2.7
Quality3.8
Difficulty38%
Would Retake133
Reviews38%
Would Retake
133
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
28
4
21
3
18
2
21
1
45
What Students Say
“Pretty bad experience, mt2 and final contribute to 75% of the total grade”
STAT134 - 1.0 rating“Professor Lucas is one of the best professors you can get in Statistics”
STATS2 - 5.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
19%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.50 avg changeRatings by Course
STAT21
5.0
(1)STATS21
5.0
(3)STAT131A
4.5
(2)STATS2
4.3
(10)STATS131A
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
STAT134
4.3
STATS88
4.0
STATS134
4.0
STAT20
3.8
STATS20
3.8
Reviews (133)
Super willing - almost desperate - to help. Really sweet guy. Very fair and willing to make revisions according to feedback.
Professor Lucas is one of the best professors you can get in Statistics. His pace is very easy, as he writes all of the notes on a projected screen, and he explains the material very concisely. He wants his students to pass and puts in plenty of effort to ensure that they understand the material. 1010 would take again!
I was really scared to take Stats 2 because I'm not the best at math, but Professor Lucas really helped me out so much. He replies to emails quickly, is funny and engaging during lecture, and is really sweet and encouraging couldn't have asked for a better professor! Thanks, Prof. Lucas, for an awesome semester! :)
Lucas is by far the nicest professor I have ever had. The pace of this class seemed to work for everyone (but at times could be too slow.) His expectations for learning and testing the material are crystal clear. He is always available, always understanding, always kind, and would bend over backwards for his class. Show up, do the work, receive A.
He was extremely helpful and he seemed to genuinely care about how we did in his class. Would highly recommend
The curve is harsh. Besides that, he is great.
Great professor. Ended up with an A, although the curve is pretty harsh. Prof. Adams is a great lecturer. Would definitely recommend. Downside of the class: Homework assigned 3 times a week. Although it isn't too much.
Professor Lucas is such a sweet guy, but he is not as easy as others made him to be when I saw the reviews here in the summer. The main problem is that his problems sets were sometimes misleading- meaning that the ones you practiced the most are probably not on the midterms or the final. My suggestion is to go to not his, but his GSIs' OH!
Work hard, and it will pay off! Pay attention in class, and go to office hour. Lastly, pray to the curve god if you are taking a class as cutthroat as stats 21. Good luck!
This class was pretty easy. But beware, the average is really high so it's hard to get an A. Lucas was a fine teacher. Taught us exactly what we should know and taught clearly--though he was a weird/awkward personality. He gave the GSIs a ton of examples in disc. iclicker questions in randomly for points in class. Overall, he was a good teacher.
Prof Lucas is really sweet and quirky. He really wants everyone to do well. The class is a great pace, not too fast, and he explains material very well. The first midterm is very easy and the second (with probability) is more difficult. He gives extra credit hw and partial credit on tests. Beware, the curve is annoying and it's hard to get an A.
Extra Credits are useless. They only make up 1% of the total grades :( Do your reading before the lectures, especially for the last 1/3 of the class. Take the advantage of the discussion sections. Both of the GSIs I go to are very helpful. Adam is actually a very generous professor in the Stats Dept. I would take his class again for 133 if possible
He's a really nice guy who genuinely wants the best for his students. But since he mainly teaches upper div theory classes, he's not good at explaining the basic concepts. Not the best teacher for an intro class. The extra credit is a lot of work- only worth it if you don't think you're going to do well. Section is definitely worth it.
He's kind, but unorganized. Released incorrect solutions for homework and quizzes. Does not adhere to historical grade distribution of the class.
This class was a requirement for me and I'm glad that I chose Professor Lucas. His lectures are clear and easy to follow. Tests were difficult with some questions coming out of left field, but a decent amount of studying will help you pass. I also found it helpful to meet with the GSI's for extra help. Overall, great class for a stats class.
Really a great professor who wants the best for his students. As others have stated he teaches mainly upper divs so sometimes he doesn't have the clearest of explanations. GSI was meh at best which probably didn't help. Lucas is very approachable though so make use of OH if need be.
Professor Lucas is a super nice guy but is not the greatest professor. If you ask for help he will assist you, but assumes to much out of his students.
One of the worst professors I've ever taken in my life. Makes exams unnecessarily hard, so even if you do the reading and practice midterm you'll still not know how to answer the questions on his exam. Unorganized also, definitely do not take him.
To be honest the lecture material isn't that hard and you can have a good understanding of it but the questions on the exam are downright unfair. No matter how much you study or how many practice problems you do the questions are the exam are made to trick you. Also depending on your GSI you can have a unfair advantage during exams.
