kevster1001

Has anyone taken this course? Math is not my forte and I'm just trying this course since I've heard it's applicable to social sciences and life in general. Am I making the wrong choice?

Also, I checked the textbook for the class and it's called Introductory Applied Biostatistics? Just wondering, why Biostatistics? Isn't this Stats geared toward public health/med?

I also looked up the professor for the class and reviews say that teacher doesn't teach well and self-studying is the best way to do well in the class. I know sometimes these reviews are biased and don't represent the opinion of everyone who took the class, but again, math is not my forte. Sure, I can try to self-study, but a teacher that teaches well would really help me. Should I still go for the class anyway?

astor

Stats is a very useful course to took. It'll introduce you to a lot of things you didn't know regarding research and you'll be able to better understand news articles, politics and such which frequently post many figures that most people do not fully understand; extremely useful in figuring out if someone is trying to BS you.

In regards to difficulty, stats is very manageable. It's a little distant from pure mathematics in the sense that it's like the English course of mathematics. There's a lot of vocabulary to learn, and if you're good at memorization, you should be fine since a lot of it is plug and chug, not much algebraic manipulation to fit the information given, but more of knowing what equation you need to use.

If you're worried about a bad professor, I'd recommend picking up an AP Statistics book (Barron's is probably most in depth) and using that to supplement the class. There are only the first year classes that you can still use AP books to help you prepare for class (Chem/Bio/Stats/Calc/Physics/Psych). Those books give narrow down the topics to a manageable paragraph or so and provide a lot of test questions at the end of each section to allow you to practice.

What's your courseload 1st semester btw? If this is Statistics in addition to a tough courseload, you might want to reconsider if you think you'll be more dependent on the professor (maybe if you were taking Physics/Chem/Bio/Stats), but if not, I think it's manageable, since it's not exactly pure mathematics. But...you be the judge, i'm sure more people will chime in and you can get a better feel for your situation.

DJglover16

MA 115 is a good math credit for anyone who doesn't want to or have to take calculus. Statistics is pretty straight forward you will be fine if you pay attention and keep up with assignments. Ask for help as soon as you need it and don't wait. If you are really unsure contact the ERC one of the first few days of the semester and they can set you up with a free peer tutor. But as to self-teaching..you end up doing a lot of that in college as I have found..sometimes because the teacher can't themselves or just because there is too much material to even make mention of in lecture but that you'll be responsible for.

kevster1001

Thank you for the responses!

astor - I'm taking IR 271, EC 101, WR 100, and MA 115. I don't think I'm taking Stats in addition to a tough courseload, or at least I hope so. I'm an IR major but I might change it to Econ. I heard Econ gets a bit more math intensive as you go on so I'll have to ask some Econ majors about some of the math classes they take to fulfill Econ requirements.

djglover - I'm definitely signing up for a free peer tutor.

precocious

actually, if you really want to be a future econ major, i highly recommend taking atleast the most basic calculus course here at bu, ma 121 (i took it last semester, it was a breeze. no final, tests every other week exactly the same as the homework. but then again, i took ap calc in hs!)

i'm a dual-degree business/econ major, and when i talked to my advisor (smg has a math requirement), he said most smg students take ma120 (mathematics for social sciences? or something) and it's ridic. easy, but in intermediate and more advanced econ classes, knowing at least SOME calculus is HIGHLY useful. that in itself is the only reason i took calculus, because i hated it with a passion in high school. i think you might even need to take calc as some sort of requirement for some of the upper econ electives, but i don't have my coursebook to check atm lol

so yeahhhh. might keep that in mind if you ever decide to be an econ major

DJglover16

Yeah if you're even thinking about changing to econ you might as well take 121. From what I've heard it's really not that bad and covers only like the first half of AP calculus AB..if you're familiar with the comparison.