Olenowski, Jay  

Jay is a cool dude. He really cares about his students and will help you out whenever you need it (he's down to text, which in this day and age is quite helpful). The course itself is difficult, but I feel like he makes it somewhat manageable. The homework is a bit of a strug sometimes but it really does prepare you for the quizzes and tests. Towards the end of the quarter he threw a lot of info at my class (he probably didn't do it on purpose, and probably didn't do that again) but it made the final pretty rough. He curves at the end of the quarter though so everyone survives for the most part. I would recommend him, he makes a shitty course just a little bit better.

Jay is such an awesome guy! I am not a conceptual person but he still tried his best to explain things the best way possible. He is super smart and knows how to teach and is just an all around nice man. If you are like me though and just don't understand stats, go to office hours and ask for help or work with your classmates because there is a lot of material.

THIS GUY IS A FUCKING CREEP. Avoid him if possible, he is extremely inappropriate to his female students. It's disgusting that he is still allowed to be a lecturer at Cal Poly, honestly, if you know a girl who is trying to take this class WARN HER NOT TO TAKE IT.

Jay is one of the coolest teachers I have ever had. He knows a lot about Statistics and is a super smart. I have never taken a Stat class before, but I understood everything right away. At some points he would not explain things well, but give him the benefit of the doubt because he is a first year teacher. He is also really good about office hours and encourages everyone to go in if they do not understand something. Highly recommend taking 217 with him.

Mr. O made this class enjoyable. He's very straight forward with what he expects from the quizzes and tests (which aren't too difficult) and he shows he cares about his students. Definitely take his class

Mr. O is the man! Take him.

WOW. This guy is the best teacher I've ever had. Like ever. He makes it known that he is always available to help you outside of class--literally whenever wherever. He offered to meet up on the weekends, on his days off, on campus, off campus, whatever is easiest for his students--he really really wants you to do well! Tests aren't too bad, he lets you have a 3x5 notecard. Quizzes are fine, he drops your lowest one at the end of the quarter. He's young and understands students and their lives. Jay is the greatest, take him!

Jay is one of the best teachers I've had. He's very funny and engages his students in the lecture and is always available to help. The quizzes are graded fairly easy and he always gives partial credit. Drops the lowest quiz grade. Two tests/mid terms and one final--more conceptual but not too hard.

Great guy! Super fun, really young which makes things really weird sometimes. His grading system is fairly easy, although his curve is difficult to understand throughout the course, he curves at the end. Honestly, don't get the book, the practice he provides is enough. His quizzes are far more simple than exams, exams are conceptual, I recommend reading outside sources on concepts of the topics you will be tested in. His lecturing style is straightforward but can be unorganized from time to time, just go to his office hours for clarity. He seems to be extremely knowledge in his field and you can tell he's very smart from the first day in class. Whenever you feel frustrated just try to understand he's new to teaching. I'd recommend.

Mr. O is so dope. He really cares about his students, and he is always willing to go over a concept multiple times if you don't get it the first couple times. He tells you exactly what's gonna be on the tests and he allows for a 3x5 index card to put formulas and whatnot.. Drops lowest quiz grade and curves at the end, I highly recommend taking his class!

He didn't post grades on polylearn which was frustrating, but overall he presented the material in an organized, simple way that was easy to understand and still interesting. He also made sure he was available for office hours before tests, even if it meant having office hours over the weekend. He had a lot of optional homework assignments which are very helpful if you do them, and if you don't it's harder to understand the concepts.

His lectures are boring. I could barely focus in this class. His tests were insanely difficult. My good friend is a stats major and had no idea how to do what he was teaching us. Olenowski said he was moving too fast for us, but he continued going through the material too quickly anyway. DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS.

Definitely avoid taking him. His lectures are extremely boring and he goes over the PowerPoints super fast. He's a really young guy and he is very inappropriate. He his not afraid to flirt with his students. Being a girl in his class, I never went to office hours even though I was struggling because I saw how creepy he was to other girls that did ask for help. Also his tests are ridiculously hard.