Such a sweet guy. His exams are much more difficult than you would expect based on how he talks in class, and he doesn't provide practice tests for midterms or finals. Overall if you study hard it is still possible to do well in the class but it is not straightforward at all.
He's a nice enough guy, but his lectures are unorganized and unclear. Tests seem like they would be easy based off of lectures and homework, but are extremely hard with very little help in preparation. There is no clear grading criteria and you could be at a disadvantage based off what gsi you have.
Very helpful and approachable.
A very smart professor and cares a lot about students' success. However, an unclear teacher with high expectations thus many concepts were either left unexplained or became even more confusing. Expanded buckets because of the students' anxieties but that would've been unnecessary if he was a better teacher.
Prof Lucas is great! There was (short) homework due for every class which I appreciated because it kept us on track. He always taught stuff directly related to hw. Tried to get us to use R through a site called data camp but it was tough logistically. Midterm was much harder than expected, but he curves everything at the end and plenty of prep.
Great lecturer and really cares about students! Easy to talk to if you ask questions after class or during office hours.
Hardest Stats course EVER. Lecture and concepts are simple. Homework is pretty easy. However his exams were NOTHING like what he taught on the lecture and his notes. If the homeworks difficulty level is 1 then the exam level is 10 You gotta be very good at math to do well on the exams. Otherwise, like me, no matter how I worked hard still got a C.
First class. He often asks us whether we understood and gives us chance to think by self and discuss. Clear speaking is another advantage over other professors.
Great Professor. Really cares about students, and is an awesome person in general. Class is fine as long as you review lectures since it can get dense pretty quickly if you fall behind.
Absolutely could not stand bearing through his lectures. He is not engaging and often confused me even more. His explanations during lecture are not clear & he jumps all over the place. Youre better off going to his office hours, where he usually explains stuff a little bit better. Thought his tests & quizzes were tricky. Class was quite stressful
This man right here is one of the most difficult professors that I have ever had here at Cal. He does not teach as well as Mike Leong. If you want to learn Stats, just take the adjunct course.
Adam is super nice, but he's a pretty useless lecturer. He teaches straight out of the textbook and doesn't provide much guidance beyond it, which is good in that it's easy to follow the material but bad in that you don't get much else outside the book. He's very kind and caring though, so I enjoyed his class as much as you can enjoy a stats class.
This guy right here cannot teach, he frequently confuses himself. I've never had a professor that told student not to ask questions because he's not ready to answer questions. I hope he gets fired because he's not qualify to teach .
Okay lecturer, but much better than any of the other choices. I recommend going to office hours.
Adam is a good lecturer. He is helful and organized. However, you need more outside materials and works to do well on quizzes and exams because they are significantly tough.
I LOVE Adam! He is super nice and gives a fair curve. do all the homework and you will be fine.
Lectures are partly him speaking and partly doing stat problems, which makes the class much more engaging. If you do have to miss lecture, he posts videos on YouTube of the lecture slides along with a narration that is shorter than the 50 minutes of going to class; this is helpful for clarifying the book. Lucas also releases previous exams.
Lectures were easy and he goes through problems during class which one would believe would be useful. But these turned out to be RIDICULOUSLY easy compared to quizzes and exams which were nearly impossible to do well on despite however much work you put in
You can tell that Adam puts effort into teaching, which isn't often true abt Berk professors. He has clear lectures and lecture notes. He also makes dumb dad jokes. Stat 134 /sucks/, it's really hard, but he did his best to explain and support students. Make sure you do all of the work, including the 'optional' problems and going to class.
It's true that Adam does get confused during lecture sometimes, but overall lectures are really not bad. He's a nice person, easy to ask questions of, and kind of funny as well. Stat 134 is definitely not an easy class, but with enough work, you can get a good grade, even if you don't do too well on the first midterm. Don't get discouraged!
He tries to help you understand but he doesnt understand everything himself. Hes not a great professor and he isnt very clear in class structure but gives you a chance to do better if you do bad on the midterm. Mostly self learn or get a study group. You probably wont learn much from him. He is as useful as the book.
Tests and quizzes are very hard. You have to do all book problems to do well. Enroll in adjunct to increase chances of success. The TA's try to trick you with the problems they write. Disregard assignment score distributions, focus on getting high absolute scores. Being above average is not enough. The course curves to a B-, which is asinine.
I have taken 3 classes of Adam and totally love him. His lectures are organized and simply fit my study style.
