Smith, Heather  

Dr. Smith presented the material in a way that related it to everyday occurances. She showed us lots of examples in class and gave us a study guide for each of her tests, including the opportunity to gain some extra credit. She made statistics easy to understand and the homework easy (for the most part) to do.

Heather Smith may be a goreat teacher at higher levels, but for a basic class, she was the worst teacher I have ever had. She attempted to teach things without giving us the background information necessary to learn it, she expected us to already know all of the basic information, and she would mention things once and say "we'll cover that later" and then put them on her tests. If you enjoy teaching yourself everything from the book, maybe this is the teacher for you. Then there's her tests. not only are there really dumb questions, such as questions where in order to answer them, you have to know the fundamentals of hockey, but she also puts them outside of classtime. I dont know about you, but I really dont enjoy having to take a test at 5:00 on a friday. If you ask her questions about the test, she gets defensive and says that's why she's there during the test and not a proctor. The only saving grace was the group project. the only problem with that was that we had to present it on the saturday before finals. Heather may be good when you know all the basics, but she really can't teach them to you.

I do NOT recommend this teacher. Heather Smith is the worst stat 218 prof. you can take. Not only does she not teach you the material, she jumps all around in the book and expected us to know things that she never taught us. The whole class is a joke. The first 20 minutes or so was spent on announcements, which were pointless, and the rest of it was her listening to herself talk. Nothing she said was of use until around the 7th week of class. The worst part of the class was that ALL OF THE EXAMS WERE ON FRIDAY NIGHTS!! We had to come to school and take the midterms outside of class time. We also had to COME TO SCHOOL ON A SATURDAY to do a project presentation. The whole class hated her and knew she was a lousy teacher, but when confronted she said we could have taken another section, she didnt care about anything we said. DO NOT TAKE HEATHER SMITH FOR STATS 218!!!!!

This is the worst possible professor to have for this subject. If you get this professor, drop the class as quickly as possible and save your GPA.

Heather Smith describes herself as a person who loves to learn and reads everything. She should take this love of learning and get a teaching degree because she doesn't know how to explain concepts at even a basic level to students. Although this is a 4 unit class, it is more like 6. The amount of time you have to spend outside of class just trying to understand and teach yourself concepts is unrealistic and frankly ridiculous. She breezes over important information like its nothing and expects you to recall and apply it without any further explanation on the exams. I can't even fathom the amount of times I had to ask her to repeat herself. The tests are also unrealistic as they ask you to recall small details from out of class readings and videos like specific numbers. She also doesn't return the tests to you because the reuses them each quarter. She is a very nice person and cares about her students, however only has office hours for an hour and a half and usually has a line of students who each get 15 minutes or more of meeting time. The only saving grace is the project at the end of the quarter, do all that you can to support your group and make a killer project, it will pay off. Otherwise I hope that I won't have to sit through another one of her lectures ever again. Her "helpful" analogies are so long and convoluted that the point is lost, that was probably the most annoying part.

HEATHER SMITH IS A SNATCH!!! this the worst class i have ever taken. If you value your GPA or sanity avoid this class. I would have rather gotten a root canal than suffer thru heathers horrioble lectures and evil exams. This woman lectures too fast and writes tests that are too hard and too long. Out of a class of 90 students only 5 people passed her second exam everyone else she bitched out for not studying enough.....funny, I studied 15 hours. DO NOT TAKE SMITH SHE SUCKS!!!!!

This lady is a joke as a stats professor. Let me just give you an idea; The average on her second exam was less than 30%. Out of 2 classes, over 80 studentds, about 5 passed the thing. Then she tells the classes that their study habbits are bad. However I'm pretty sure its more than our study habbits what about her teaching and test writting skills? She crams as much information as she can in a 50 min class, you can't even keep up to take good notes,to her its quanity over quality,then she writes a six page test in which you have 50 min to complete. In my section I don't think anybody finished. She also assigns tons of homework, only a few that must be turned in and they're only worth 15 points yet they take about 4 or 5 hours to do. It seems to me that she thinks that this class is the only thing people are doing with their lives. Well guess what some of us take other classes and some of us work and the majority of us are only taking it as a support course. To Sum this all up.... DO NOT take her unless you like torture.

While I admit that Heather is a nice lady, she is a terrrrrible teacher for the subject matter. She went way too fast to present all the material, and then when she gave hw on it, it would take 10 hours (only to be given 10 points for it). Her tests were ridiculousy long...barely anybody finished in the allotted time on the first test, so she decided to make the second test LONGER. The average on her test was 40%!! Then she had the nerve to blame it on our study skills...If 90% our your students failed the test, how can it be everyone's study habits?! If your a fast learner and pretty good at memorizing a ton of info, then take her. I wouldn't recommend her though.

Prof. Smith doesn't bore students with mindless memorization of theories, but makes us actually understand what it is we are learning. A large portion of my class failed, but that is simply because some people "get" the subject while others just don't (or don't try)- I would expect the same results from any instructor who doesn't inflate grades. Take Prof. Smith if you actually want to learn something.

she may be a good stat-252 teacher, but as far as 251 goes, i haven't learned anything at all. she has quizes which you get only 10 minutes on and are usually quite extensive, and her teaching style is rather vague. we get assigned homework problems from the book which we never go over so it kind of defeats the purpose of it since you don't know if you're doing it right. her course materials she gives you are also a pretty big waste. it's more of a giant workbook, without instructions, or in other words, more homework problems without answers. she is basing this class heavily on MINITAB which is very unusual for a 251 class, and she gives us articles to read about statistics which you will see on quizes. pretty much be prepared to teach yourself statistics, and be ready for her tests, she's very particular when it comes to wording.

Heather LOVES her job. She is very experienced when it comes to statistics and at the end of this class you are going to know your stuff. Her class is more than just a few tests, but there isn't daily homework, just select assignments that she makes clear that are due. Tests were challenging and required you to know the information well so you could finish in time. I barely finished my first test and I am a fast test-taker, it just pushed me to study harder in the future. She is a very nice lady and is there for her students. Uses blackboard religiously to keep up to date with students and small extra credit opportunities are everywhere, so look for them. Not the easiest teacher, but she will prepare you for 252, which I also chose from her. Not an easy A, but definetly attainable. Both her classes were very minitab heavy, so you learn HOW to do stuff instead of just crunching numbers, which was so nice. Great teacher, convinced me to get a Stat minor. If you want an easy A, don't take Heather, but if you are here to get an education, sign up.

Did I have the same instructor as these other people??? Dr. Smith was definitely one of the worst instructors I have had at Poly so far. Her tests were much too long for the allowed time and went into much more depth than she covered in class. On a test she had admitted was too long, I did not even reach the last two questions worth 20 points out of 150!!! She "made it up" to us by giving a pop quiz, giving us points toward the test, on new material she had just covered in class. So, if you were like me and didn't have total indepth / know it-inside-out knowledge of these new concepts then you were screwed on those "extra" points. Her lectures sped through the material, touching on key points but never covering the important "why/how" things work. I met in study groups, did extra problems and struggled to get a C in her class. I'm not against working hard for a course but how does a person go from an A in 251 and spend 2 to 3 times as much time in 252 to get a C??? It's simple: unless you are looking for an instructor who skims through material in lecture and tests depths beyond the scope of the course, avoid Heather Smith like a plague...