There is very little homework for this class and none of the homework is from the book which is nice. However, Mr. O was not very good at explaining concepts. As someone who has never taken stats, I understood almost nothing without going to office hours. The office hours sometimes helped but usually there were so many people there that he couldn't help everyone. The tests and quizzes were ridiculously difficult and confusing. He does allow notecards on the tests but I still failed all of them, even with the review practice, notecards, office hours, and studying. Overall, terrible class. It is his first year teaching and he had to make the curve so big just so most of his students wouldn't fail. Unless you don't mind a C or D, do not take his class.

Mr. O gave some people the wrong vibe, but i actually didn't mind the guy. This was my easiest class of the quarter! All you have to do is a few homework assignments, study for his 2 midterms and multiple quizzes, and utilize the cheat sheet and study guide for the final. He curves the class HEAVILY. Literally an entire letter grade. Do not count on this though, for his evaluations consist of more conceptual things from class rather that knowing formulas and "plugging & chugging"." Overall, Mr. O was a pretty decent professor. However, he is very young and this may affect his teaching in a number of ways. Just do the work, email him if you need help, and study your ass off for the midterms and final. Also, he uses data from the class you are in, which makes his lessons immediately relevant to students

I had never taken stats before Jay's class, and it was a blow to the back of the head. He speeds through the material much too quickly, so I was falling rapidly behind before I even knew what hit me. There is no mandatory homework, which I think is a failure in any math class as the only true way to learn is through practice. He presented the text as a optional supplementary, although I ended up relying on the course reserve. Jay doesn't explain the concepts clearly, which is difficult because he focuses the tests on the concepts rather than procedures. The power points are on polylearn, but they lack fully explained examples. The tests and quizzes were hard, however he did go over them before continuing. Overall, if you have never taken stats before, be prepared to put in the extra work to completely understand the concepts. If I were to go back, I would take advantage of stats tutoring hours before it was too late.

Mr O understands stats very well and is a great teacher. He may go through the material quickly but he gives you so many practice problems and is willing to help you out at any point throughout the quarter. He drops your lowest quiz of the quarter and adds about 3-5 percentage points to your grade at the end of the quarter. The final is fairly difficult but if you have a good grade going into it then you will be fine.

This course is HARD- but all stats classes are hard. Be prepared for that. However, Mr. O is very willing to help his students, and his class is entertaining. He's a great guy. I would take him again

Jay is honestly one of the coolest professors on campus. He's great when it comes to presenting the material clearly and he manages to make the class entertaining. I highly recommend that anyone looking for a Stats class taught by a professor you will like should take Jay.

He's soooooo confident. It's kind of annoying. He's a very young guy who knows a lot in his field which is very impressive. However his age is uncomfortable to many. Especially to girls, going back to his confidence. His exams are HARD, be ready to study. They're all conceptually based, so it's like trying to explain how an orange crossed the street using formulas. I studied a lot to get an A. Don't purchase the book, save your money, his practices are enough. Do very well on the quizzes because the exams are not easy. I'd dare say they're kind of unfair for how difficult he speeds through the content of the class. Overall, he's a good instructor, fun and smart, but he's got a lot to learn still.

In my opinion, he's pretty childish. His exams are super hard and he always offers extra credit, but it is only half a point most of the time and it has absolutely nothing to do with stats. He kind of requires you to have a laptop every class, which personally makes it hard to focus. He sometimes makes you do homework during class and the way that works is he creates worksheets for homework and requires you to print out the sheet and do your work on the sheet, but in class, you can't print out the homework, so you have to do it on a separate sheet and then copy it over to the actual homework sheet which is just a waste of time. I was not impressed with him even though most students are.