Professor Lucas is one of the reasons why I decided not to be a Statistics major. When I seeked help from him, he would say he did not know and to ask the GSI. If a professor doesn't understand the material, how is he going to teach the material? Lack of support and lectures were dry and not very helpful. I would recommend taking 140 instead of 134
After hearing from people who take stat 134 with other professors, I think this is just a poorly designed class. Adam cares about students having a good experience and he makes awful dad jokes at 8 am, so you might as well go with him if you're taking this class. It's very heavily curved so if you work you will do well.
Took Stat134 at my first semester at Cal as a transfer student and it rocked my world. I've never studied for a class so hard in my life, I was up until 3am nearly every night doing homework problems. My advice- do ALL of the homework!!! Not just what he recommends on the website. Use slader for free answers. Adam is just not a good professor.
My second semester with Adam, he's a good teacher and tests/HWs are tough but fair. Lectures are clear and his lecture notes are super helpful. Does a good job at extracting the important information and only giving relevant/important proofs. Sometimes there are communication issues or weird policies but nothing egregious and seems the GSIs fault.
Stat 134 is an incredibly difficult class regardless of the professor. I would argue that Prof. Lucas doesn't make the course measurably more or less hard than it would otherwise be. Sign up for the adjunct and be prepare to devote a significant number of hours to the course. Do NOT take if you don't have the time to study for it essentially daily
The curve of this course is harsh, and Adam is sort of boring. Attend the section, a good GSI can help you a lot
Professor Lucas is a fun lecturer! There may be times when his lectures are confusing, during which the textbook is your best resource. But overall, not an unreasonable grader and he really cares about you doing well in class!
Prof Lucas just wasn't it, especially not in the middle of a pandemic. He wasn't very sympathetic towards everything that was happening around its students and simply made the class a lot harder than it had to be.
Prof Lucas is the worst professor I've ever had at Cal. Not only are his lectures extremely boring, but his notes are also unclear gibberish. He made the circumstances under the pandemic a lot harder than they had to be. He also teaches you basics in class and then asks you to do the most obscure problems on tests. His quizzes and exams are insane
Adam is a chill guy. He gives great lectures and explains concepts well, which is really important in a probability class. His exams are easy if you follow the pace of the class and do the recommended exercises. He loves to interact with students and answer student questions.
Midterm 2 was exceptional difficult and the course is barely prepared during the Pandemic for online teaching.
He is a chill, nice guy with a solid medical background(fun fact). What he is teaching is hard and you have to keep up with it. He is pretty considerate over online instruction though--- he was willing to give three final exam times, after knowing two is not enough, to accommodate students from all time zones.
He is kind of a boring lecturer, but his lectures are organized. All of the exams were quite fair. I went to GSI office hours for help on the homework once a week. Overall, not too difficult of a class if you keep up with it. I never went to discussion, which I regret, but things worked out fine. Review the slides at the end of each week.
Adam is cool, he's Lowkey funny, but it's like dad jokes funny. Anyways his class is actually straight forward. He gives you the material you need, I will say he does confuse himself in lecture, but tbh he was pretty accommodating for an online setting. He often gave deadline extentions and truly wanted to help his students.
Honestly a nice guy but terrible teacher. Lecture is impossible to understand and he doesn't understand when the majority of the class isn't understanding the material
Adam is a very nice and caring professor. Sometimes, his lectures are a bit difficult to follow, but he prepares excellent lecture notes that are a great resource when preparing for exams or quizzes. I liked the class with Adam and I would take him again if I could.
He gets so confused on himself during lecture. Lectures are not clear and are very different than material shown on quizzes and exams. Also, class is not curved at all so youre gonna get your raw score in the class which is so unheard of for a math class.
Although he may be a nice person, Adam Lucas is a terrible lecturer and an extremely harsh grader. He makes exams insanely hard and chooses not to curve. Even though I scored at or above the mean on every single exam and quiz in the class, I still ended with a C+. Reddit has more information about his terrible curve!
Not the best lecturer I've had, but he explains concepts clearly and paces the class well. Almost always starts off class with a review question. Tests and quizes are difficult, but the curve makes it fair.
Workload was heavy, at least for me as a transfer student, but I really learned a lot from this class. Adam is a nice person, he cares about all of his students. He would like to discuss any questions that you have during office hours.
lecture is just him repeating the same information he has taught the last decade. His lectures are terrible, only your GSI is your key to learn. His exams are hard and he is a harsh grader. This semester he changed the class curve so it's even harder to pass his class over a paper that makes no significant impact on my grade. Take with caution.
uses material that has not been refreshed in so long. the material is just re-worded but never changes. the exams and quizzes also do not reflect what our course covers & they do not give a formula sheet for quizzes
Very clearly the worst professor in the statistics department. Just regurgitates the same material taught by prior statistics professors from the last 50 years. Class is clearly designed with a harsh curve to cut down on the intended statistics major population. Usually accompanied by pretentious and rude GSI's. DO NOT TAKE IF NOT REQUIRED.
