PSTAT 5A
SWENSON J S
Julie Swenson
4.3
85 reviews

88
4.3
PSTAT5A . Swenson J S 6 Years Ago

Literally the nicest professor Ive ever had, she genuinely cares about the students and is extremely accessible

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PSTAT5A . Swenson J S 6 Years Ago

Prof Swenson was amazing for stats. Super clear lectures with tons of examples and her test questions were always at the same level of difficulty as her lecture examples. The quizzes are easy as long as you get the hw checked during office hours. Super nice lady and great teacher, highly recommend

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PSTAT5A . Swenson J S 6 Years Ago

Julie is a real sweetheart. If you make an effort to go to her office hours then she is so so helpful. Definitely go check your hw answers at office hours, section quizzes are easy if you did homework right and the tests are really straight forward. i did poorly on the first midterm because i didnt study a lot. good onthe second midterm and final.

3 helpful 2 unhelpful
PSTAT5A . Swenson J S 6 Years Ago

She is the BEST! she gives quiz every week (questions on quiz are from homework), which is a great thing to push you to learn. Tests are not hard or tricky, as long as you understand the material you are good. She gives lots of examples, and is super detailed about each solution. SUPER NICE!!!!

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PSTAT5A . Swenson J S 6 Years Ago

YOU DON'T NEED A TEXTBOOK. Just do the homework, those are what the quizzes are based on. As long as you study and do the homework, the class is pretty easy. Go to lecture and I recommend using CLAS. Overall, I'd recommend her for PSTAT 5A, and if you can pick between 5A and 5LS, choose 5A for an easier grade

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PSTAT5A . Swenson J S 6 Years Ago

Swenson is very passionate about teaching (PSTAT 5A). She's always available during office hours and responds to questions via email really fast. If you do the weekly homework and go to section, this class will be a breeze!

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PSTAT5A . Swenson J S 6 Years Ago

Professor Swenson is the best math lecturer I've had at UCSB, if not the best lecturer overall. She presents the material in a way that makes it easy to understand and is very approachable. Her lectures also always start with a little review of the previous lecture, which really helps students learn.

1 helpful 0 unhelpful
PSTAT5A . Swenson J S 6 Years Ago

Dr. Swenson was understanding and kind. CLAS was a life saver.

1 helpful 0 unhelpful
PSTAT5A . Swenson J S 7 Years Ago

Although lectures could be a bit boring, she was an outstanding professor. Had very good explanations and examples for EVERYTHING we covered in the class. I recommend reading the book & attending lectures because it helps clarify things a bit more. Make sure to attend all sections in order to get easy points. Overall, she's a great professor.

1 helpful 2 unhelpful
PSTAT5A . Swenson J S 7 Years Ago

What I loved most about her is that she is really fair. You get what you work for. Show up to every lecture (even if they are repetitive sometimes and confusing), go to the labs and sections, do your hw, etc. It's all about habit and hard work. This class is about (mostly) practice and understanding. Each day things become less hard, you fill a gap

2 helpful 1 unhelpful
PSTAT5A . Swenson J S 7 Years Ago

She was such a sweet professor and took the time to make sure her students understood the material. Quizzes are easy (one question taken from the homework) and both midterm and final were very straightforward.

1 helpful 3 unhelpful
PSTAT5A . Swenson J S 7 Years Ago

She is a very sweet professor. She is able to give very clear explanations to all the concepts. Her midterm problems are reasonable and not hard, so you can achieve this class easily. You don't need to buy a text book though the professor said it's mandatory. No i clicker, very few homework. Highly recommend this professor!

2 helpful 0 unhelpful
PSTAT5A . Swenson J S 7 Years Ago

Professor Swenson is not great. She is new to the school so it is understandable that she does not know how to lecture properly and manage a class. She does not help students and does not know the topic herself, she merely regurgitates the textbook to us, and claims that she is a professor. Nonetheless, she is very sweet so I do give her that.

1 helpful 7 unhelpful
PSTAT130 . Swenson J S 4 Months Ago

The class is entirely online except for the midterm and final, which are worth 30 and 40% of grade respectively. If you have questions, go to office hours; she is super helpful and really wants to make sure you get the hw correct and understand material. Tests are tough, but if you review lectures a ton, you will do well.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PSTAT130 . Swenson J S 5 Months Ago

One of the worst professors in the department. Does NOT care about a student's success, only about TAs getting grades "done." Does NOT help you understand and makes it difficult to get questions answered. Does not teach and releases the same videos every quarter. Shes lying when she says she refreshes the material.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PSTAT130 . Swenson J S 5 Months Ago

I had almost 100% for everything except midterm and final, yet still barely made it to B+, and the homework was really different than lecture contents. Both exams are worth 70% of the grade in total, and the things she tests you on are just so pointless. The practice final is 10% related to the real final, and good luck with the rest of 90%:)

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PSTAT130 . Swenson J S 7 Months Ago

Swenson is a sweet person, and explained course content in a thorough and clear manner. While lectures are online asynchronously, I recommend going to her office hours, hosted during class time for help with homework questions. Beware of the detailed midterm and final worth 70% of your grade (I could only get a C+ with a generous curve).

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PSTAT130 . Swenson J S 9 Months Ago

Although the homework was fair and straight to the point, the midterm and final were extremely difficult and unfair. Many MC questions if code was ran the answer would still be the same. Tested on many small minute things that do not help you gain further knowledge. However, she does curve the class grade at the end.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PSTAT130 . Swenson J S 10 Months Ago

Homework is not correlated with lecture.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PSTAT130 . Swenson J S 10 Months Ago

Vague lecture

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PSTAT130 . Swenson J S 10 Months Ago

Her online coding lecture is so confused.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PSTAT130 . Swenson J S 11 Months Ago

Professor Swenson has a very organized class, homework is based purely on lecture material that you watch online. You have one class a week where you can basically just ask for help. My only issue is her exams are insanely hard, you must memorize exact wording from lecture materials. I ended up doing poorly on the both the midterm and final.

1 helpful 0 unhelpful
PSTAT130 . Swenson J S 11 Months Ago

Online lectures and they're only about 1 hr long each week. Didn't have to spend much time on this class which was nice. Exams were pretty difficult though so make sure to watch every lecture and memorize everything.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PSTAT130 . Swenson J S 1 Year, 5 Months Ago

the best professor in the department in my opinion. Every time I take a class w/ Swenson lectures are clear, concise, & exactly what we need for the exams; with that said, the difficulty spike between the midterm & final is really big, and the multiple choice questions test for EXTREMELY nitpicky/tiny syntax details, some of which feel unnecessary.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful