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.

Tsiang is probably one of the best professors I've had so far. The homework assignments are hard but graded based on completion rather than correctness. The exams are definitely easier than the homework assignments, and the exams consist of multiple choice and free response questions, and you definitely have enough time to finish them within the time limit they give. He curves a lot! I was expecting a B in the class but somehow got an A which was honestly a surprise. Lectures are recorded and he gives lecture notes (which are so useful). Also, discussion worksheets are useful for practicing problems (but I never went to discussion). Overall, the class was great, and you learn a lot about R language, highly recommend it. As long as you watch lecture/read lecture notes and do the homework and discussion problems with the best of your ability, you will do fine!

I don’t really think that’s an easy A class for people new to programing, but it is normal that learning a new skill can be difficult and time-consuming. Besides the class itself, Mike is an exceptional educator who places equal emphasis on both your academic progress and overall well-being. He ensures a balanced approach to learning, prioritizing comprehension over grades. Mike dedicates his time before exams to answer any questions and is always patient in responding to student queries. As a novice in programming, I was initially apprehensive, but Mike's lectures provided me with comfort and reassurance. In contrast to professors in my economics department who prioritize research and paper writing, Mike stands out as someone who truly prioritizes his students' learning experience.