He is a really nice professor and is willing to help students outside of class, however I think his exams don't reflect his lectures at all. He would give the easiest examples but assign extremely hard problems on exams.
By far the worst experience I have had in my time at UC Berkeley. Did not learn a thing from lectures, the final made no sense.
He's pretty chill but STAT 134 is the most poorly run class EVER. There are no clear resources for exam prep. Sometimes they would put up quiz review material 2 hours before a quiz. The GSI's didn't seem to care and they grade extremely harshly. I guess Lucas is a decent lecturer though.
Adam is a decent professor but the class is the most unorganized and inflexible class. There is no clear instruction for anything. No practice papers. Papers are also way harder than what is taught in lecture
Anyone who doesn't like Prof Lucas simply does not understand him. He is one of the funniest professors by far, and his lectures actually give solid examples. I will admit that there was a solid period where I didn't like him, but that's because stats is hard and I wasn't doing the readings. Do the readings and he makes a lot more sense.
This was an incredibly difficult and stressful class. Unless you have the privilege being able to take the adjunct you're put at a disadvantage for doing well on quizzes and exams. Lucas' lectures were not well organized and handwriting is almost illegible. If you have the option, I suggest not taking this course.
This class, yall, will give u the most humbling experience ever. You either question whether you are delusional, for thinking that you understand the concept, or the prof is delusional, for thinking his exam difficullty is ok.
Pretty bad experience, mt2 and final contribute to 75% of the total grade. The gsi sucks, especially Sha, Mriganka, Taejoo, those three are the worst GSI ever. Tough final questions, torture us, prevent us from having a good experience, if you want to learn something, do choose STAT 134 with Adam Lucas, he used materials the same as several Yrs ago
You enter the class, read the textbook, and go over the lectures thinking "oh this isn't so bad" but the stuff that counts as part of your grade such as examples in discussion, the brutal quizzes, and exams really make this class awful. Many of the homework were graded incorrectly thus throwing off the learning experience for all students.
I get that probability is a tough subject to learn, but adam lucas amplifies that difficulty by a lot. I honestly wouldn't have survived this class without over 8 hours a week at tutoring and lots of GSI help. His lecture notes are illegible and his hws and quizzes are so hard. Also bro fr made his final worth 60% of our grade, which is abhorrent.
The GSI is pretty bad, hope they can see this post. I want to say, you are pretty BAD. And the grade process is SLOW! There is no way to submit regrade request!!!! PRETTY BAD! GIVE MY TUITION BACK!
THIS MAN just NEVER reply email. If you have regrade request, he'LL NEVER reply to you. AND you just wait until your mental health problem come out. Honestly, after this class, I diagnosed Bipolar, Depression, ADHD, THANKS to Professor ADAM LUCAS and awful GSI(Sha, Mriganka, Taejoo), avoid them, plz, otherwise you will get mental health problem
this is ur sign to take data 140. I did readings before class & followed along the lec 100% but still did so poorly on quizzes. Took section with mike leong and it helped a lot. Extremely difficult final and quiz. Gsi were super unhelpful besides Neo he was the only good one there.
Forget about getting a good grade you will start praying to God to pass you this class (getting C-) after quiz 1 because this is how Adam and his low-life GSIs prepare the exam and the quiz. Adam and his GSI's don't care about the students solving and learning stats they are all about their stupid mathematical fantasies. Take data 140 instead.
take data 140, like im being so serious right now, if you're reading this and you consider yourself an above average student do not take this class, this class will humble you so hard
This is by far the worst class I've ever taken in my life. I never missed lectures, discussions, reviews, OH - you name it - and all I earned was a B. This is the lowest grade on my transcript. The final exam was at a graduate level written by GSIs and basically determines your grade. I suggest you know your probability theory beforehand. AVOID!!
This class was HARD, truly pushed you to attend SLC everyday in order to stay caught up. Neo and Mike LEONG were the lord and saviors for this course. Quizzes were HARD, exams were HARD, your final will FULLY dictate your grade.
Don't do it! It's a trap! Homeworks are god awful compared to similar classes like INDENG 172, Data 140, and EECS 126 and you will learn less than any of those classes. Please try to go for those unless you need this class specifically. Tests are not bad but class does not do enough to prepare you for them. Class workload does not justify content.
