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

prof is a sweet lady. lectures are good, make sure to read through the slides and take notes beforehand. midterms were fine, very detail oriented. however, the final was insane. super detail oriented on things no one would study or know. make sure you study every single possible detail of codes, syntax, rules, and even the possible error codes

Holmes's attitude was rude and her questions extremely unfair, you quickly get the overwhelming sense she does not want you to succeed, worst professor I have had, for years students have been telling her that her questions are unfair but nothing changes

Midterms were chill but Final really caught me off guard..

final focused heavily on details and even content that wasn't explicitly taught in class. I spent what felt like millions of hours trying to memorize everything but the final still caught me off guard with obscure questions. lecture notes and slides have points presented misleading, and has errors with no correction. luck matters more than efforts

50% final need I say more

The class covers a lot of material quickly, so staying on top of the lectures and practice is key. The exams focus heavily on specific R syntax, so using unstuckstudy alongside your other study resources can really help. Overall, a challenging but rewarding course.