The course is essentially graded on only the tests. Holmes provided us a super long study guide of old theorems and formulas to memorize for the final, which was extremely time consuming, and then proceeded to mostly ignore them on the actual test. Class is mostly just proofs by induction, which can be hard to engage with. She is quite nice though.

Lectures were very clear and easy to understand and learn from. For the midterms and final, I heavily recommend practicing R and SQL and testing the different syntax you can use. I also recommend going through the lectures, homework, and section worksheets when studying for exams.

She's a good lecturer. The tests are on very specific syntax things. However if you review your section labs, homework, and lecture code you should be good. She puts all her lecture slides and code on Canvas. The material isn't hard at all it's just a lot.

Tests cover a lot of unnecessary syntax, but they were all multiple choice. 45% final. Grades were curved up slightly at the end of the course.

Good professor, wonderful person. She's taught the class loads of times and has it down to a science. Class expectations are clear and tests are detail-oriented but fair. Highly recommend going to office hours and seeking help outside of class.

Dr. Holmes is truly a gift, very sweet and understanding! Super fair midterms and final gave us everything we needed to succeed. Tests resemble the lectures and worksheets that she provides. Homework is relatively straightforward and makes a good chunk of the grade.

The exam is very tricky and tests too many unnecessary R syntaxes.

Test about weird and really detailed things that won't happen in real life (nor covered in the lecture since it's so detailed). You'll doubt your reviewing strategy after experiencing the midterm.

The final tests on detailed things which are not important in actual coding. The other part of the course is just fine.

The final is worth 50% and will make or break your grade.

To be honest, I once doubted that Prof. Holmes is not a real person. She looked like a software speaking the text on the slides in her lectures, with nothing personal (e.g. passion towards the topic, passion towards teaching, extra staff not on the slides). She made a course a super boring one, almost convinced me not to take any more pstat course.

Professor Holmes is a great lecturer. Her lectures are well-structured and logical. Quizzes are a large percentage of your grade, so be prepared. The only thing I don't like about this course is the 50% final. To be fair, the final wasn't too hard, but it is still pretty stressful to take a final exam that is worth 50% of your total grade.