Overall, I think this was a good class. The professor was a bit dry, but the lectures were very clear. The class did get a bit overwhelming, but if you stay on top of your work it isn't too bad. There is weekly homework that takes about 1-3 hours and is good practice. Both his midterm and final exam are difficult, but I was able to do well because of the practice materials he provided. He gives you a practice midterm and two practice finals, both of which were similar in the topics/difficulty of the real exams. The final exam is cumulative, although there was a surprising emphasis of the latter half of the course on the final exam, in particular on the concept of expectations.

There were two versions of exams (because of time zones) and you had to take the same version of both exam (so if you took the morning midterm, you had to take the morning final). The said class was curved such that the top 25% got an A, the next 35% got a B, the next 25% got a C, and the last 15% got a D or worse. I think he was slightly more generous than this and if people do well, he isn't afraid to curve down. In addition, both versions of the class (those who took morning exams vs those who took evening exams) were curved separately in case the tests were of different difficulty.

There are two grading schemes:
1) 10% HW, 30% Midterm, 60% Final
2) 10% HW, 90% Final

He will curve you in both grading schemes and then whichever one you have the higher grade in, is your final grade.

The medians for the midterms were: 77% for morning, 83% for evening
The means for the midterms were: 76% for morning, 79% for evening
The medians for the finals were: 83% for morning, 82% for evening
The means for the final were: 81% for morning, 79% for evening

I would recommend taking this class, it took me a lot of effort to do well, but it was doable and he was a fair professor.

Professor Chetverikov is very intelligent and understanding of the concepts. This was the first quarter of learning remotely, and so I had a really difficult time adjusting. I scored very poorly on my midterm and was hoping the final would take me to a passing score. There were 3 different grading schemes so many different outcomes were possible. As the time approached, I felt very unwell and the night before the exam, I reached out to the professor for the first time hoping that I would get an I grade mark. I knew it was so late and I didn't have a doctor's note but tried anyway. He responded so quickly and was completely understanding. I was not expecting it and I felt so much better reading his response. He was incredibly accommodating and understanding. I am so grateful and appreciative for the kindness he showed. I was able to take the class over summer session C and he changed my grade within a day of sending him my score for the final. He also very generously relaxed the curve so that 87% of students passed with a B- and above. One of the most understanding professors I have ever encountered in my 3 years at UCLA for sure.

Great Professor! A little strict, but it’s all worth it. Definitely will take classes with this Professor. Too many people complain about this class, but it’s quite simple - put in the work, you’ll get a grade you deserve.

I went into this class thinking I could do no work until before the exams like I did in Econ 1 and 2 but I was wrong. So that was my fault. But I also found that the lectures were worded a bit confusingly, 90% of the lecture is examples that are easier than on the final as well as proofs. I wish that the professor would explain the bigger picture/show how the topics link together on a higher level because I had trouble conceptualizing what we learned. Also, don't trust the spring 2020 distribution, he follows the Econ department curve so you will probably get down curved if you score high.

If you have all the time in the world to attend office hours and hop around to various TA sessions, then this course might be doable. This is not the professor to take if you're also balancing a myriad of other extracurricular activities. I'm a working student balancing various positions, so making time to review and grasp the in-class material, in addition to the homework, and practice finals/midterms, to then craft good questions for clarification was often challenging. Also, as a transfer student I'd say it would have definitely helped to have taken a Stats class before this.

Disclaimer: I only attended the first 3 discussions, but TA wasn't great at helping me understand concepts and develop intuition.

Homework: In all honesty, I heavily relied on Chegg solutions to even begin to understand how to approach the homework problems. His in-class examples were too simple and didn't translate into understanding more challenging variations. In addition, he didn't do a great job of helping us develop our intuition. He would throw new problem types at us in the homework that were not once covered in class. To be fair, the TA's would go over the homework the following week, but not all TA's are made equally. It was only in my PLF session that I even began to grasp the real world applications of the things we were learning.

