Super disorganized + doesn't actually teach the class material ( a program does). My TA taught me everything. Pretty sure Roberts is writing his own positive reviews. Roberts is "understanding" because he messes up so much during the quarter. So if that's what you're into then go for it.

OK, I applied to this class a week late but trust please pay attention to this class. It is a self-taught coding class at least the quarter I took it. The modules are really interactive and if you pay attention you should do well if you remember the codes on paper because you will be tested on it. The lecture itself is like a homework give away but he will expect you to know the content before class. Best of luck.

I loved this class! I'm a Poli Sci major that really enjoys STEM and it teaches R in course kata. It's a lot of async work but I really enjoyed it. However, if you have to code in R in the future for stats it's not very applicable in R studio. Quizzes are just like the practice quizzes they give out. I'd recommend this class if you're interested in coding and need a pre req!

Yes, the class is a reverse method but it’s coding. Easy as long as you don’t procrastinate and actually do the work. People are too dramatic; all exams are open notes and textbook so you’ll be fine.

While the professor had an attitude of genuine caring and encouragement of student learning, the course structure relied heavily on self-directed learning, utilizing an online textbook and homework assignments as the primary means of instruction. While the content itself was comprehensive, there was a noticeable lack of organization and clarity in how it was presented in lectures. Students often found themselves navigating the material independently, with limited guidance from the professor. However, the course was overall manageable, and the content was accessible and relevant to the subject matter. The assessment and coursework were also self-directed but allowed for a large amount of flexibility and was considerate of students. Overall, doable and a very reasonable option to satisfy the quant requirement - just expect it to be the type of class where you do most of your learning by yourself and only go to class/discussion if you need help or participation credit.

This class gets bad reviews for no reason! Professor Roberts was awesome and I would 100% take this class again or one of his classes in the future. I actually did not know this was a programming class until the first day lol but it all worked out. It's a flipped classroom so you learn the concepts for homework using an interactive textbook embedded in BruinLearn (for free) and then in class Prof Roberts uses poli sci data sets so that we can apply the concepts. All of the quizzes/tests are open note and often offer extra credit questions. Also, if you go to the discussion section the TA does a "quiz review" that is legit the same questions as the quiz just with a different data set. It is 100% your fault if you do poorly on the quizzes because you can literally copy and paste the code from the review for every question. 10/10 take this class because it is a great way to learn R!!!

Honestly, it makes me kind of sad that Tyson gets such poor reviews. YES he is an incredibly disorganized professor and really struggles with class structure, BUT he is a really genuine guy who does care about what he is teaching. I think his lack of organization makes approaching him seem really scary, but Tyson was really eager to help when I asked questions. NO ONE WENT TO HIS OFFICE HOURS

I will admit, the homework for this class was a lot. Required about 2 hours per night to get through the required textbook excersises. I did not really need to study for the quizzes or tests as I felt like we practiced the material a lot in class and in homework + ALL TESTS ARE OPEN NOTE.

Ultimately, this class did stress me out. But I feel like a lot of the moaning and groaning about roberts comes from freshmen who won't go to office hours and expect these entry level courses.

OVERALL - probably not the best professor for this class. but its doable

This class is not necessarily hard, but it's a flipped classroom. You have to do all the learning outside of class on CourseKata and its a lot of just reading. It is basically an introductory course on R coding language and as a non stem major just looking for a quantitative reasoning GE, it wasn't the worst but I knew that it was a waste of my time (but it will get you the GE credit). I would say that it's somewhat manageable but it is very easy to fall behind. If you can manage to keep up with teaching yourself the chapters each week it isn't too hard. He has quizzes every other week 4 quizzes total. 2 are take home and 2 are in person. The quizzes aren't bad as long as you are up to date with the chapters. The homework is the worksheet/notebook that we do in lecture and the completed lectures. There's grace periods offered for both the lectures and notebooks. He doesn't take attendance but you'll have to do the notebook on your own. He also offers 2 ways to calculate your grade one favoring test takers and one favoring homework doers.
Again, if you are someone who isn't great at reading/self-teaching or keeping up with homework or prefer in-person lecturing then this is not the class for you. I wouldn't have minded the flipped classroom if the lectures were recordings or if they were videos but they're not. The professor doesn't really teach he just speed runs through the notebook during the class.

I never went to lectures, I took this class pass/not pass, and I was taking four classes at the time, but this class was the bane of my existence. So much tedious work, and you have to teach yourself everything. The most useless class I ever took. But if I'm being honest, if you're looking for a quantitative reasoning class that has no math, this is the class for you. I don't think I ever used my calculator; it's just not the kind of class.

This class was kind of a train wreck organizationally and logistically speaking, but I didn't think it was bad overall. Professor Roberts came up with two different ways to calculate the final grade, one more homework/participation based, and one more test based. The weekly homework from the textbooks took FOREVER but it was very useful because that's where I learned the bulk of the material- not from lecture. I felt like lectures were kind of pointless because we just worked on these in-class coding worksheets as a group, but he moved SO SLOWLY and we never finished a whole worksheet. I'd recommend just completing them with your TA or on your own time, since lecture attendance isn't mandatory. There were four quizzes that were the majority of the final grade. The quizzes were extremely similar to the in-class worksheets so just make sure you complete those (after each worksheet is due, Prof. Roberts would post the answers so if you go back and check your answers, you're set). I think people just struggled with timing because the quizzes were LONG af. He drops your lowest quiz score AND he even offered a re-do for one of the quizzes that everyone bombed. Finally, he made the final optional at the request of the students, so he's super understanding and chill.