Please don't be fooled by the evalutations done by students who received an "A" in this course. Ms. Smith is a very nice woman however her teaching style is extremely bad. She is very impatient, goes very very fast in her lecturing, and does not slow down even if the entire class did not understand the material. Her tests are beyond long. I have yet to find someone who finished her tests on time. She does not do a good job of letting you know what she expects. Her expectations are very unreasonable and overburdening. Unless you want to make Statistics your life, please do yourself a favor and do not take Ms. Smith.

This is the worst teacher that I have ever had!!!! I want my money back because I did not learn a damn thing in this class. Do your self a favor and hang your self in your garage before you take this teacher.

After having Kent Smith for STAT 251 (see numerous other reviews), I was somewhat frightened to tackle another STAT class with a Smith. However, my fears were completely groundless. I found Dr. Smith to be 100% approachable, very friendly, and very flexible when it came to dealing with problems. I was very sick before a mid-term and she let me take it a few days late, a VERY nice thing to do. While her test were fairly long, I found them do-able. Her obvious love of the material, as well as real-world experience and examples really helped make this course easy. I recieved a B in this class, but only because I attended just 3/4 of the lectures. The most fun I had was on her "activity night" which helped drive home several of the concepts we had been learning, while providing us with actual data sets to work in on class. I would HIGHLY recommend this teacher.

Take a look at the other evaluations... STAT majors love her, normal students taking 252 to fulfill a requirment don't. If you're an engineering student taking STAT 252 with a typical engineering load, don't plan on having a happy quarter with Smith. Instead, plan on attending several required out-of-class activities (lasting from 2 to 3 hours each - usually on Saturdays), getting reamed on lengthy exams and nit-picky homework assignments, and learning more about tailoring your work to Mrs. Smith's twisted desires than statistics. If you make it through the class, passing or not, you will have learned everything a normal student needs to know about STAT. I guess that's a good thing, though not very encouraging...

I thought this class was really informative and interesting although Smith's grading scale was extremely strict. The class consists of 2 midterms and a final and various homework assignments and pop quizzes. It is important to attend class because she absolutely loves to give pop quizzes. Believe me that by the end of the quarter you will be trying to get every point that you can. Getting an A is impossible, a C is more realistic.

She is an average teacher. Yet she is not very approachable and is to strict with her grading scale. She also does not curve the class so good luck!

Professor Smith's class is hard. Very few people get A's, the class average was about 75%, and there's no curve. If it's a required course for you and you get a D (which 1/4 of the people do), you have to retake it, so I'd recommend another professor--unless you're a Stat Pro. She's nice and approachable, but expects too much.

Heather Smith is a great teacher. I learned all about statistics and how to apply it to real-world situations in business. I did not have much trouble getting an A in this class, mainly because I followed her lectures and asked questions about anything that wasn't extremely clear to me. She will spend 30+ minutes answering a single question if she feels the class doesn't understand, and is very approachable if you have problems. She is pretty hard-core about grading, and will not let much slide, especially on a test. Her homework prepares you for what her tests will ask, and her pop quizzes keep you on your toes. Overall, the class grades were pretty low (averaging 75%), but I think many people expected to do well without much outside effort (like actually opening the book between classes), and were surprised when they got back a D or F on a midterm. If you want to learn, I highly recommend her.

Ms. Smith KNOWS the material. You can tell that she gets very excited about it when lecturing, and tries to makes us understand by giving us practical and real-world examples. she gives a heavy-load of homework and quizzes. her exams are long but based on what was taught in the class. she goes very fast with the material, but she's always available during her office hrs to answer questions. i would highly recommend taking a SI course, cuz it helps clarify the material. I personally learned a lot, after taking this class I realized how important statistics is, and I've also seen a lot of what she's taught us in other business courses as well. I know she is tough, but if you want to learn something, take her.

Stat 252 is a tough class. You will find Heather Smith to be a fair teacher. She demands a lot from you. This class has very few good teachers, but Heather Smith is one of them.

Ms. Smith's course is really tough. If SI is offered, TAKE IT! The toughest part of the class is showing up...EVERY DAY..stupid 5 unit courses. She does a great job explaining things or taking the time to help you understand concepts. She has a lot of experience working in the private sector so she knows how the business goes. Do the suggested problems and make sure to utilize her at office hours. Oh yeah, talk to her about college football, moreover the FLA. Gators...she'll remember your face and that will come in handy when u need help.

Heather is one of the best teachers I've had in a long time. Stat 252 is a tough course and takes a lot from the student's time. But, having a teacher who will go out of her way and help you out can make it a lot easier. I took the Supplemental Instruction for this class, but I didn't find it of any help. If you have any questions, I suggest going directly to Heather and asking her. Professor Smith does go quickly during her lectures, sometimes it seems like she can't even catch her breath. She offers extra credit and is the type of teacher who wants everyone to pass her class. If you have to take this class, take it with her!!

Really cool lady. Hard class, but if you need help, she's always there to CLEARLY explain the stuff that you're having trouble with. A lot of people bitch about her, but I suck at stats and worked hard to get a B+, which isn't bad, considering that this class has the highest failure rate in the entire business block.

Heather is a sucks! The only reason that I didn't do well in this class is because she put so much stuff on the test I didn't have time to finish. I knew the material but always ran out of time, as did most of the class. If you like reinforcement in learning and the ability to think slowly and deliberately when you work to be sure your doing the problems right don't take her! Plus she has a sick facination with TQM. Stats is hard enough with out a professor trying to make you work at a pace that is comfortable to a professional in the field.

Professor Smith is truly a great teacher and she really cares about her students success in her class. She is always willing to help her students out in office hours who are having difficulty. Statistics is not exactly the best class but Dr. Smith always made it interesting and engaging. Mrs. Smith goes over material in her class that you will actually use when you enter the job market. The best part of the class is the quality management material which is not really covered in any of the other stat252 classes. Mrs. Smith is the reason I am now considering a stat minor. The only warning I must give you is be prepared for the first test because that is where most students had problems. Trust me if you are going to take stat252, take Mrs. Smith. You have to work hard but the work is well worth it in the long run.

Heather Smith is the best professor you could wish for. This is the first time i have ever enjoyed a math class. She presents the material in a way that it does not get overwhelming and she will go over the material until you understand it. Stop reading evaluations and register for Heather Smith!

This class involves a lot of computer work. If you're not good with computers consider taking this class with someone else because even the tests are taken on the computer. There also is homework that she doesn't collect, but DO IT ANYWAY, it will help you with the test and get you acquainted with the computer. I really recommend this teacher because she tries to simplify and never tries to trick you.

This class wasn't as hard as everyone made it out to be. I took the SI class for it which was pretty useless for the majority of the time, but the times that it helped i was very thankful. It forced you to do the work when you didn't quite understand it and it helps you with a lot of the homeworks and group quizzes (which are mostly 10 pts. each). You are only allowed to miss 35 pts. in total...so get full credit as much as you can. Smith has this wording obsession...so you have to make sure you answer the problems with the way she taught it to you, don't be adding extra words here or there, she tells you exactly how to answer it. The tests were longer then the time she gave you, so go a steady pace and don't spend too much time on a problem or you'll panic. Her classes went really slow when you knew the stuff and sometimes she spends a lot of time explaining something that you swear people should already know. Mostly, the class was boring, but she made it as exciting as she could seeing as how she seemed pretty enthusiastic about teaching it to you. She's really into hockey and always talked about it in the beginning of class. Just do the hw you have to turn in and read her course notes and you'll be good. I would say it's hard to get an A but pretty easy to get a B.

