I do not recommend taking any course with Professor Holmes. It seemed that Holmes put in as little effort as possible to teach, and actively tried to make learning harder for students. The course content is not difficult, however, and it was fairly easy to get an A. Grades are curved. Go to lecture/section and you'll do better than most.

I don't recommend taking PSTAT 8 with Holmes. Our grades were based on 3 midterms and 1 final. She would just read from her slides so attending lectures wasn't helpful. I recommend taking it with a different professor, as your grade is entirely based on the midterms and final, with only 10% of your grade coming from attendance in the TA section.

Took PSTAT10 with her over Fall quarter and was a terrible decision. She is a very nice lady, but the way the grading in the class was structured was very poor. The final was all MCQ and worth 50% of our grade. Final was completely different material than what she goes over in lecture. Worse class/grade I had so far at UCSB.

Very nice lady, but vast majority of the grade was the two midterms and the final. Midterms weren't bad. Final, while said to be cumulative, was mostly the last few lectures and much harder. She curved it so I ended up with a B- in the class but as the final was worth 50% it tanked my grade from an A to a C+ before the curve. Be ready to work.

The final was 50% of the grade and was quite difficult. If you keep up with the homework, worksheets, and lectures then the class isn't too difficult. The final was tough but she curved the grade. I personally wouldn't go to the professors office hours, go to the TA instead.

Cool prof, spoke to her during the quarter in OH/before class. Given my grade though, it wasn't her teaching style, but the 2 midterms+intimidating 50% final w/ detail-heavy questions which make up a majority of your grade that makes it tough (as others said). She curves but unless you want a challenging intro to R/data science, I'd look elsewhere