Phillip Stark - University of California Berkeley

Professor: Phillip Stark
Department: Statistics
College: University of California Berkeley
Rating # 1
Overview:
  • Course: STATS21
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Prof Stark is great guy and manages to make stats less painful. His online textbook is excellent if you listen to the lectures as you go through the text. He give many examples and practice questions so when you go to do the hw some questions are familier. The hw is hard despite this and takes time.
Rating # 2
Overview:
  • Course: STAT21
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
online course. just spend some time each week on the assignments. start working on the practice exams early to get an a in the course. final exam will be very similar to one of the versions of the practice exams.
Rating # 3
Overview:
  • Course: STATN21
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 3.0
  • Course Difficulty: 2.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Took in Summer 2010. Contrary to popular belief, only 29% of class received A of some sort (A+/A were 16%). Homework was doable, but the difficulty of material gets increasingly hard toward the end. You need to truly understand the material in order to successfully finish homeowork and ace final. Rote memorization will only take you as far as B+.
Rating # 4
Overview:
  • Course: STATN21
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 1.5
  • Course Difficulty: 5.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Took this class thinking it was a good alternative to stat 21. This class does not give you a good foundation for Stats and puts it all on you. Online office hours were useless and professor did not care about helping students. No office hours! If you have to take this class, use the SLC, but otherwise do not take it; take it during the year.
Rating # 5
Overview:
  • Course: STATSN21
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 1.5
  • Course Difficulty: 5.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
When a professor hates the course he teaches, the students tend to hate the professor. He ended up sending a huge apology letter after the final. Extremely punchy, was extremely rough towards the students. Apparently he is reconsidering the merits of teaching an online course - things have changed over the years. Do not recommend.
Rating # 6
Overview:
  • Course: STATN21
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 1.5
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
professor does not help students and snaps at them for contacting him. Textbook sucks compared to Purves's and is not very useful for the test. Do not take this class, as it is much better to take it during the regular semester if you want to have an easier time and learn! Class is not as easy as previous semesters. PROFESSOR NOT RECOMMENDED!
Rating # 7
Overview:
  • Course: STATSN21
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 3.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Learning statistics online is tough. You must be willing to put in the effort of actually absorbing and understanding the material. Don't try to learn only the material to complete the hw because you'll need to comprehend the mechanics in order to perform well on the final. Don't ask stupid questions. They waste Stark's time and the class's.
Rating # 8
Overview:
  • Course: STATN21
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 3.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
do not rely on professor to learn the material. his explanations are unclear and he often snaps at students for not understadning them. he managed to take easy material and make it hard to follow or understand. i learned more from a 2 hr review session held by an slc tutor than i ever did from any of stark's material
Rating # 9
Overview:
  • Course: STATSN21
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 3.5
  • Course Difficulty: 5.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
HARD. Final was curved due to number of failures. You can get 100s on all the homework and still fail this course. Final pulls from real life which, while fascinating, does not easily lend to textbook application. Stay a week ahead, put at least a full week solely for final prep, and you'll do fine. Lectures > textbook
Rating # 10
Overview:
  • Course: STAT21
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 3.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
I really liked stark; he was very friendly to students and very willing to help during office hours. I took this class during the semester instead of online; UNDERSTAND the material! I can't stress this enough; I put in alot of effort into understanding the material and was one of the few that pulled an A on the final while others crashed n burned.
Rating # 11
Overview:
  • Course: STAT21
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 3.5
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Material gets harder as you progress in the course. Stark is helpful but at times condescending if you don't quite get it the first time. Homework is a must. I took the class on campus so it wasn't online and he didn't give much extra credit at all. Be prepared to work but if you put it in, you can easily pull off an A- or A.
Rating # 12
Overview:
  • Course: STATN21
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 3.5
  • Course Difficulty: 2.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
the Homework consumes a lot of your time, but if you can get the chance to talk to the GSIs before the due date, there will be a very high chance to get 100%, which can in turn give you a huge advantage in your final grade. Overall, not hard to get As(60% A of some sort in my class)
Rating # 13
Overview:
  • Course: STATN21
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 1.5
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
HOMEWORK TAKES FOREVER! Very frustrating. Get 100% on the homework and you either get an A in the class or an F. The book is VERY hard to understand, would recommend buying an additional book to help because it's impossible to learn from the online one.
Rating # 14
Overview:
  • Course: STAT21
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 3.5
  • Course Difficulty: 1.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Just go to the SLC. One of the tutors, Lawrence, even stayed after hours to help us! Stark was pretty nice to me in person (though he snapped at me once cus he was frustrated that I didnt understand his explanation) and even online! Class was kinda fun and I'm hoping for an A+! Go to the SLC!
Rating # 15
Overview:
  • Course: STATN21
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 1.5
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
As an online professor, horrible. Very rude and condescending when answering students' questions, and will reduce grades if he is e-mailed directly. His book is passable for the class by itself, but it isn't always clearly written and ended up being my only resource since I felt his attitude was too abrasive for me to want to go to office hours.
Rating # 16
Overview:
  • Course: STATN21
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.5
  • Course Difficulty: 1.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
The summer online version of stat was interesting - homework is long and hard but it's not too bad with a study group and help from the GSIs in the online chatroom. The final was not "extremely" easy but much easier than the homework. Stark can come off as rude sometimes but he is pretty responsive and likes feedback. Class recommended for pre-reqs
Rating # 17
Overview:
  • Course: STATSN21
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 2.5
  • Course Difficulty: 5.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
The online text book wasn't too helpful. I didn't understand much of the concepts. The GSI's were great and were always willing to help. Homework was super-hard, I wouldn't have been able to do it on my own without help. I thought the final was tough, but it may just have been that I didn't understand much throughout the course.
Rating # 18
Overview:
  • Course: STATN21
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 2.5
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Stats N21 (online) is terrible. The online book is absolutely terrible (it's unclear, the examples don't help, and it's hard to follow his work) and the discussions are hard to navigate online. The GSI's are very helpful and want you to do well. Also, the grading policy is bogus (only 85% or higher on the HW is accepted).
Rating # 19
Overview:
  • Course: STAT21
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 3.0
  • Course Difficulty: 1.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
easy! just do the hw (or copy from a friend) and come testing time, make sure you know how to do the hw problems and practice problems (slc is efficient way to learn) i didnt know anything during the instruction period but somehow managed to cram it in in the end. no need to go to lec/dis
Rating # 20
Overview:
  • Course: STAT21
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 2.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
funny guy, he should be in eecs department instead of stat... don't have to buy textbook (save a lot of money!) easy class, have extra credit to improve you grade a lot... dont' have to go to discussion...lecture is not very helpful...but u will for sure end up with a very good grade
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