Heather is a really good teacher but be ready to bust your ass. Her class is not easy at all, the first test she failed half the class and then she tried to make up for it by giving out extra credit the rest of the quarter. She is a really smart lady with many good things to offer but if you dont answer the questions on the tests the exact same way she would have answered them then your going to be in trouble. All and all she is a good teacher if you are willing to work hard. 80 point final and two 50 point tests +70 points HW and Quizes, out of 250 points

An excellent teacher. Uses real-life, relevant examples. Very willing to help you during office hours and answer questions during class. Only gripe is that her midterms take a long time to do and she only gives you 50 min., so you don't have time to revise your exam once you finish.

Professor Smith is by far the best teacher available for this class. She is really interested in the subject, which makes the material she presents more engaging and she teaches it in real life situations. It is a fairly demanding class, but not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. You learn alot from her course notes, and if there is something you don't understand she is very helpful in her office hours. My one complaint is that her tests take up the entire time alloted for them, but if you are familiar with the material and MINITAB it is not that bad. Overall she is better than any other teacher for this course.

professor smith is a great teacher. she absolutely loves statistics and especially quality control, and it shows in her teaching. her enthusiasm inspired me to minor in stat. minitab (the program) is essential in her class, which is a good thing. some people didnt like the 2 and a half hour out of class activity one sunday, but it was not that bad. for stat 252, i'd reccomend professor smith.

Good teacher overall. however, she is very hard and her tests are extremely difficult. She is very smart and has lots of experience in the real world with stats. She is probably the best teacher for stats. I'd recommend taking her for 251 +252 because it takes a while to get used to her teaching style but once you get it you have an advantage over everyone else. She has a workbook that has everything in it, STUDY THIS, not the book. Her tests come from her workbook, they are very different than the problems in the book. She does this who wants to be a millionare type quiz where if you miss any of the first 3 questions, you get 0 points even if you know the rest. Good Luck, but I would recommend her

I really should have gotten a higher score in her class however it was a morning class and all my other classes are 12 or later so I only went about 60% of the time. I still might pull a B cause I think I aced the final however I bombed the first two midterms. I think she is a way better teacher than Devoure who is a huge dousche bag and a dick as well. She won't ever let you out early, ever. Even if she finishes a big topic with 5 minutes left in class she will still start the next topic. If you can learn which a copmuter program which basically means learning which pulldown menus to go to and where to put what info yoyu should do fine in this class. Missing this class however is not very highely recomended as she leaves a lot of blanks in her lecture book and the text is pretty useless except for using sample problems. Also I recomend getting the answer booklet that comes with the text, especially if you miss class.

Smith is a fair teacher who actually presents information that could be usefull in somthing other then school. She does a presentation on six sigma, which however boaring is somting that i am sure i will hear about in the work force. There is a saturday activity that you have to go to which sucks but besides that the class is a good one.

First of all, I would like to say that Professor Smith is a wonderful lady, and she can teach statistics. She is very objective in her teaching methods and shows you exactly what is on the test. There are no surprises and all pop quizzes are extra credit. The class consists of 235 points. Two midterms worth 50 points each, homework and quizzes worth 50, and out-of-class activity (on a Sunday and quite entertaining) wich is worth 15 points. Then, there is the final which is worth 70. The final is hard because its a 2-hour test crammed into 80 minute section for reasons of time ontraints. (Maybe that was just my quarter). However, she can teach very well and is very tech oriented. There is never any homework due nor and everything she ever assigns is posted on blackboard. The class is very easy and if you just space out and look at the projector you can get at least a C. She's always there to help, holds study sessions and extra office hours as needed. If you want a teacher that'll show you Stats in a technological way and teach you it's REAL business applications, take Professor Smith. Amazing teacher.

Professor Smith is a great stats teacher. She is easy-going, and is more than willing to help students. The material is well presented, and she prepares the class well for tests. She gives course notes that follow right along with the class so I didn't even have to open the text book.

She knows what she is talking about but she does not listen to students to students problems and take them under consideration. She is VERY nit picky and i lost a full letter grade on numerous exams because of b.s.

I highly recommend Dr. Smith. I had to miss several classes during the quarter and found her to be very helpful and understanding. She was always available during office hours which I found to be extremely helpful. I also recommend taking the supplemental class in the evenings. This class focuses on the details that may have gone over your head during the lecture. Sample tests are given before midterms and the final and can really boost your confidence and your grade!

If you can learn to operate and interpret the outputs of a computer program (MINITAB), then this class is fairly easy. In fact, I found it to be by far easier than my 251 class. Going to class everyday and picking up on all the relevant functions in MINITAB is key since you will have to use the program extensively on the midterms and final. All the problems on the tests are based on examples she works in class, so reviewing is straightforward and there aren't many surprises. Her tests do run a bit long for the time allowed so you will have to work quickly. Purchasing the text is not necessary since her course notes cover everything you need to know, provided you go to class and take notes to fill in some details. There is no collected homework out of the text, and the problems she does "assign" from it are always the most basic and simple ones, which aren't too helpful in preparing for the exams. There are around 4 collected homeworks throughout the quarter and some pop quizzes, but nothing too difficult and the quizzes are extra credit most of the time. There is also a 2.5 hour out of class activity on a Sunday, but it's nothing to be worried about and you get some easy points just for being there. All in all, show up to class (almost) everyday and there's no reason you won't get at least a B.

She doesnt listen to your needs and just keeps going on and on with every person in that class incredibly confused. Its not a good situation. Dont take her, she is a bad teacher!

Great professor. The class consists of 4 exams, a few quizzes, a few extra credit quizzes and an out of class activity on a sunday. The out of class activity is no fun at all, but isn't bad and is completely worth taking Smith for. She is an AMAZING professor, she explains everything so well you will wonder how the person sitting next to you isn't getting it, and then realize they aren't there half the time. If you go to class and pay attention, you will do just fine. Augment that by actually opening the book and maybe going to offices hours a few times, easy A. I got a B, I didn't ever crack the book open and never went to office hours. She is a great teacher, you will actually learn a lot, TAKE HER!!!

She's a relatively fair grader. She has a total of 4 tests and they were too time consuming for the time she allowed. She really depends on the use of mini tab so practice it well. She doesn't assign much homework. She is really helpful when you go to her office, so be sure to go to her if you're having trouble in the class.

She's pretty fair and cool, just know minitab and study a little and you'll be fine

This teacher is sooo UNDERATED (is thats a word) She really is a GREAT teacher. Everything she gives you is very straight forward. The tests are hard, but you just have to study the notes and actually pay attention to her in class. The reason why people below are complaining is because the material is not easy and there is a lot of it, but she does a great job presenting it. That said, she is probably one the greatest teachers at Cal Poly. By far the best for this class. I HIGHLY recommend her.

