a challenging statistics course - wait, what?

[broken tibula]

---

Members don't see this ad.

So statistics is supposed to be the easy sleep-through class, from what I gather on the boards here. An A should be a given.

The class averages on our stats tests have been below 60, every time, and the other stats class (taught by the same professor) has been doing even worse. I'm getting a solid B in the course, which is relatively good, but I'm worried about how that's going to look on my application, specifically because it's supposed to be such an easy class. I can do the actual math of the course, I just run into problems because 75% of the tests are theory, which I've never been good with. I'm a plug'n'chug kind of gal. 👍

I know that retaking the course would be stupid. However, this is Stats for Social and Behavior Sciences - my school also offers Stats for Biological Sciences. Should I consider taking the other stats course, which has a different professor with a much better reputation, to prove that I can do statistics? Or would that look even worse?

 

[FrkyBgStok]

Just finish it. If someone told you that statistics is supposed to be easy, than 1)it was easy for them alone, or 2)they are liars.

I took stat at a community college. I told my wife many times that I don't care if I get an A as long as I pass. I ended up with an A and haven't the slightest idea how, and I don't care. I hated stat.

 

[addo]

Whoever said statistics was easy was lying to you, or took it with a really easy professor, or took it at an introductory level, or was really good at math. Statistics can be surprisingly difficult, especially if you take it an upper level where you go into much more depth.
Statistics for biological science will probably cover much of what you have covered, and it will not be anymore easier, but you should be ahead of the pack going in so youll probably make an A in it next time.

 

[AH3]

There's no need to retake a Stats course if you get a B. If it was a C I would suggest a retake, but a couple Bs aren't going to hurt you that much. Just do well in your prereqs and try to get as many As as possible and you will be fine. Good luck!

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Statistics at the intro level is pretty chill. At the higher level like statistics for psychology majors or biometrics or stats for economics it's going to be more challenging.
Personally I think statistics is probably the most interesting mathematics's class and also the most useful for life.

Btw statistics is all about theory. It's not a chug and plug class, its one where you need to understand why your doing all of these things.

 

[JJMrK]

B's are good. You want more A's than B's, but everybody is bound to get a few.

 

[EyEnStein 07]

It depends on the professor and what is covered in the class, and also i guess ones ability.

In my school there were two intro stats class, i took the upper and lets just say i didnt even buy the book because of how easy it was. Class averages were always around 75-80.

Dont worry, atleast your getting a B, you never know, he might give better curves for final grades and you might end up with an A. nothing wrong with a B though.

 

[apumic]

So statistics is supposed to be the easy sleep-through class, from what I gather on the boards here. An A should be a given.

The class averages on our stats tests have been below 60, every time, and the other stats class (taught by the same professor) has been doing even worse. I'm getting a solid B in the course, which is relatively good, but I'm worried about how that's going to look on my application, specifically because it's supposed to be such an easy class. I can do the actual math of the course, I just run into problems because 75% of the tests are theory, which I've never been good with. I'm a plug'n'chug kind of gal. 👍

I know that retaking the course would be stupid. However, this is Stats for Social and Behavior Sciences - my school also offers Stats for Biological Sciences. Should I consider taking the other stats course, which has a different professor with a much better reputation, to prove that I can do statistics? Or would that look even worse?

This is your problem. You need to actually get to a point where you are understanding the material conceptually. If you just "plug 'n chug" all the time, it's going to come back and bite you in the *ss when it comes time for the MCAT. Stats isn't hard once you understand it conceptually but it's probably one of the more conceptually-oriented areas of mathematics -- esp. when you're taking an applied stats course such as those offered by psych and bx science depts. The math itself isn't what mattered. (Actually, IIRC, my stats prof would actually give us the math equations on the tests for reference much as physics profs often do. He could have cared less if you remembered how the SD equation looks if you could figure out when it was necessary to answer a question and how to use it appropriately to make a good inference about the data given to you. Nevertheless, I know my stats class's average was in the C range. It was known as a tough course.)

 

[Ultimeaciax]

If you don't have a TI83/84 already, get one. You can just plug and chug in there, extremely easy. Binompdf/cdf,T/Z-Interval,nCr/pCr are your friend. However, you need to pay extremely careful to the wordings. There are a few conceptual problems that you need you to understand. It was easy for me. http://www.delmar.edu/math/MLC/Forms/StatCalTips.pdf

 

[Kimaris]

If you don't have a TI83/84 already, get one. You can just plug and chug in there, extremely easy. Binompdf/cdf,T/Z-Interval,nCr/pCr are your friend. However, you need to pay extremely careful to the wordings. There are a few conceptual problems that you need you to understand. It was easy for me. http://www.delmar.edu/math/MLC/Forms/StatCalTips.pdf

God I wish I could of used my TI83. My school has pretty much banned all graphing calculators.

 

[Ultimeaciax]

God I wish I could of used my TI83. My school has pretty much banned all graphing calculators.

God, that sucks! I would kill myself calculating df for t-test unequal sample size/variance.