistake about it: Tsiang's class requires a lot of effort. The homeworks set each week will take a number of hours to complete and the tests will challenge you. However, provided one isn't too much of a perfectionist and is willing to ride the curve, it shouldn't be too difficult to secure a reasonable grade. The material is well taught and structured and you will come out of the class with a very strong grasp on coding in R. This is definitely worth taking - but don't do it in a heavy quarter.

Mike Tsiang is such a nice guy. He really loves his job, and he treats Stats 20 like his child (he says he designed a lot of this class from the ground up apparently). Grade scheme was 15% homework, 10% quiz, 20% exam 1, 20% exam 2, 30% exam 3, 5% discussion attendance. Our TA said this class, outside of the physics department, has the highest curves of any ucla class he's seen. This is surprising since the averages on every exam was almost exactly 80%. Mike will tell send an email saying something like "if you are in the upper quartile, you are in the A+/A range," etc. so you always have a vague idea of where you stand in the class. I got an A in the class with an average of 83% across the 3 exams, and Mike posts the formula he uses to compute the curves, which is really considerate.
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Expect a lot of parks and rec references (like every example in class, on the exam questions, in his emails, in the syllabus) and Cameos he gets with some pretty neat guests (I love hank green).
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The homework is based mostly on completion. Don't use functions not covered in class and it's basically going to be full credit. Though the homework takes a LONG time and is way harder than any exam question.
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Exams were a mixture of multiple choice and free response questions where you are asked to write functions to complete a certain task. Partial credit is generous here. Multiple choice questions were often trick questions, designed to make you question your sanity (at least for me). They asked about all sorts of edge cases and the inner workings of R that you generally would never encounter in the real world, but are nice to know I guess.