LOVED her. the mini tests were a little rushed but she gave extra credit quizzes for each one the next day to make up for some lost points. she's very knowledgeable and explains things really clearly. i'd definitely recommend taking her!

Well, all I can say is that I am glad this class is over! Smith is a good teacher and pretty damn brilliant but STATS is not my cup of tea. This class will have you stressing like Eliot Spitzer at the Bunny Ranch! Good news is, if you put some effort in this class, it is rewarding. She only assigns one HW per section and then there is a mini exam at the end of the section. Make sure you know how to do the computations as well as knowing how to interpret them. She is a maticulous grader so if you're a BSer, good luck! Overall, way better than the other Smith I had for 251. Mr. McGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Professor Smith is an excellent teacher. Stats is a naturally difficult subject, though, so it won't be an easy class. The mini exams were really nice because we didn't need to study for one huge midterm or anything. I really recommend studying the course notes thoroughly before the mini exams though, because a lot of questions are really nit picky and minor but worth a lot of points. Overall, Professor Smith cares a lot about her students and will take the extra time to review any problems or questions. She is incredibly knowledgable about statistics and really clearly teaches the material. I highly recommend her, but know that it won't just be an easy class. If you do all the homework, go to class, and review your course notes, though, you should be able to get an A no problem.

I disagree with the ratings below for a whole slew of reasons. To be objective and not have thousands of people try to throw objects at me as I write this I will say Heather Smith is a great communicator of the material and extremely friendly woman. My opinion declined for her however due to the her variability of her Mini Exams (some were really easy, some very impossible). You only get 24 minutes to do an exam that should really take 50 minutes. As a result few people finished and the curve rarely compensates for that. If you love math/stats but struggle with computer applications and mastering it under these time pressures I would suggest you either fix that quickly or take a different teacher. I spent more time on this class then my three other core business classes. Enough said.

Heather Smith should honestly be banned from teaching. This is a mid quarter post so it has absolutely nothing to do with my grade. She makes the class use a computer program called minitab that is basically impossible to get if you have a mac, so you'll have to do all of your homework and studying in the library/business lab. She also doesn't explain how to use minitab for the course material until like the last 30 seconds of class, so good luck remembering any of it. She doesn't go over half of the material that she puts on the tests and then wonders why the median for the first midterm was a D. And worst of all, she gives you 45 minutes to take a test that requires at least an hour and a half to complete. DO NOT TAKE SMITH FOR STAT 252... I mean, unless you're the type of person who likes spending hours teaching themselves the material only to not have adequate time to apply it to the test.

Heather smith did not teach the material. i would have failed the class if I did not take a workshop as well. I read the other poly ratings which said she was okay but they were wrong. She did not do a good job teaching or specifying material. She does not give you enough time for tests which result in you failing them. And she does not curve them. There are many other stats teachers that are eaiser. Honestly take them any day over her!

If you value statistics, your grades, or your sanity, do not take Professor Smith.

DO NOT TAKE THIS LADY. SHE DOES NOT CURVE ANY TESTS OR QUIZZES. Every test you run out of time because she gives you WAY too many questions. She doesn't teach out of the book so there is no way you can teach yourself even if you read her "course notes." There are 2 midterms, 3 homework assignments, and 3 in class group quizzes, and a non-cumulative final. I have never hated a teacher more in my entire life. The class average on every test was below a 65%...needless to say, avoid this bitch at all costs.

Some statistics on the class... The average on the first midterm was a D... The average on the second midterm was an F... The tests were crazy hard!!! Or most of the people in there are idiots! I am a business major and I am shocked at how dumb some of these people in my class are. Whenever somebody says "Oh, you're in Cal Poly's business program? That must be tough!" I say to them, "no, the people in my classes are grade A idiots. I swear some people, I don't know how they got it. I thought you needed like a 4.0 to get into this program, but apparently if you don't know how to run a simple regression test on the computer, come on in!!! Seriously, the majority of you guys man. I didn't listen for a minute in that class and studied for three hours the day before the test and I got a solid C on the second midterm. With the curve I got a solid B (the extra credit). My major's business and I'm in business because all of ya'll are dumbasses. (See the comments below)

This class is not an easy grade. I did not do the RPA assignments, so part of my grade is my fault, but I still feel like the class was very hard. I managed to get a B on the first exam, and then barely passed the second exam. The time constraints really get you if you don't know the material well enough to just do it without thinking. There are lots of extra credit opportunities if you attend class, so make sure you attend. The worst part was having to buy course notes and use minitab for every assignment since I do not have a windows computer.

Smith is very nice, and is helpful in office hours. Although, her tests are extremely difficult and she is very nit picky. The class average was a 50% and she didn't curve it, but allowed you to earn 7 points of extra credit, which wasn't very helpful. I earned a B+ in Stats 251 and thought by Smith's poly ratings, her class would be a breeze. I was very wrong. She uses a program minitab which only works on PC's, you have to learn how to work that program and how to do the calculations themselves. She ended up curving the grades at the end, so my D turned into a C, very hard work. I spent hours on this class! I think she learned with our class though, for the last test was a lot easier after we complained the whole quarter! Good Luck!

This was a very fast-paced class, with little room for questions. Although Smith is very willing to help in office hours, many times our lesson would be cut off by the next class, which left some big gaps in material. Smith uses the MiniTab program which can only be used on PC's. 3 groups quizzes, 3 long homework assignments, 2 midterms, 1 non-cumulative final. Smith has flat points, so make sure you get the easy points on homework and group quizzes. She doesn't give minuses on final grades, so an 80% is a normal B, 70% is a normal C. But be prepared to spend some late nights in the library. If you're a quick learner and willing to work hard, you will pass this class

ridiculous...

Professor Smith has an extensive knowledge about statistics and clearly demonstrates this to her classes. She was great about taking questions in class and making sure the questions were thoroughly answered before moving on. Although I felt like sometimes she spent a little too much time in the beginning of class talking about things other than statistics, she made up for this lost time in office hours. She was always available during her office hours and was extremely patient with any questions that students had. It would be nearly impossible for someone to ask "but when will we use this in real life" in Professor Smith's class because she relates her curriculum so much to the real world. All of her examples are realistic and she shares her consulting experience with the class. I was unaware how prevalent statistics was in business until she taught me in this course. I was very satisfied with her class overall.

I loved this teacher. This class is really fast paced because there is so much material so you really have to go to every class and pay attention or you will fall behind. There is a decent amount of homework and if you go into office hours she is more than willing to help. You use a lot of minitab, the tests are pretty hard and time consuming. I never had extra time but I got decent grades. Pay attention, do you homework and you will do fine! Sometimes she even put word for word problems from the homework on the test! No BS, everything she teaches and talks about it for a reason, listen up.

Why does she get such a bad rap? The truth about her speeding through content is unfounded. She will literally go over content more than once if asked. Her explanation for the material is great. She is the head of the stats department so of course, she will expect a lot from her students. I am currently taking her class and have taken one of her midterms. It wasn't even that bad. I got a C after the curve (which is surprising since people here say she does not grade on a curve). I got a C not because it was hard but because I did not study enough. Half of her midterm is in-depth understanding of the material and the rest is what you would think will be in it from the problems she works in class.