Mr. O was not a bad instructor overall. He had good intentions and cared about his students; however, his methods of teachinb were not the best. (Although it is understandable considering it is his first year teaching.) Personally I believe that he tried to implement too many online components to the course such as the Distribution Calculator. I had never taken stats prior to this course and found that I had to rely on the STAT tutoring center and friends who were good at stats. In addition, lecture notes lacked fully explained examples and were sometimes no help at all. He moved very fast and when writing problems on the board, and would write in random places--making for a very disorganized and confusing problem. With more experience, I am sure Mr. O will definitely improve as an professor! If you have the option to take another instructor, I would do so, but having him would not be the end of the world. Just be prepared to study and learn a lot of the material on your own.

If you are good at math, this might be an easy class. I have always struggled with math, and it therefore was a very difficult class for me. It was hard finding help when I needed it. All of his office hours went out over my work/school hours. He goes over material very fast, and there is little time for questions. I am very visual and most of his lectures were strictly slides and him doing problems on the board. If you happen to fall behind just slightly, I personally felt very discouraged to ask multiple times about something I didn't quite understand. If you aren't a natural at math, I wouldn't recommend this class at all. I struggled a lot and barely passed the class despite putting much studying time towards it.

He is not very helpful, and does not teach the material well. The material shouldn't be that hard, but he makes it very challenging to learn. He posts slides, but just writes a bunch of numbers and equations on the board, and will randomly erase things to show us a point, but it doesn't make sense and he has most of the class lost. his quizzes are timed and most of the time i can't finish. his tests are concept heavy, which is already difficult, before his subpar lecturing. don't take his class, you won't learn and you'll spend more time studying stats than your major classes.

Jay is a really smart guy, and he does a good job at giving you as many resources as possible to succeed. He posts practice worksheets, all this lecture slides, quiz and test answers, among other things. He's a down to earth professor and I give him 5 stars for the effort he puts in. However...I feel this class is tailored toward kids who are good at math. If math is a shakey slope for you, this class will be alright, but definitely get an outside tutor. He often throws information out at a fast pace. I would say the only frustrating part of this course are the midterms and final. They are freaking hard and not that similar to the practice tests he gives. Be warned.

Definitely take him! I'm telling you right now, you'll love his class and he'll be your favorite teacher!

I see a lot of negativity against Jay here. Personally I understand as a non-major, his class isn't necessarily the easiest. Jay, however, is one of the greatest guys you'll ever meet. He is incredibly helpful, and the reason he makes his class so hard, is to push students to try harder and be better. I have to admit, I struggled a lot in his class, I am terrible at math, but I would not have passed without the help of Jay. He is very genuine, and a very nice dude. I guarantee you everyone who has gotten bad grades in his class simply has not tried enough, or didn't talk to him during office hours. If you are struggling, talk to him! He is there to help you and he will. Don't bag because you were lazy and didn't try enough to pass a class. This is college, it should be challenging. Thank you Jay for teaching me to always try my hardest!

Mr.O is a pretty good professor. If you study and go to all his classes you can probably get a B or better in the class. The only reason I didn't is I failed the final because I didn't study that much. He curves everything. For example my quarter the top 29 out of 146 people in all his 217 classes got an A or A- and the people ranked 30 to 87 got some type of B. There are two midterms, one final, biweekly quizzes and biweekly in class worksheets. If you ace the two midterms and last quiz of the quarter you don't have to take the final but that rarely happens because his midterms are extremely hard because he says he doesn't want anyone to get 100%. He posts all his powerpoints on polylearn so you can always go back to study off of them. But don't think that because the powerpoints are online you don't have to come to class. Most of the midterms are conceptual based and he says a lot of the answers verbatim during lecture and you won't find them on the slides.

Jay is a pretty cool dude. He always tries to act hip and stuff, but he grades pretty difficult. However, he teaches the material very clearly and he can be helpful during office hours or whenever you ask him questions. He has two midterms throughout the quarter and one cumulative final. We also had 5 quizzes throughout the quarter as well. If you really dont want to take the final you can get an A on both midterms and an A on the last quiz to be exempt. I took AP stats before taking this class so I was cruising through most of the material. Make sure to know more of the concepts for the midterms and more math stuff for the quizzes. He asks very theoretical questions on the test so pay attention during lecture.

Such a cool dude and super helpful in office hours! Goes out of his way to make sure each student understands and extremely approachable and helpful. Not a math person but loved this class and made me really appreciate Stats. He lets you have a cheat sheet on every test. Take this class with him! You won't regret it

I overall got really frustrated with this class because there were constant errors on the powerpoint lectures, the practice worksheets and the solutions to the worksheets. This made it so difficult to actually figure out the problems when the notes would say one thing, the worksheet would say another, and the solutions another. There were not only grammatical errors that made the slides look unprofessional but also numerical errors that added unneeded question to the problems. I think Mr. O is a nice guy and is willing to help but fixing these errors would help a lot with the class and make me feel more comfortable learning the information.

Mr. O is an awesome professor. He makes the class halfway interesting which says a lot considering it’s statistics. Lectures are good, he allows an index card cheat sheet on exam 1, a full one sided 8x11 page on exam 2, and a front and back 8x11 cheat sheet on the final. Classwork is very easy to get a high grade, and he curves the class heavily. Nearly a whole letter grade. 10/10 recommend taking him.

Professor O's lectures are very dry, if you don't understand it he usually goes too fast to clarify things. Quizzes aren't too bad and exams are fine as long as you study on your own time. I was uncomfortable to go in for office hours because he was giving weird vibes to girls in class but otherwise not a particularly bad professor but also not a good one. I would not take this class if you are not familiar with stats or you already know that you're going to struggle

Mr. O is cool! His lectures are sometimes a bit fast but if you take good notes then go back afterwards you'll realize you understood it better than you thought. Office hours were very helpful, if you are confused at all about anything he is always willing to help you. The class was much more interactive than I was expecting but that also made it much less intimidating when asking questions, and more fun. Grade was two midterms and the final, quizzes about every other week or so, occasional homework and in class (ungraded) worksheets, plus participation. I would take him again if I could!

Mr. O is the best!!!!! He clearly explains all of the concepts and gives plenty of examples. Statistics is a pretty difficult subject and it definitely requires a lot of studying, but Mr. O will go the distance to make sure you understand what is going on. He even gave out his personal cell number in case we wanted to meet him on weekends or outside of his office hours if we were confused. He curves tests and drops the lowest quiz grade, and there are enough grades in that class to act as a cushion in case you just bomb a quiz or two...it happens. He was also super fun to talk to and always made jokes at the beginning of class. Take his class, you will not regret it.

Professor Olenowski is a new teacher to Cal Poly. He did very well to make the class interesting and relevant by surveying the class at the beginning of the quarter and using the class' statistics as example problems throughout the course. He does not assign much work or give many practice problems when preparing for tests and quizzes which makes them a bit more difficult to study for. But as a student who had never taken a statistics course before this one, it was fairly easy as long you go to class.

Jay Olenowski, Mr. O, Master J is a bro. Really like able young teacher who makes statistics clear and under stable even if you are new to statistics. Mr. O makes himself super available to his students. He gives everyone his phone number and encourages students to come to office hours and if office hours are inconvenient he wants you to text or email him a time that works for you so you can get help with material. He was great at going over tests/quizzes, clarifying concepts and answering anyone's questions in a way that makes you feel like a valued student. He is always trying to improve as a teacher. He is open to suggestions and he honestly wants to help you learn. His class isn't an easy A but what his class does offer is the tools and groundwork for you to optimize you ability to learn the content. If you put in the necessary work (3 hours a week outside of class) you can earn a grade you are happy with. At the end of the day you can't go wrong with this dude.

Mr. O is the coolest! He's a great guy who will make this course enjoyable and fun. Be aware that it will not be an easy class, but he is always open to helping you during class, office hours, even on weekends. He is very willing and its great to see instructors truly care about their students. You can tell his career as a professor is off to a great start, by the way this is his first year instructing, so cut him some slack and be respectful. He is very young which means he understands his students' problems a little better than your average professor. The one thing I did not like about this class was his style of testing. While his grading was very fair. Some of the questions were not as fair-- particularly those that are conceptually based. For some exam questions, sometimes I felt as if he expected his students to know as much as he does, as certain questions were worded oddly and often times involved concepts he did not cover the same way he asked them on tests. I understand it's his first year of teaching and he is still trying to figure stuff out. Besides that little thing, I highly recommend taking this class. You won't regret it.

