Professor
Hongquan Xu
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Most Helpful Review
This was Professor Xu's first time teaching 100B and he closely followed the textbook, so the lectures were pretty dry in my opinion. There was also no random sign-in sheet that was passed around. Homework problems were mostly taken from Professor Christou's homeworks. The exams were straightforward, but they were not open book/notes. We did not get to use a calculator until the final. He had two grading schemes: Straight scaling and curving. For curving he would give top 25% A, next 25% B, and so forth. For the curving grading scheme, he said he would fail people if they did really bad in the class, e.g. 40 on final. Although I have never been to his office hours, I have heard he is extremely helpful during them.
This was Professor Xu's first time teaching 100B and he closely followed the textbook, so the lectures were pretty dry in my opinion. There was also no random sign-in sheet that was passed around. Homework problems were mostly taken from Professor Christou's homeworks. The exams were straightforward, but they were not open book/notes. We did not get to use a calculator until the final. He had two grading schemes: Straight scaling and curving. For curving he would give top 25% A, next 25% B, and so forth. For the curving grading scheme, he said he would fail people if they did really bad in the class, e.g. 40 on final. Although I have never been to his office hours, I have heard he is extremely helpful during them.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2015 - Hongquan Xu is by far one of the worst professors I have ever had. Here's a breakdown of everything awful about him: 1. One of the few upper division stats professors that requires you to purchase a textbook 2. Has an accent that makes him unclear 3. Bad speaker 4. Does not answer questions in class well 5. Difficult to get his attention in class since he just mindlessly copies down his notes onto the blackboard as he lectures 6. His curriculum is basically ripped off of Christou's, from his material to the homework (screams lazy, and that material is hard) 7. Not helpful in office hours 8. Does not care about students' learning 9. Terrible grader, offers little to no partial credit on math problems 10. Goes really fast in his lectures, and no podcasts 11. If your notes involve just copying down everything he writes on the blackboard, it won't be enough. I bought the textbook, read it thoroughly, attended every class, did decently on the first two midterms, and did pretty badly on the final. His grading policy to not offer partial credit destroyed my grade despite doing well on the midterms and the homeworks. He's not just an awful professor, but he's also not very nice or respectable. Don't take him if there are other options.
Spring 2015 - Hongquan Xu is by far one of the worst professors I have ever had. Here's a breakdown of everything awful about him: 1. One of the few upper division stats professors that requires you to purchase a textbook 2. Has an accent that makes him unclear 3. Bad speaker 4. Does not answer questions in class well 5. Difficult to get his attention in class since he just mindlessly copies down his notes onto the blackboard as he lectures 6. His curriculum is basically ripped off of Christou's, from his material to the homework (screams lazy, and that material is hard) 7. Not helpful in office hours 8. Does not care about students' learning 9. Terrible grader, offers little to no partial credit on math problems 10. Goes really fast in his lectures, and no podcasts 11. If your notes involve just copying down everything he writes on the blackboard, it won't be enough. I bought the textbook, read it thoroughly, attended every class, did decently on the first two midterms, and did pretty badly on the final. His grading policy to not offer partial credit destroyed my grade despite doing well on the midterms and the homeworks. He's not just an awful professor, but he's also not very nice or respectable. Don't take him if there are other options.
Most Helpful Review
Xu was a pretty chill teacher and was especially easy for those who took AP Statistics in high school. It doesn't matter if you were very good at it, because just being familiar with it all makes this class seem like a quarter long review session. The only annoyance was that he would take attendance during lecture to try to encourage you to come.. And with it 3 times a week, that sort of is annoying at times. Regardless, I managed to go maybe 65% of the time out of laziness or wanting to booze it up and I still did very well. I did the homeworks after going to discussion (if Tiffany is your TA, she will show you how to do everything). Got a little above average on the midterm (avg: 38/50). Don't know how I did on the final, but it was good enough. Final grade: A. Chill, chill, chill chill chill
Xu was a pretty chill teacher and was especially easy for those who took AP Statistics in high school. It doesn't matter if you were very good at it, because just being familiar with it all makes this class seem like a quarter long review session. The only annoyance was that he would take attendance during lecture to try to encourage you to come.. And with it 3 times a week, that sort of is annoying at times. Regardless, I managed to go maybe 65% of the time out of laziness or wanting to booze it up and I still did very well. I did the homeworks after going to discussion (if Tiffany is your TA, she will show you how to do everything). Got a little above average on the midterm (avg: 38/50). Don't know how I did on the final, but it was good enough. Final grade: A. Chill, chill, chill chill chill
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Fall 2018 - This class was made to be much more difficult than it should have been, thanks to the vague and lazy instruction of Professor Xu. Never did I think that I would still deal with so much incompetence from a professor beyond undergraduate studies. I have great difficulty understanding Xu due to his incredibly thick accent, and his hushed tone of voice when he speaks. I have sat in the front of lectures on multiple occasions, but I still have had many issues with comprehending him. His assigned reading is useless, despite me having dedicated hours to the work, and his homework is very difficult to complete as he does not provide the necessary tools for success. Instead, I have had to Google several bits of information for my homework, information that Xu did not go over during class, and even then I would receive a score equal to that of a D. Keep in mind, the class average for the midterm was 20/40, and Xu does not believe in giving Cs. This gates students from earning class credit even if they took the steps to secure at least a 70% out of 100%. All in all, my experiences with Professor Xu have been completely disappointing, and I am at a loss as to why he is allowed anywhere near academia. Xu does not possess the skill to communicate, and share information with students. This is the same person who believes it is acceptable to give assignments during vacation, only for the TA, Ye Tian, to rudely provide no assistance. If you would like to actually learn, avoid Xu.
Fall 2018 - This class was made to be much more difficult than it should have been, thanks to the vague and lazy instruction of Professor Xu. Never did I think that I would still deal with so much incompetence from a professor beyond undergraduate studies. I have great difficulty understanding Xu due to his incredibly thick accent, and his hushed tone of voice when he speaks. I have sat in the front of lectures on multiple occasions, but I still have had many issues with comprehending him. His assigned reading is useless, despite me having dedicated hours to the work, and his homework is very difficult to complete as he does not provide the necessary tools for success. Instead, I have had to Google several bits of information for my homework, information that Xu did not go over during class, and even then I would receive a score equal to that of a D. Keep in mind, the class average for the midterm was 20/40, and Xu does not believe in giving Cs. This gates students from earning class credit even if they took the steps to secure at least a 70% out of 100%. All in all, my experiences with Professor Xu have been completely disappointing, and I am at a loss as to why he is allowed anywhere near academia. Xu does not possess the skill to communicate, and share information with students. This is the same person who believes it is acceptable to give assignments during vacation, only for the TA, Ye Tian, to rudely provide no assistance. If you would like to actually learn, avoid Xu.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - The class itself presents very useful concepts and is worth taking. Dr. Xu's accent is quite thick and it can be difficult to understand him. The final exam is also worth 50% of the final grade and was quite tricky. I would suggest reviewing the material constantly and making sure you understand how to do the homework. However, getting a good grade in this class can be tough since the majority of the grades is decided after the end of the quarter (final exam and group project).
Fall 2019 - The class itself presents very useful concepts and is worth taking. Dr. Xu's accent is quite thick and it can be difficult to understand him. The final exam is also worth 50% of the final grade and was quite tricky. I would suggest reviewing the material constantly and making sure you understand how to do the homework. However, getting a good grade in this class can be tough since the majority of the grades is decided after the end of the quarter (final exam and group project).
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