One of the best communicators I've ever had. Many opportunities for extra credit and she curves the exams HEAVILY. Without those added boosts I'd have a C/B-. She does a good job preparing you for future classes too. Would recommend, but there's a lot of work, so be prepared.

PROS: Professor Smith expects a lot out of her students, and it is not easy to earn an A in her class. She is, however, incredibly knowledgeable when it comes to statistics and demonstrates just how useful the very skill sets you learn in class are in the real world. Professor Smith answers any, and all questions students have, and she is very available throughout the quarter during office hours, class time, and other study sessions. CONS: The tests are long and require you to know the answer on the spot otherwise you will lose time and won't be able to finish the test. Turn-in homework also takes a minimum of 8 hours per assignment to do entirely which can be a pain and resulted in a few super-late nights. She also assigns optional textbook problems and workbook problems, so you are looking at quite a load of work throughout the quarter. HOW TO GET THE A: I guarantee that if you do everything assigned, you will get an A. Read the textbook, do the REA's, complete the turn-in homework by yourself, work some problems in the workbook, attend class, and jot down important notes and you will get an A. It seems like a lot, but ultimately you will find a rhythm, and the workload won't be at all overwhelming. The use of the statistical analysis software, Minitab, was never an issue for me. I had it on my computer which I highly recommend you do, even if you have a mac, it makes everything easier, so you don't have to go to the library to use the program. Professor Smith gives all the necessary instruction for Minitab in class, and after the first week, you will be able to navigate through the fundamentals pretty easily. Also, on tests, work as fast as you can because otherwise, you will not finish. She does curve, but to give you an idea, on the first test, a third of the class did not even make it to the last full page, and some people got 34/75 even after a 12 point curve. On tests, the majority of the problems will be conceptual, or information based, and about a third will require calculations and analysis. So, here, the workbook is key and helps tremendously. Study everything in the workbook no matter how insignificant it may be because it might come up in a true/false, or fill in the blank type of question. Watch the against all odds videos before tests as questions will come up specifically from the videos, and read the textbook to get important ideas. Also, some test questions come straight from the homework. I know it seems like a lot to keep track of, but it is not bad at all and becomes rather interesting once you start to understand how everything links together. Good luck, enjoy the class as much as you can!

I love Professor H. Smith! She's very informative, experienced, and cares about her students a lot. Yes, this course is very fast-paced but you'll learn so much out of it. I got a C+ in STAT 251 just a quarter before, so I was really nervous about how I was going to perform winter quarter. I worked really hard and got an A and I'm not Einstein or anything so just do the following Imma tell you. This is how to get an A/B in her class: Make sure to not miss any classes. Also, she sometimes offers extra credit randomly for participating in activities in class so that's another bonus for attending class. At the beginning of every class she always opens up the floor to any questions students may have--whether it is about the homework, course notes, exams, etc. She'll go back and clarify any new and old material. She has 6 homework assignments but drops your lowest grade. Write down extra notes during class. There are some fill in the blank stuff in the course notes but a lot of the necessary material is just stuff she talks about so bring an extra notebook or write them down somewhere in your course notes(what i did) also write down minitab instructions in your notes because she doesn't really give them in easy steps. START EARLY ON HOMEWORK! Do NOT start the night before. They're quite lengthy and can take at least 8 hours to complete! usually she gives you about a week to do them. You can work on the homework with a partner but if you do that and split problems, I would recommend doing the problems on your own later just for review. For exams, review 1) COURSE NOTES!!!! and read every detail because she asks T/F and MC questions. 2) Homework 3) REAS (reading and exercise assignments) including the VIDEOS!!! 4) the textbook (but it's included in REA) but tbh you don't reaallly need it. It's just like extra help. 5) office hours for extra questions! GOOD LUCK!!!

Stat 312 is probably the most boring class I have ever taken. Not because of the proffessor, but because of the material. But Dr. Smith explains everything clearly and is willing to help a lot in her office hours. I liked her a lot as a teacher.

I'm in her class right now and want to kill myslelf. Avoid her like a plauge. Tests are ridiculously long, and she wastes most of class time on examples, quizzes, and announcements, leaving little time to actually teach anything. Expects you to be fluent with the statistical computer program, yet barely shows you how. Even makes you attend a stupid out of class activity. Get me out of here!!!!!

I went in to this class not knowing anything about what was about to go down. Heather was an alright teacher and better then others from what I hear but she isn't anything special. Her system of grading is kind of difficult to get a good grade. There are some team quizes throughout the quarter and then some really hard self quizes. In this class, it is set up like Chem 124 with little "clusters" of 4 computers with eight people. The groups are 4 of these 8 people. She grades really tough and you have to use Mini Tab. In every class you will probably need to use it. It wasn't that bad of a program but the way that she words her questions on tests is really ambiguous so you will think you know something and then get no credit. She is tricky. The class is all about wording. USE THE RIGHT WORDS. There are some homework assignments and she gives a little bit of extra credit . DO ANYTHING YOU CAN TO GET THIS CREDIT> overall not the best professor I have every had but not that bad.

Smith is a tough professor, and the class is semi tough. She can get the material into your head, but it might take a while. The book is useless so you better pay attention in class, which is difficult because it is long and boring and you are staring at a computer screen the whole time. The tests are hard, but she doesn't collect homework, which is good or bad depending on your personality. Good luck with Smith.

Heather Smith is an awful teacher. She gives "optional" homework assignments that there are pop quizzes on, and there are a ton of them. She doesn't understand that this is a support class, probably your least important class. She expects you to put in a ton of hours learning the material. The average on every single one of our midterms was a D- and she wouldn't curve. She said it was our fault that we didn't study enough, instead of realizing that she wrote incredibly long tests with very difficult material. She also uses Minitab (a computer program). A large portion of the tests are based on whether or not you can use this program as efficiently as she can. It is possible to figure out most of the problems without using it, but you would run out of time. There were three midterms and a long term group project. Most people in our class ended up with C's or D's. This class would have been fine with a different teacher, but DON'T TAKE IT WITH HER!!!

I'm going to save you the trouble of reading all the evaluations below beacuse all you need to know is DO NOT TAKE HER!

The class is not that hard but Smith makes it a little more difficult that it should be. She leaves out some examples in her lectures and expects the students to figure out how to do them sometimes. She does give extra credit and the coolest part about her class is that when grades are entered she will only give straight A, B, ... or A+, B+, C+ ... She won't give "-" just the plus. So if you have a 79.5 you get a B not a B-.

Prof. Smith is a super nice lady. She gave me lots of help this quarter. sadly I didn't get a good grade on her class because this is my first quarter here and this class is my first stat class. Probably I still have little sense with statistics. Her lecture confused me at the beginning. At the end of the quarter, I thought I stared to understand the materials but it doesn't help me much on my grade. I think her class is not that hard as people said. I didn't do well this time, but if I need to take another stat course, I would consider to take her class again. the class average before the final is 79%. It is a pretty high average for a junior course. Her test is not hard but it is too long to me, I could not finish them all in time. Her test is fully depending on Minitab14, the stat software. If you want to do well on her test, probably you need to have a minitab software at home and practice a little bit. She doesn't curve the exam, but if the average is low, she will add some extra points for everyone. Besides, she gives a lot of extra credit during the quarter, as long as you attend the class on time, you will get most of them. Overall, she is a good teacher.