Mr. O is a chill professor, but I didn't like the way that he lectured, because I thought it was messy and unorganized. The quizzes are deceptively easy so don't get fooled by that because the midterms and final is WAYYY harder. He also makes the class UNNECESSARILY competitive, where your grade is solely based on your rank between everyone in all of his sections. He even said before the final to "look around and see your competition". The first midterm was really time pressured, everyone was scrambling to finish the exam, so the average on that test was TERRIBLE. The second midterm was less time pressured. He takes off little points here and there on your exams which really matter because the midterms are out of only ~44 points. He stresses the wording of your answers a lot and just one wrong word can be a point taken off. Overall, I did not like that competitive atmosphere that he created, his unorganized lectures, and his easy quizzes that do not accurately prepare you for the exams.

Heads up: do not buy the book for this class!! He posts practice worksheets with answers for every topic you go over, so pretty much a new one every day. They're not mandatory, but they're really helpful in studying for quizzes. Overall, this class was okay. 252 is definitely harder than 251, and it may be because this was his first quarter teaching 252 but he was generally a little too abstract in presenting the material. He spends a while talking about the theory behind processes, and it's really easy to lose track. BUT he does post his powerpoint slides online, and you get a full, one-sided 8x11" sheet of paper for each of the two midterms and a double-sided sheet for the final. He grades based on your rank in the class, so the top 15% get As, and around 38% get Bs, and so on, so it's almost a guarantee that you'll pass the class if you try hard enough. This class is totally doable if you understand what you're doing, not just good at memorizing things (which you don't even have to do because of the cheat sheet). Tests ask questions to make sure you don't only understand the processes, but the reasoning behind them. He's not the greatest teacher ever, but if you get this class you'll be able to manage it.

This professor over complicates his class. There is no homework which is nice, but he posts optional worksheets to do before quizzes and midterms. The quizzes were never too hard because they were often more calculation based which made it simple. Now lets get to the absolute worst part of this class... The midterms were absolutely terrible. They are almost completely conceptual and the concepts are hard to learn because they are never presented clearly throughout the course. He expects you to answer questions exactly how he would and if you don't then you lose points. The average grade for both midterms were F's and both medians were F's as well. This class is not about learning its about just not doing as bad as the next person since he grades on a bell curve. Overall, i found this class extremely difficult with little resources for help. He is a nice guy, but not a good teacher.

YOU DONT NEED TO BUY A BOOK FOR THIS CLASS. I never went to his office hours but he tries to answer my questions to the best of his ability most of the time. The weekly quizzes are not hard because they are mainly calculations and the practice problems he posts on Polylearn helps. the HARDEST part of the class was the midterms and exams! It is completely conceptual. I studied so hard for both of these exams and I only end with a C. They are hard because a lot of the questions Professor O does not explain enough of or does not include with great detail on the slides about the difficult conceptual questions he asks us on the exams. The practice problems for the exams rarely helps. I was originally supposed to get a B but got a B+ because of the curve. I wouldn't depend on the curve too much because I don't think it will help all that much for most people. Anyways, Professor O is a cool and funny guy. He's not a bad professor but there can definitely be improvements in terms of exams and preparation for these exams.

This professor doesn't help! nothing is a calculation based it is all interpreting! He goes over the materials super quick and expects everyone to understand Statistics to his ability. If you are better at calculation based Stats, DO NOT take this class. Concepts still do not make sense and everyone in the class is stressed and worried about their GPAs. Workshops DO NOT help either!!!!

He's the best! He makes every concept really simple to understand and makes sure you understand how to calculate properly and interpret the data properly. He's a great guy who loves his dog and he cares about his students. He curves but only so that the curve can help your grade, not hurt it. He gives example problems along with their answers so you can study and every exam/quiz has an extra credit problem at the end. I couldn't have asked for a better professor.

Oh man...the content of this class is really what made me struggle. Either it clicks or it doesn't. I can't complain about Mr.O's teaching style. Although he's not very approachable in class, he's very teaching style is very straight forward. Learn/memorize the powerpoint slides and you'll be good. His exams are definitely harder than the hw or quizzes, mainly because they are conceptual. I failed both exams and the final and still passed with a D at the end.

Alright. Had him the first time he taught 312. Super conceptual, even though I'm more of a plug-and-chug type of problem solver. Conceptual questions can be tricky with the wording, or if they are just T/F. If you do ALL the practice exams, worksheets that don't need to be turned in but are just for practice, and the homework, and get everything, you'll be fine. Everything is taught on powerpoint, so you really have to go to class to get the answers to the conceptual questions in them. Using JMP takes a while to get the hang of, then you have to know what to look for. Don't count on the extra credit questions to save your grades; they're all super hard math riddles, like the probability of assigned seating on a plane or how many triangles are in a giant triangular polygon. He did, however, lower the curve because so many people were doing well, which is probably why I passed despite my unstellar grades on the midterms.

Professor Olenowski was probably one of the best professors I have ever had. He made an effort to create a fun learning dynamic in the classroom. You could see that he cared about each of his students. Always cheerful, and always willing to hand out a few extra points when things went wrong, Jay Olenowski is the professor to have for STAT-312. Students should expect: - Little Homework - 2 Midterms (with double-sided notecard for first; with one-sided sheet of paper for second) - 1 Final (with double-sided cheat sheet) - In-class Assignments (which can be done with study buddies) - Quizzes (make sure you study up for these!) - Extra Credit on every test/quiz

he will take a point off here, a point off there, for stupid meaningless bullshit, and all of a sudden you are getting a C/D/F on your quizzes/exams when you perfectly understand the material. guy is a complete draconian lunatic in the way he grades. stats is by nature pretty subjective, but jay takes this to the extreme when it comes to grading. you can write a problem one way, and he will say you are wrong for writing it that way instead of the other way. then you write it the other way on the next exam, and he'll say you should have written it the first way. DO NOT take this professor if you like dealing with petty people. dude is the only STAFF lecturer i have taken so far at cal poly, and a big reminder why you should avoid taking STAFF like the plague. stick to real professors; jay has a huge (and undeserved) hyper-inflated ego, so don't ever bother trying to correct him. AVOID!

Professor O is a great professor and I highly recommend. He truly cares about his students and wants everyone to learn. He posts all of his lectures on Polylearn so you can always reference his lectures outside of class. He is a great lecturer and is charismatic. I went to his office hours quite a few times during the quarter when I took Stat 312 and he was able to patiently help with all of my questions. I highly recommend Professor O and I enjoyed his class.

I personally didn't like him because in class he would go over number crunching and on the exam we would be given a ton of conceptual questions that we barely talked about in class. He claimed as if he teaches you as if we never had stats before, but I really didn't believe that when he went over some topics. Also, I wish he would've had us use another stats program as in engineering I use excel or minitab. Make sure to work in his class and take notes! His powerpoints are incomplete and makes you go to lecture. Do all the things he assigns too and maybe you will do better than I did. Overall, if you have a different and better option, take that person.

Professor O was the man! I finished with a B+ but honestly could've done better. Stats is a tough course, but Jay is a great professor. I highly recommend you attend lecture and ask questions and try to interact with the material. He made statistics very enjoyable and his slides are awesome. OH DID I MENTION HE BRINGS HIS DOGGO TO SCHOOL?! Again, he is great. Super helpful and insightful. Definitely take him if you have any interest in statistics

Awesome professor!! It’s obvious he cares about the success of his students. He is easy to understand and makes stats fun. I recommended him to all my friends

Fine teacher, but a little dry in the presentation. I wouldnt suggest having her at 8:00 in the morning, might be difficult staying awake.