POLS UN3704

6~ assignments that require 4-7 hours of work. 7~12 quizzes require PRECISE knowledge of course material regardless if it was taught in class Midterm was Stata heavy Final was nearly all concept and interpretation (taught rushed in final week)

I gained some data manipulation skills that may be applicable outside of class. I did not gain a profound understanding of the circumstances under which certain functions should be used.

Professor Huber is a kind man. Friendly and approachable. His TAs are a bit arrogant but helpful. HOWEVER, the disorganization and inability to maintain consistency cripple his effectiveness. This crippling was noted by Professor Huber a few times, stating that the results of quizzes and assignments are how he knows he has failed as an instructor. We started with being told we would have up to 12, two of which would drop(15%). We had 7. We were told we would have 6 assignments, we had 5, last one due the final day of class and an optional 6th due during reading week(40%). The first 4 favored heavily the knowledge of Stata, not statistics. A midterm(20%) and a final (25%). The final was held the last day of class, regardless of heavy end of semester work loads. The final was extremely complex and like the quizzes was loaded with trick questions. That would not be an issue if early in the semester Huber and TAs had not explicitly and repeatedly expressed their intention not to trick students and to be looking for what you know, not what you don't. During the quizzes it was common place for the professor to admit multiple answers were correct, or that the question itself was poorly written or wrong all together. During the second to last week of class we were informed that that structure of the grading was going to change, still unclear of exactly how that went. The professor exp…

General overview of Coding in R, with a heavy emphasis on statistics towards the end of the semester.

I gained a basic understanding and skill set in R and Rstudio.

I learned the basics of using R to code for statistical analysis.

The instructor did not teach - it's like he expected people to come into the class with a knowledge of R or coding already and started from there. The textbook has terms but it cannot adequately explain from scratch how to code on R. Do not take this class if you are not ready to teach yourself or find someone to help you (friend, tutor, etc.). My STEM friends were very surprised that we received no teaching on R yet expected to do p-sets that require a good grasp of it from the get-go.

What the most strenous and demanding course at columbia is. If you want to learn R though, this is certainly the way to do it.

If you are not math-oriented, be prepared to spend all your time working on this

The amount of material is overwhelming and the materials itself is painfully confusing.