This class wasnt that bad. In my opinion its kind of pointless. However,i understand the college wants us to be "well-rounded". My only issue with Smith is that she loves stats too much. She really assumes that all of us, including myself (a CSC), are going to use stats all the time at work. As such, she really hits some concepts that are a little difficult to grasp when she first goes over them. But after the test with the accompanying mediocre grade...you get it. But shes real nice and is helpful in office hours. She also has a study session before each test, including the final. I would recommend going to them if youre struggling. She will NOT give any hints as to what will or will not be on the test if you go to it. She is really good about being fair to everyone. Grading is good but too much to cover in this review...but its fair and easy. Just study a lot for the tests and quizzes. Doing the graded homeworks will help...but not that much.

Prof. Smith really loves her Statistics. The review below is pretty much except the homework is helpful and I disagree with the part about her not giving hits. I went to the question and answer sessions that she offered before the exams and when answering questions, she often gave more information than what was asked or showed how something can be done differently. These extra tidbits of information were quite often on the exams, sometimes even exactly as she presented them during the review. This said, you have to keep up with the course and do not just think you can show up and the review and breeze through the test. You can't.

Her class is in no way hard. I don't get why people complain that this class is hard when you dont even do the reading, which is only couple pages anyways. If you pay attention, do the reading assignemnts, you will be fine.

In all honesty this class is cake. All the material is very straight forward. She gives two midterms and a final project. The project is a group project and you can pick any topic. She gives team quizes which are pretty simple. The key thing about her is that she makes it painfully obvious the questions she's gonna ask on the test.

Heather Smith is a terrible teacher. She spends most of the lecture time talking about statistical theory, when we should be learning how to use the equations and doing problems with them. She makes the material way more complicated than it needs to be. I don't why all these 252 people seem to think she's great, because she sure wasn't for 312. Anyways, your grade will mainly be focused on three midterms and a class project. Fortunately, there's no comprehensive final. If you're stuck on a problem and ask her for help, she says "This is so wrong, I don't even know where to begin." before helping you. Unless you're a statistics major, I don't recommend taking Smith for statistics.

I would not take Heather Smith for statistics. The only good thing about this class was that the final project was worth enough points to make up for some bad midterm scores. She doesn't explain things very well and her teaching style is extremely disorganized. The class is in a computer lab but more than 80% of the class period she takes away your computer and you get to watch her do things on minitab which isn't as riveting as it sounds and it doesn't help you retain the info. She uses coursenotes that she made herself that are difficult to follow. The day before a test she crams so much NEW material into the last half of the class it's ridiculous. And she just talks about theory...so when it comes to working out the problem you're screwed. If you do end up taking her, when it comes to the final project go into her office hours A LOT so you can make your presentation/project exactly how she wants it so you can get an A on it and boost your grade. She's a nice person, but not a good statistics professor especially if you're interest in statistics isn't too great.

Professor Smith spent a lot of time on theory and not a lot of time working over problems. I admire that she wants to get the class thinking about how to apply the statistics that we learned but some of the questions on the exams had us apply what we know it not-so-obvious ways. If you take her, I highly recommend doing all the assignments as they are assigned. Raise your hand and ask question and go to office hours. Start the homework early. The exam questions don't seem to come from any one source, but just know everything she does in class forwards and backwards. And choose an easy project that won't have a lot of problems or require a lot of time. She does not curve the class.

Professor Smith is definitely nice but my advice is to try and get a different teacher if you can. I say this because her tests were incredibly difficult and made it very hard to earn a good grade in this class. This class is super fast paced and taking AP stats in high school doesn\'t really help prepare you.

Tests are very hard and time constrained. The class is not curved. You will probably get a bad grade.

I would highly recommend taking SOMEONE ELSE for stats 312, especially if you're like most engineering majors and don't need stats as a prerequisite for another class. Ok fist of all, she hardly allows students to practice the stat techniques on Minitab, she takes the computer from you like 80-90% of the class time. She has you purchase her partially HAND WRITTEN notes for a ridiculous amount of money and then, at least in my case, you don't even go through all of the notes by the end of the quarter! These notes are also basically use less, they're crammed unorganized and vague. Her midterms and quizzes are unreasonable difficult. All of the reading and problem assignments are also useless, I stopped doing them when i realized she uses little to nothing from them in the quizzes and midterms. Most questions are based off of her lecturing. The final group project is worth a ton of point, and thus the only reason i passed the class, so make sure you get a good group. The only positive i can say is that Smith is a very nice woman and extremely helpful in office hour.

Professor Smith is a very nice woman. She is an expert in Statistics and is able to answer all questions with ease. The class consists of two team quizzes, (don't be fooled by team, they were still very hard) two midterms (also very hard) and a group project. She's very particular with her grading and takes off points for very small unimportant errors. I've never taken a stats class in my life so stats is very hard for me. You not only have to learn how to use statistics but you also have to learn how to use the computer program minitab which makes things very difficult. (at least for me) One thing that I really like about Smith is that she recognizes students difficulty and wants to help. For example, I failed the first midterm and she pulled me aside to find a time that worked for both of us so I could review the entire test with her in her office hours. She actually came in on a friday (she isn't even supposed to be on campus that day) to help me so I liked that about her a lot. She doesn't give you as much practice as I would've liked because there are examples in her course notes. But I would prefer to do examples myself than go over them as a class and follow along.

Heather Smith is really a fantastic professor overall, she is an extremely clear communicator, and makes sure everyone in the class somewhat understands. She will clarify any questions anytime, and she knows what she is talking about. The only problem is that the course is HARD. You aren't going to get an A, like seriously, you wont. But on the plus side, it is almost impossible to fail. You are going to get somewhere between a D and a B. But at least you learned something. And people who complain about minitab, she lets you download it for free, so you can literally bring your laptop to class and do everything she is doing on her computer so you can learn it. Bottom line, this class is hard, but the professor is good.

Smith is a very nice lady. She presents the material well during lecture, but when you try to do it on your own, it's confusing. I wish she spent more time doing examples and not conceptual stuff. She uses a program called Minitab and it's great because you don't have to do knitty-gritty calculations like the other classes. However, knowing how to use it is a big part of the course. Her tests are pretty difficult. Just go to office hours and that will clear up any confusion. She is an awesome person, but i feel like she tries to cover too much material in the quarter.

Heather Smith is a really nice professor. She really wants you to do well in this class. However, STAT 312 is a really hard class (at least it was for me) and Smith seems to make it even harder with her tests. The test are super hard ( I failed both tests with a 30%). The project and the extra credit might save your grade: I got a "D", even though I though I was going to Fail. If you're STATs major, I recommend you take this class. If you are a CSC like me, I recommend another professor just to make your life easier.

I took this class almost 3 years ago when I was a sophomore and I figured it was a good time to write this review as enough time has passed to formulate a solid opinion. As it has been said, this class is tough. Professor Smith expects you to know the material backwards and forwards. When taking the class I thought it was a bit over the top and excessive but after getting into industry through internships the class is well worth the effort. Since she makes you learn the material so thoroughly, it really sticks with you and lets you remember statistical rules that people taking other classes will forget. So while the class is tough I highly recommend taking Professor Smith if you want to learn statistics.

