Professor is fine, but his lectures are not interactive and a lot is gone over very quickly. The class was curved generously at the end because of the midterm and final being somewhat challenging. Homework and grading are both very lenient: scored a mediocre 89 on both midterm and final, but I originally thought my grade was going to be much worse.
Lectures were nothing special but sufficient to learn material. Easy midterm, harder final. Gave us extra credit for filling out a survey. Generous curve on lower end (63% turned into a passing C). Most people have difficulty with the material, not the professor. HW is harder than both midterm and final and serves as good prep.
He's just okay, boring lectures, he moves fast and skims over a lot. TAs were a lot more helpful. Exams were very difficult and incomparable to HW/practice exams, despite him saying they would be similar. The difference between what he gives us to prepare and the actual exam is genuinely laughable.
Very great professor, but a structurally flawed class. You'll likely not have enough time for the difficult exams. I was one of those and that really demotivated me for the rest of the quarter. Definitely focus on this class if you want to succeed. He goes fast too so be sure to pay attention. 40% HW/section, 60% tough exams. Edit: Brutal final.
The final was absolutely brutal, and the Canvas & CLAS resources were definitely not enough to prepare us for the type of exam he gave us. The midterm average was about 65%, with just a few people scoring full credit. Lecture/HW were helpful but only concept-wise because the problems were nowhere similar in difficulty compared to the final.
Exams were hard; I had never had such a low grade before on an exam. There was no curve for any of the tests. Class average for the midterm was a 65%. Homework is a free A, but the final was nothing like he said it was gonna be. Decent lecturer but really boring.
Wainwright is a nice guy, but as a professor, he's okay. However, his exams were extremely difficult and felt unfair. The midterm had an average score of 30% in my section, and the final was even harder, stuff I had never encountered before. The disconnect between the coursework and the exams was significant. I also never worked harder in a class
Exams are extremely unfair. I saw a lot of people saying his final is easy, well he changed. His final is even harder than the midterm and the example tests he gave us for practice is useless. It's not about putting in effort anymore, I spend so much time for this class and going to tutors and he decided to make questions tricky to mess you up.
Brian is an alright professor that does prepare you for the midterm with lectures and homework. The final was said to be cumulative but focused on topics post midterm that were briefly mentioned in class. The final was also said to have the same level of difficulty as the midterm but students would say otherwise.
From what I've heard that final should be easier compared to the midterm, but it was actually a lot harder for me personally. I did ok on the midterm but the final was really hard and long... I did learn stuff but the exam is super challenging although I thought I was prepared for it. Not sure if there's a curve at the end. Okay lecture/tough exam
Horrible, unfair final, with questions incomparable to ones we had seen before, after a Canvas announcement claiming the exam would be analogous in rigor to the midterm (it was not).
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.
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.
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
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.