Midterm: The practice problems were definitely reflected in the actual midterm. That being said, in my experience the in-class lecture and homework didn't prepare you much for either the practice or actual midterm. You were actually learning new things when going over the material. So, unless you had the time review the practice problems in time to meet with Denis or your TA, you might have not been sure how to answer a good portion of them. There was also no solution manual, just an answer key.

Final: He rushed us through the last sections and glossed over the null-hypothesis topic. He didn't even solve actual problems in class and they definitely showed up in the final. But again, I cannot be sure how big of a role not attending my discussion played in my lack of understanding. Nevertheless, you were again learning new things as you were trying to solve the practice final. So, you had to find the time to go to office hours and TA sections to even begin to understand how to approach the problems. So many strategies and methods to solve for answers were just never taught in class.

So yeah. Unless you have a light course load, previous stats experience, and time to religiously attend TA section AND their office hours, in addition to Denis' OH, don't take this class. The methods in themselves are quite simple though, and it just takes simple memorization to problem solve. So if you can ask questions and identify the steps to solve a problem, you should be okay.

I actually really loved Denis as a professor. Most econ professors will dodge your questions 90% of the time but he always will answer anything you have, even if it is about an assignment. The exam was pretty fair based on the homework and practice tests you are given. Given that it was an online class, the main part that was restricting was that you have to go on zoom with a TA and then do lockdown browser which seems to be a bit extreme.

I thought Denis was a decent lecturer. He goes over each concept nicely and provides a number of real-world examples to help you understand them well. Whenever possible, he also goes over short proofs, but he explicitly mentions that they won't be tested on. He is definitely not a very engaging professor and doesn't spend too much time talking about big picture stuff or why these concepts are useful (although if you've taken any stats/econ class, you would know).

The midterm and the final were both multiple-choice and used Respondus. He provides practice midterms and finals that are very good resources to prepare. As long as you pay attention in lecture and go through the practice resources, I don't think any question would be unexpected (I found the exams to be really straightforward). But you do need to sit down and study at least once before the exam. The class is curved (up or down) according to the department curve, so it can be a little competitive. There are also weekly homework assignments, but those are pretty short and straightforward, with the bulk of the question straight from the textbook. If you struggle, make sure to go to his office hours; he provides ample help there.

Overall, I thought the class was decent, especially since the workload was pretty light. For those who have taken a stats class before (even in high school), I think you'll find this class to be relatively easy. Would I take another class with him in the future? Maybe, but I probably won't be excited about it.

He grades based on how well you perform compared to your classmates. If you study your homework and practice exam, you should get enough knowledge to do okay in the exams. Most of questions in exams and homework are based on what you learned in lecture, never beyond that so make sure to understand what he talked about in the lecture.

The content of the course is pretty basic (basically like a high school statistics class), but that means it's very competitive with other students. Chetverikov follows the Econ department grading policy very closely (25%/35%/25% A/B/C), so you have to do very well on the tests to get an A. Still, the tests are pretty close to the homework he assigns, so if you understand those you should do fine. The workload is light, only one very short problem set per week. Thankfully, unlike most professors, Chetverikov actually releases grades quickly. CCLE midterm and final were scored on the same day, no waiting for weeks to see how you're doing in the class.

Overall, Chetverikov's lectures are pretty average. He's not the most engaging lecturer, but he gets the material across and his lectures cover everything you need to know for the homework and tests.

If you want an A, and you are generally not math oriented, you're going to have to work very hard in this class. Since Chetverikov follows the department curve strictly, everyone in the class knows that it is a competitive environment. Make sure to take advantage of all the resources given to you, and go to Chetverikov's office hours! He is often far more helpful there than the lectures. The lectures were often very dry and contained proofs we didn't need to know, but Professor is a lot more personable and engaging in OH. Because of this, I'd say that you should attend TA sessions and office hours to solidify the material. Good luck!