I absolutely wish I would have read more Polyratings before taking Ms. Smith. If you're not an auditory learner (like most engineers required to take this class) do not take this teacher. She wastes at least 10-15 minutes a lecture talking about sports updates from the weekend and often other irrelevant information to the course. Without the necessary time, Ms. Smith often cuts off the lecture prematurely and leaves material unclear. She gave our class 3 midterms, with a final group project. The midterms are absolutely too long. She doesn't give you anytime to think about the problems, which is ironic because she talks about statistical theory so much in lecture (which she wants us to think about). Minitab is a pain to learn, especially if you're not a STAT major and her use of the text book is all over the place. Save yourself from pulling your hair out and some tears, take another professor.

Professor Smith is a good lecturer if you aren't the type to get butt hurt. When you ask questions, the tone of her response tends to make you feel like a dumb ass, but guaranteed she gives concise and helpful answers to questions. My REAL PROBLEM with this class is not the professor, but the exams. There are 3 midterms, each within a 50 minute class period. The exams are far too long for such a short time. I didn't finish one of them. This is also confirmed by the fact that she curves the midterms by 20% or more on every exam. Based on midterm performance i feel like I deserved a D in the class, but the curves allowed me to get a B. I haven't seen such an intensely curved class since ME 212. Long story short, don't take her unless you're a STAT major or would like to become a STAT minor because the format of this class is ABSOLUTE CRAP.

Her grader is a siren. Pretty but savage. I'm failing in the homework department. Her class has got to be the trickiest 312 out there. Demanding, and tests are confusing. Yo, teach, I'm a full time student!

Would give tests that she knew no one in the class would finish and her "teaching" in class was shitty. She would barely teach and just talk about her love of football. STAY AWAY IF POSSIBLE

She know her STATS #!@ very well. Very fast paced class but you will learn a lot. Test are very hard but always curved. She is very helpful and want to help you learn. 3 exams, 1 group project and a few hws. Overall, it is a good class and she is a very good professor.

Okay. Dr. Smith is extremely intelligent and has worked with Statistics her entire life-- and will make that clear. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS if you don't want to spend all of your time studying. If you do well on the impossible tests, she will like you. The average on the second midterm was 50%. DO NOT buy the book, but the coursenotes (written by her) are absolutely necessary. She grades everything extremely harshly, but boy do you learn a lot. By the end of the quarter, you'll realize the importance of the class and everything you've learned. However, if you take Dr. Smith, you will have to work very very hard for a good grade. The highest grade earned EVER in her class was a 95.

This class was like a whirlwind. I barely knew what was going on most of the time, and she had little patience for stragglers/confusion. Her voice and presentation style can be annoying. Definitely a completely different person in office hours, though. In her office she is extremely nice and willing to work with confusion and clarify subjects. It'd just be nice if she'd do this on tests. Obscene amounts of "Turn-in" homework, but it's necessary to even have a clue what to do on tests. She's also a big fan of her "Reading and Exercise Assignments" (REAs), which are long lists of problems from the textbook to practice. I never did these, which is probably why I did poorly. You could easily spend 15+ hours a week on her class outside the classroom. Be extremely dedicated or take someone else.

Professor Smith is a very good professor. She definitely knows stats very very well and puts a lot of effort into her teaching, and it shows. The turn in homework is pretty minimal but graded harshly, and the tests are long, and once again, graded harshly. If you have no prior experience with stats this class will be a lot of work, but not because of the professor, just the actual course: you learn a lot for a short quarter.

First of all I'm going to copy and paste the warning notice presented above this box of which I am entering my review. "Please be as informative and objective as possible. This is your opportunity to help other students, not to rip on a professor because they failed you! Talk about the teacher's grading policies, homework load, tests... you know, stuff you'd wish you'd known before signing up for the class" MY PERSONAL REVIEW: With that being said, I believe that Dr. Smith was a very helpful and informative teacher. Students that didn't perform well in this class is completely on them. Dr. Smith had us purchase course notes additional to the textbook. I strongly recommend you do the work Dr. Smith suggests, if you don't then you will obviously miss out on material that she feels is important enough for exams and homework. BREAKDOWN OF COURSE: -3 graded homework assignments -3 midterms, no final -final slot is used to present our group project GRADING: Grading was very harsh, yet fair.

So I am currently in Professor Smiths class and I was going to wait until after the quarter, but people are registering now so maybe this will help. She is not at all as bad as people say. She is extremely nice and extremely helpful one-on-one. In class, occasionally she goes too fast, and you have to learn it on you're own. There are reading and exercise assignments that are never due but she expects you to do them because they are good practice. Pretty much all of the problems are in the course notes so if you go through and fill in her course notes before each exam you'll do fine. 3 turn in homeworks are due total and her grader was pretty picky. You really have to get the wording right in stats. The exams were tough only because you had to rush and never had enough time but we got a fat curve on the 2 we have taken so far. 15 and 20 % curves. Her class was the only one this quarter that was in a computer lab and we use Minitab for all of our analysis. I like this and think it is more practical. We use Minitab and get an equation sheet for the exams. Oh ya, and there's a project where you have to design an experiment. Probably the easiest points you'll get in this class are for the project proposal and update.

<< Class breakdown: >> 1. Required textbook + Available in the library. + You can (and will) survive without purchasing this. The readings from the textbook will supplement any topics you are still unclear on after reading the coursenotes. 2. Required custom coursenotes + Available for purchase at universityreaders.com. Will cost ~$45 including shipping for the print format. + You will use this EVERYDAY in class. She packs all of the info she wants to emphasize in here, along with a lot of examples. + The coursenotes are customized for each quarter because she updates them to include project examples from the previous quarter. 3. Minitab + Statistical computation program where you will spend 95% of your time. + Will take some getting used to (so practice!) but your proficiency with it will dictate how well you perform on exams. 3. Three turn-in homework assignments (50 points each) + She will usually make them available on Thursday/Friday and you will have until Wednesday to complete them. + You can choose a partner to work with and split the work, as long as both make comparable contributions. + Tip: These assignments are long. Start early (over the weekend) and go to office hours. You will struggle to finish these if you start the night before. And some questions will make your head hurt but are extremely simple to solve once you ask her. 4. Two exams (150 points each) + First exam takes place around week 6. She will pass them back during class so you can see your scores, but will keep them for up to one year in her office. There may be a linear curve (for us, it was +20 pts). + Second exam is semi-cumulative and takes place during week 10, the week before finals week. You will likely not get to see these before the quarter ends, but you are welcome to visit her and discuss them next quarter. 5. Team project (150 points total) + She will ask students who have project ideas to pitch them during the first few weeks of the quarter. You can form/join a team (3-4 people) according to which ideas interest you. + With your team, you will create a project proposal (25 pts), project update (25 pts), and final presentation (100 pts). She will give you an outline of everything she wants in each of these. Tip: Follow them to a T to get all the points. + The presentation takes place during finals week. The three hours allotted for the final will be divided into two presentation sections. You will get the chance to pick the first or second half and are only required to attend the section you are presenting in. 6. Reading and Exercise Assignments (REAs) + Assigned almost weekly. + Consists of readings & problems from the coursenotes & textbook, and published material of interesting studies and/or videos. + You are not required to submit them, nor are they worth any points, but a small portion of the exam material will refer to these items. 7. Extra credit + We had one opportunity for extra credit (It was 3 points out of the 600 points class total, which was completely worth showing up to class). << Some notes about the class: >> + She seems intimidating but is not. If you make a habit of going to office hours, she genuinely asks after and cares about your progress. + The material is not easy, but manageable. (This was my first time taking any statistics course and I did fine with a reasonable 16-unit load.) + Consider using a voice recorder to record her lecture. Half of the class is about communicating your statistical findings and she expects very concise and specific language, which she will gladly tell you verbatim. + If you are pressed for studying time, focus on the coursenotes first and foremost, then go to the textbook, and finally the various REA materials. + Do not skip class because (seriously) EVERYTHING she goes over in class will show up on the exams. + Every class period, she devotes the first part of class to answering any questions you have. She will thoroughly explain all of her requirements; just listen and pay attention.

