This class is pretty easy if you want to get your math GE out of the way without actually taking a super math-y class. I didn't know going into it that it would be a coding class (that was probably on me), but when I found out I got super scared because I am not tech savvy at all. I wouldn't worry if that's you though because all the content was VERY introductory and didn't go too far into calculations or complicated code at all. The whole point of the class is to learn how to read data from political studies and things of that sort, which is actually pretty interesting if you're into that stuff. Other than that, the classroom is flipped so you are expected to learn everything from the textbook before lecture and then he goes through an online worksheet and basically gives you all the answers during lecture and that's it. There are 4 quizzes and a final throughout the course which are open note and pretty easy if you stay caught up with the textbook. Optional discussion sessions but you should go to at least 3 or 4 for credit. Professor Roberts is great! He probably knows everyone is trying to get a GE out of the way and is very understanding of that and funny at times. Overall a great GE, I wouldn't take again, but that's just because I hate anything having to do with STEM

Might be a little difficult for students who've never taken statistics or coding before, but all of the assignments, quizzes, and exams heavily rely on the content in the interactive textbook, so as long as you read the textbook, you can basically self-teach yourself. During class professor goes over the Jupiter Notebooks, which are due at the end of class, but sometimes goes on tangents and doesn't finish on time. Quizzes and exams are open-book and notes, but you should still attempt to understand content beforehand because the textbook can sometimes be a little confusing. Professor is a friendly guy and is pretty good at explaining concepts so just go to office hours for help. The coding part is for a program called CourseKata, which isn't your normal coding program, so don't know if it'll really teach you important coding, but overall will gain a better understanding of data and how to analyze it in terms of political science.

I thought that this class would be much different than it was. Be prepared to do most of your learning online as the lectures are online and in person meetings are just practice problems. Professor Roberts was especially helpful during office hours but be prepared to do a lot of work and studying for this class. He was funny and engaging during lectures, but I found the online portion to be overwhelming especially considering there are no TAs to ask immediate questions to.

Professor Roberts was super chill and wanted everyone to succeed. He verbalized how he does not want to curve quizzes or the final but ended up curving them all when the scores were low. He explains the coding concepts well. Keep in mind that this class is entirely coding and barely any statistics but it’s understandable and an easy way to get statistics done. Would take again!

I don't think this professor deserves as much hate as he gets. He is funny and doesn't really care if you come to class or not, but that being said, there was no TA for this class when I took it, and I truly believe that makes or breaks one's ability to truly grasp the class, which is why I wasn't able to get an A. I studied insanely hard for this class, and in the end, really, none of the in-person workshops helped anything. If I could say anything to those taking this class, it would be to watch the online lectures and practice the homework over and over and over. That's all that the tests will be on: problems just like the homework. Get the general idea from the videos, and just repeat the past exams and midterms until test day. Roberts is not very good at explaining problems. He gets jumbled and confused and never really answers the questions asked, but the class in itself is not that hard if you understand that the real learning comes from the videos, the homework examples, and if you can, the PLF for the course (which is especially handy if you aren't offered a TA like I wasn't). Don't be scared to take Poli Sci 30; it's interesting, and I am genuinely horrible at math and was able to get through it, but be prepared to work for your grade.

This class was fun and easy. Would recommend for any poli sci majors or if you are interested in the subject. I'm not a poli sci major but I took the class anyway as a prep class for my major and I found it pretty easy with a very manageable workload. You have a module for (almost) each class meeting which has a preview quiz, then some videos to watch and take notes on, then a closure quiz. Sometimes the closure quiz lowkey isn't about what the videos covered but most of the time it makes sense. There are 6 additional homework assignments scattered throughout the quarter, about 2 weeks apart from each other usually. These go more in depth with scenarios and more detailed situations than the closure quizzes. They are sometimes a bit long but they mimic the midterms pretty closely and end up being helpful. Prof Roberts is a super nice and funny guy, and clearly wants his students to do well. The 2 midterms and the final were pretty straightforward, and he gives lots of practice exams and study guides, and allows a cheat sheet on all of them so you will be very prepared. Lecture participation is recorded using poll everywhere so if you need to miss class you can just log on and answer the questions from wherever as its not based on accuracy. Overall a great class, sometimes in person class meetings feel unnecessary/a drag to get through, but fun and easy.

This class is organized in a way where basically you teach yourself. It's called a flipped classroom and I am not really a fan. You would "learn" the material yourself through an online textbook and online problems, and then go over it in the lectures with the professor. I didn't really enjoy the coding, or the structure of the class. It wasn't that hard, although the final felt significantly more difficult than the midterm and the practice.

DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS! Even though the content itself was super interesting, I find the grading policy to be extremely unfair. Prof Roberts guarantees that your final paper grade would be an increase from your initially selected research project, but that was not the case. I dropped a whole letter grade because of it, and kept making mistakes with the grading policy making everyone believe they were in a better position than they initially thought. The workload is pretty rough too.

I won't bash Professor Roberts because he really is a good guy. Go to his office hours if you have questions and he'll give you the help you need. It's just that the class is pretty exhausting, I wouldn't recommend taking it as an entry upper div like I did. I will concede that this will prepare you for harder classes in the future, and the course material really is interesting. Just make sure you're good at reading a lot and studying even more for the exams. The paper wasn't all that bad either, collaboration was optional. I'd take the class again, just be prepared for a real hard few months.

I thought this class would be super cool, and it was alright, but nothing special. More of an emphasis on the actual coding and computer science stuff than analyzing the results of data. It's a mix on both, but more stats than poli sci. Overall, easy class to fill that Poli Sci stats requirement, so would recommend just to get it out of the way. Easy, but tedious class.

The HW is super annoying because the assignments are so long, making it take forever. It's a flipped classroom, so you learn through the HW assignments. It's kinda figure it out on your own cause of that. Sometimes, you don't know the answer and there's nobody to teach it to you!

For lectures, Roberts goes through a Jupyter Notebook every class, which is graded. Ironically, going to lecture is the best way to be lazy, because you can just copy the Professor's work on the big screen. If you don't go to lecture, you have to figure out the questions yourself, which can be hard. So I recommend going to lecture, so that you can copy Roberts notebook and take less time to do it yourself.

TA sections were not helpful. Mine were on Zoom and nobody really cared, including my TA. Sometimes there were practice Quizzes but that was the only helpful part.

Grading: Quizzes, mostly easy are worth a good 40% of the grade. Take the practice quizzes and you'll be fine. The final was weirdly hard, considering the quizzes were easy, but I still got an A so no complaints.

I'll probably forget most of this and never use most of it again to be honest. But it was easy and doable.