Almohalwas is disorganized and does not explain concepts clearly at all. He clearly cares about his students A LOT but is an ineffective lecturer. Each slide show presentation he uses during class is at least 80 slides long and are a complete mess. Reviewing them is often of no use due to their sheer length and lack of information (it’s actually amazing that he is able to make a slideshow presentation this long that is void of any informative content). During class, he brushes over information, doesn’t explain concepts at all and most of the time, people are sitting there lost, wondering “WTF is this guy talking about?” I have never once left and if his lectures and been able to tell you what he was taking about, never mind actually understanding what he was talking about. He NEEDS to begin structuring his thoughts and learn to maintain a clear train of thought for the sake of his students.
Homework assignments all require the use of R and aren’t too bad, they can just be long. The only work that requires calculations to be carried out by hand are the midterm and final, which means you don’t get any formal practice carrying out equations by hand before the midterm and final, which is frustrating. The layout of the midterm and final is also messy with screenshots taken from R which can hinder your performance in the exam. The calculations required if you during the midterm are LONG and tedious. Completing an ANOVA table takes a lot of time and drawing factor diagrams for a repeated measures experiment is an art in itself. These tests are not easy to complete in the allotted time.
Note: I completed this course during the coronavirus pandemic and the George Floyd riots so the final was able to be completed over 3 days so I’m not sure if it is representative of what his normal exams are like. The midterm was completed over an hour and 20 minutes as normal and it was hard to finish in time.
There is a group project which I actually enjoyed a lot. I had a great group which was very motivating and we really worked well together. I feel sorry for those who weren’t so lucky in this regard.
Quizzes contain content from lower division STAT courses so they’re OK if you still remember the content from those classes.
I found the way to succeed in this course is to expect that you’re not going to get much out of the actual lectures. For me, the best method was to read the relevant textbook chapters, take note of the equations (eg all the sum of squares formulae etc) and complete as many practice questions as you can possibly do.
Receiving a reply to an email you sent to Almohalwas is a game of luck. You might receive a reply almost immediately or you might not receive one at all! Im I’ve received a reply to 2 out of the approx. 10 emails I’ve sent him during the duration of his class. I think someone should start a betting ring about his emails.
He will release quizzes and homework's on CCLE without sending out emails so you best be on your toes!
All in all, taking a class with Almohalwas is an experience. He is a really nice guy but a really bad professor. He cares deeply about his students learning but doesn’t know how to teach. Structure snd organization are simply not words in his vocabulary

Literally the most useless professor I've ever had. Never again. He didn't tell us what the final would be like until after the P/NP deadline. Told us the format of the final 2 days before the day of the final. On top of that, doesn't reply to emails even though we're doing the entire quarter ONLINE. Unacceptable. Don't take this class with him if you can help it.

Personally, I didn't find this class to be enjoyable as it doesn't provide much to improve data science skills, at least compared to other stats classes. This class mostly covers different experimental design and when to use them. Think of it as a sequel to 101A, but covers specifically on categorical variables. If you want to go into research, then I could see this class being helpful but otherwise, it lacks applicable skills. Now specifically for Almo's class:
Pros:
- Amazing guy. He's very enthusiastic with the content he teaches, and you can tell he loves his work. His lectures provide deep insights into how each concept works and he even puts in some humor as if to not bore us for too long. He also has so much care for his students because he wants to see us succeed not just in this class but in the future.
- Lenient grader. Bro gave us a take home final open notes and no time limit. On top of that, he adjusted the grading scheme because he saw many people struggling on the midterm. Homeworks were also free points as it seems like it's graded by completion. He was a little more harsh on the project, but as long as you listen to his feedback, you won't fail.
- He records pretty much everything. Lectures are record but even if he has to miss class, he will set up a recorded lecture for us to watch and even provide us an additional video for homework help.
Cons:
- Slides are a mess. Every lecture has over 100 slide that he skims over. He may be a good lecturer but the way he presents it is very unclear. Don't use the slides for help as it's more helpful to take notes on what professor yaps about.
- Exams are confusing. The way its structured is nothing like the homework. Yes it was take-home but it took me probably around 6 hours to complete the final. He doesn't have a practice final, but instead has a bunch of practice problems that he only gives solutions to without an explanation.
- Content he goes over feels redundant. This is a 101B class yet we had to do many concepts from 101A. He still made us to diagnostic plots, factor diagrams, or even flow charts that I haven't done since highschool. While they are easy concepts, it's just busy work that does NOT need to be covered again.

First off, I'm surprised by the older reviews. I think he had a really good class this quarter, since I really enjoyed taking this class.

Now, there were some struggles. For one, the structure of this course was not that easy to follow. He supplies a TON of extra resources on bruinlearn and it can get a little overwhelming. The lecture slides are also like 100 pages long so they're difficult to study. He also neglects to use the announcements page on bruinlearn, so everything important is only ever mentioned in class.

But, here's the thing: he let us do a freaking take home exam! I think due to the protest disruption and strike. But besides that, he practically explains exactly how to do all of the homework assignments in lecture, even showing the code and saying "that's the answer to problem 2 on the homework, I just gave it to you." He also recorded all of the lectures this term, and graded our homework based on effort and completion.

So the class was really easy, it's just not always easy to follow. But the recorded lectures and the TA were super helpful, and if you're into this kinda stuff, then he actually provides ton of great resources for you to learn more. Plus, he's pretty damn funny.

So disorganized, which made everything confusing for students. Useless class, honestly it was a lot of waffling/blabbering. I feel like it is very extra and not needed. Skip if you can.

*online version*
Almohalwas is hard to follow at times, and moving online didn't help. While it's clear that he puts a lot of effort into his slides (once pulling an all nighter to make it look nicer), it lacks clear examples and the main substance of the chapter, and he often goes over the slides too quickly (as there are 100+ slides for each 1.25 hrs class). Tests are always fair though, as long as you take decent notes during class and understand formulas of the slides. Grades are broken down by homework, 3 pretty simple quizzes, midterm, final, and the island project.
As for the *dreaded* island project, there wasn't much guidance nor expectations given on how to tackle it, and because he didn't release information on any of the prior steps to the project itself, you only get to hear feedback on your experiment's topic AFTER the presentation is given, which by this is too late to make the significant changes that he expects. I highly recommend doing something wacky (EX how petting an alligator changes one's test scores or something) instead of something that's applicable (EX how music affects focus or mood or grades), and especially avoid alcohol or drug consumption experiments, as they aren't "unique."
Contrary to what I've written above, however, Professor Almohalwas is a great professor to talk to and get to know, and he does genuinely care about his students. He's extremely friendly and great to talk to. Students tend to dislike his classes for the sole reason that it's hard to know what to expect from his tests and homework, as they aren't always clear, but if you've taken his classes before, you should know how he tests.

Best professor ever! Take him!