Lol DUDE! 69696969

We obviously have a couple people who have some serious issues, as seen from the comments above. "Hang yourself in you garage!" Yeah, that is real helpful. I am a 5th year statistics major who has had almost every professor in the Statistics department. I have found Heather Smith to be extreemly helpful and approachable, she is also a tremendous resource of information (from real-world, not just academic, experience). If I could go back and take my classes again, and beleive me I have had to take a lot of STAT classes, Heather Smith would have been my insrtuctor more than just once. Please disregard the above postings from frusterated students who just didn't understand Statistics, nobody said it is an easy subject! Take it from a student who knows the Stat department and its instructors very very well, Heather Smith is awesome.

Heather Smith is a nice person, but I didn't feel that she put much effort into actually teaching this class. I worked so much harder in this class than I did in any of my others. Also, group projects and presentations basically dominated the entire quarter. We learned almost everything on our own through reading the coursenotes and watching group presentations. It would have been nice to have a little more lecture time and less "group" time. Basically, you can get a B if you work pretty hard, but A's are almost impossible.

Heather is a really good professor who knows surveying and sampling techniques well. She is really nice and puts students first. She really likes to spend time with her students outside of the class talking about things other than what is going on in class. In the classroom, she utilizes many techniques to teach us what goes on in the real world and does it really well. In 421, the first part of the class is about the backgrounds and techniques of effective surveying and the second part is focused on calculations. She has us participate in a class research project and a teaching presentation which really helped us adapt. Her coursebook is really bulky, so it essentially an extra textbook and the books were really useless as her lectures reinterate what they say. The reading required for the exams are pretty much stuff you've heard about before. My only serious complaint about this class is that exams are too long for the time she allots. But otherwise, she is a really good teacher to take a class from since she is very knowledgeable about the subject and connects with the students.

I enjoyed Heather in earlier stat classes, but for this one she was horrible. The main project of the course, designing and performing a full-scale survey as a class, was a great experience and very worthwhile. But to fill up the time not taken by the class project, she would assign mundane work such as group presentations, book work, and even designing a pamphlet. Nobody took these assignments very seriously since they had nothing to do with the main point of the class, but Heather graded these with a vengeance, giving failing grades on busy-work. At no point in the quarter did I have any clue what my actual grade was since her grading scale seems to be almost completely subjective. By the end of the quarter I had given up on this class completely; it had turned from an interesting project into a complete waste of 4 hours each week. She did well in beginning stat classes, but stay away from upper level.

Its a shame we didn't get more out of this course! Heather is very experienced in survey design and sampling. However, the class was much too focused on the "class project" and the technical facts were often rushed at the end of class. This class is very useful in the real world but something about the organization of this class just didn't add up. Here tests were long but I would say pretty fair. She just should have done more teaching! We had class presentations/groups present a lot of material which she could have done much better presenting the facts herself and then we'd have much more in time class to learn everything. Shes very knowledgable. Shes super nice as a person. Office hours shes very helpful. Shes a great lady and is really into her class and enthusiastic!

Heather is incredibly nice, but wow this class was not fun. She takes the longest way possible to say the simplest thing, and instead of ever getting anything done, you will just talk about it. Two tests, both are beyond impossible. Course notes make no sense, bought a 200 page packet to use 3 pages. RPA's - Don't do them. Couple of easy presentations. Not sorry I took the class as it wasn't hard, but really felt like a TON of wasted time.

Smith is not a great professor for this class. The class is divided between the class project and everything else. She spents a lot of time about telling you all the applications of survey sampling methodology and then spends hardly any time on how to implement it. She shows you all the formulas, gives you one example and then expects you to know how to use it perfectly on the midterm or final.

The class focuses 80% on the project that you do the ENTIRE quarter. The project is a big work load. There are 2 presentations 2 quizes and a midterm and a final. She grades fair on the presentations and the quizes are group and not that hard. The midterm and final are really study intensive. You have to put in a lot of time reading the material outside of class if you expect to get a descent grade. She curves the class at the end too. Not to bad at all if you are looking for a cool 400 level stat course that isn't solving proof after proof.

Smith is a really nice person, but that's pretty much the only good thing about this class. You spend most of the class working on the class project, which is developing and administrating a survey. To me, the subject matter was really interesting but somehow Smith made it seem really boring. She barely went over a lot of the material, and decided we needed to learn something the last day of class and spent less than 15 minutes on it. On the first day of class she told us that everyone will be getting A's or B's. Everyone bombed the midterm, with the highest score being a low 80 and the mean being in the 60's. She didn't feel like she was going to need to curve that, so everyone was freaking out about their grade. We had two group presentations on some complex ideas that probably would've been easier to understand if it was her lecturing instead of three people who had just learned about the subject. She seemed to grade the presentations fairly, but I know someone who got a point off for no reason and telling him his presentation was perfect and there wasn't anything that he needed to work on. Avoid this class. Yes, even to stat majors.

AVOID.......you'll want to puncture your eardrums rather than listen to her talk by the end of the quarter.

Dr.Smith is a very smart and detailed professor I have at Cal Poly. Her explanations to concepts are clear and concise, especially her fields in survey sampling. This course is very demanding so we have to balance our time between learning class concepts and doing project at the same time. Like someone said, this class is 80% project and 20% class lecture. Grades are based off midterms, presentations, and project. Midterms are brutal and long as it gives us more pressures to answer every questions in less than an hour (not everyone will do well), which we won't have time to think. We have to give two presentations to classmates and professor based on the topics we/she chosen. The project is a quarter-long project so it basically helps you to apply to the real-world application in survey sampling.

Heather Smith Rocks. If you have to take stats take it with her. Has industry experience, teaches you what you need to know, not a bunch of useless crap.

Professor Smith knows stats, but has a hard time teach stats to students in a way that is clear and easy to understand, but she is very helpful in her office hours. Her grading policies were pretty fair, she tended to grade up and gave extra points on tests. she assigned homework every week, but never collected it. the tests were pretty hard, she never gave the class enough time to finish. she would spend most of class going over easy concepts and then rush the hard concepts, then test us on the hard concepts we barely went over. she also liked to teach us new stuff on the tests themselves. she was very attentive to students' needs and would help you during her office hours.