He was fine but taking this class with him was kind of hard everyone runs out of time for the tests but he is fair. Hard to pay attention in lecture because he goes so fast and doesn't actually show how to solve a problem step by step he is just teaching concepts so makes it hard to study. But he is fine you just have to put effort in.
I had Wainwright for 120A (fall ‘24). I personally could have performed better but in general Wainwright provided a well-structured class and he's a fine lecturer. He prepared me well for 120B, as I've recently come to figure out.
He taught Bayesian Statistics very well and used lots of real world examples which helps to remind you of the "why" we do any of the statistics. He explained things very well with very helpful visuals which made it easy to understand the theory. Attendance isn't mandatory but I highly recommend going to the lectures. Great course and professor.
Lectures were very informative but there definitely wasn't enough time which is why I recommend doing practice problems from the textbook. To study for exams, I would recommend doing practice problems instead of just doing the homework and attending lectures/section.
His lectures are useless. Half the grade is free, midterm and final are hard.
Prof Wainwright is a great guy, and his class was really interesting. Took 120A as an elective, and it was fairly hard, but if you keep up with TA material and study with his resources (and CLAS) you will do fine. He helped me out when I had a scheduling conflict and really does care about student success. You will be extremely prepared for 120B!
Very good professor. HW is slightly challenging, but is 50 percent of grade and is based on completion which is great. Both the midterm and the final are very fair, as long as you understand the material. The only slight downside is that his lectures are slightly boring. Also, the PSTAT CLAS 120A made my Jeremy Li is incredibly helpful.
wainwright was a good professor and very efficient with his lectures. there are weekly quizzes but they really did help to prepare for the midterms and the final. the tests weren't too hard if you understood the homework. the only thing i didn't love how the format of the final was free response when the previous midterms were multiple choice
really understanding and office hours are awesome. he's willing to answer any questions and really makes sure that everyone does well. grade is based on participation, but it's easy to get participation points. the material is hard, but overall, wainwright is a great prof and seems to really care about his students and his class
120A was tough. I wouldn't say Wainwright was, though. Twice weekly office hours provided plenty of time to get clarification of homework, previous quiz questions, or general prob/stats questions. Every-other-week quizzes were tough, made by TAs, but only 12% of total grade. Mandatory section attendance (13%). Very information-dense. Worth it!
His lectures and pretty boring, and often irrelevant to homework and test material, but he is amazing during office hours, and if you put in the work to teach yourself how to do the homework, the tests should be a walk in the park. The biweekly quizzes are tough, but do-able with ample studying. Will prepare you for 120B.
Did not go to a single lecture and was able to get A+. Homework is free points and the tests are generously curved, but the biweekly quizzes (12% of grade) are difficult. Easy if you keep the topics organized! Anyone who got an F and rated him a 1.0 is simply not cut from the same cloth.
Wainwright was a fair professor and grader. PSTAT120A is always going to be a tough class, but he did a great job breaking down and explaining the material. The midterm and final were both very long, but the questions were fair. Go to CLAS and stay on top of the material from the beginning and you'll be okay
Wainwright is very straightforward. Personally I need the extra help outside of the class to connect all the dots & CLAS every week saved me. The class is do-able. The practice tests/ weekly quizzes & worksheets were very similar to the midterms, the final was a bit long and a bit harder.
Honestly, this class was not as insane as people say it is. From my experience, the quizzes were more difficult than the exams themselves, and as long as you pay attention in section, you will be fine. Textbook is another big thing, it's not required but it is EXTREMELY helpful especially when studying for exams. Class was scaled very fairly too.
Lectures are not helpful and are rly boring, but his slides are useful. I like how his HW is a bit challenging but you are still getting full credit because he posted solutions the week after. Exams are not hard as long as you study, but they are pretty long and time consuming. Def recommend taking 120A with him because his grading is pretty fair.
Doing Wainwright justice cuz so many people rated him 1/5 for PSTAT120a. Yes he's lectures r boring but he's exam is not that hard (I would say even easier than HW and Quizes, but they are LONG). If you actually put in solid time to study for the content (which is avalaible online), you would do well on it, and pass the class.
Like others are saying, his tests are insanely hard--the leap in difficulty from the lecture questions to the exam questions is pretty big, and the short time window to answer so many questions doesn't help. I'm giving a 2 rating instead of a 1 because I do like how he handles HW policy. He has us recorrect our own HW to get full credit.
If you choose take his class good luck! During lecture he reads off his slides and the examples he gives are over simplified and nothing like the homework or the quizzes that he writes. The midterm had 26 parts for 1 hour and 15 minutes and after being curved the average was still around a 66 percent. Content should not be as hard to get as it is.
The difficulty of the exam is completely different from the usual study, and a lot of content has not been covered. And it's impossible to finish the exam
He just reads off his slides with an occasional extra explanation. Lecture is just a yapping session for reading his slides. Study for your midterm but I don't know how helpful it will be. Midterm is much harder than homework and quiz. The midterm was so long that It wasn't possible to finish.
Dawg acts like he is too cool for the material he is teaching. The information he explains during his lecture does not compare to the quizzes, homework, or exams at ALL. You will have to do your own reading and a lot of studying/watching videos outside of class.
Wainwright's slides are pretty good so you can do well in the class without showing up to lecture. 50% of your grade is free because of the online quizzes, homework, and section attendance. The midterm was kind of hard because he made it really long, but with the feedback he got I don't think he will make the same mistake in the future.
Professor Wainwright is a really nice one, his lectures are really interesting and his teaching style is really awesome. If you have any questions, please please go to office hours, it really helps a lot. He will explain them crystal clear and any questions will be solved! 120A is a heavy and important course, he makes it clear and interesting!