He is a pretty bad lecturer, and is pretty bad at explaining concepts. I would rely on youtube videos or other Berkeley classes in the DS department for better explanations.
whoa worst professor i ever had in berkeley. It was actually two semsters ago I took the class and i still regret taking it till this day. avoid it if u can.
The test is heavy, final could take up fkin 45%. Quiz 1 is all about stat134 without giving us any reference sheet, quiz 2 has very unclear description, you have to be professional in reading and understanding, otherwise you cannot get any points. All homework are graded on correctness, the grader he used is biases and sucks so bad, giveuslowgrade
Avoid if you can
He is not a good lecturer, some of his explanations do not make sense, there is no dive into why a solution may work (really need the textbook and good classmates for this), and many of the test items are mentioned in passing or not even mentioned in course. (i.e. he will expect manipulations/proof on tests of givens in lecture/hw)
I could rant for hours about the horrible structure, terrible lectures, unhelpful GSIs, and varying exam difficulty. This ****er literally made up distributions and variables for the ****ing final. He makes the midterms impossible to score well on even if you sell your soul to probability, such that your final is the main determinant of your grade.
Bro, I got 77% raw and this man curved me +3% to a B-. My quizzes were +0.5 SDs, +1 SDs and +1.5 SDs; my midterm was +1 SDs; my final was +0 SDs; and for hw my average (including the drop) was a 95%. MAKE IT MAKE SENSE
TAKE data140 if you can (especially if you're DS). Lucas' lectures are too basic and simple to actually prepare you for any of the hw/exam questions, the final determines your grade and for this semester, it was much more difficult than past exams. Discussion sections didn't help imo. You're better off studying with the harvard stat110 book.
Such a lack of support compared to classes from other majors. Final was worth 65% of our grade and was made insanely hard. Class average was about 5/50 for exams and quizzes. You are constantly failing unless you spend an extra 3-6 hours outside of the already 5 hours of class we have to succeed.
He makes it obvious that he doesn't enjoy his job? I got in the 40s on the final and was still above average (skull).
I took the online asynchronous course, so Adam Lucas isn't the one lecturing. There is a combination of textbook reading, practice problems, lectures, quizzes, and assignments. Assignments and mastery quizzes are hard. Labs are not mandatory, and weren't too helpful for me. Q&A sessions are helpful. Overall, pretty organized course.
I took the online asynchronous course, so Adam Lucas isn't the one lecturing. There is a combination of textbook reading, practice problems, lectures (divided into modules), quizzes, and assignments. The assignments and mastery quizzes are majority of your grade and labs are not helpful more or so just practice with a GSI present for questions.
I am glad he is not teaching this Spring semester, he was awful last Fall. The final we were told to talk the GSI NEXT FALL 2024 to view my exam personally. I am pretty sure the GSI delete the exams from 134 and would remember what the students are talking about.
What's wrong with him?
Does he really know what is he talking about? Slow talking, stutter, unable to answer questions from students... And the class average on exams are ~30%? Seriously? I thought that a statistics professor would know that this isn't a normal thing? Run and take Data 140.
The most disorganized, non-sensical, and bizarre class I've taken my entire college career. He doesn't know how to work basic slides, doesn't know when an assignment will be posted, can't answer any of your questions. Lacks the basic fundamentals of teaching: Can't give instruction/explanation, gives wrong quiz info, etc.. Only take if math wizz
loosely organized class; he is unfamiliar with his material; never talk about conceptual content but just discussion across 2 hrs; arbitrarily cancelled class because "he felt too hot", not even caring if the conditioner is going too cold later; never taken any class like this
Adam has a unique approach to teaching. Rather than give engaging lectures to teach the course material, he walks around the class and learns with us. Often, the questions are so intellectually stimulating that not even he can solve them! I look forward to making awkward interactions with Adam on campus for the next 2 and a half years at Berkeley.
This class genuinely gives me ptsd to this day. I had an overall grade of 21% and somehow ended with a C+. Like come on now. I would spend 6+ hours on each hw assignment and somehow get a 0/1. Why is it out of 1 makes no sense. I just stopped submitting hw towards the end. This guy sucks.
Whoever wrote that he walks around and learns with us summed it up perfectly. Lucas seems to have little to no idea what he is talking about and is, without a doubt, the least organized teacher I've ever had the displeasure of learning from. Grades are extremely unclear as neither bcourses nor gradescope are used. Horrible professor, don't take :)
As a freshman w prev experience thru AP stats, learning the class content wasn't all too difficult. The main drawback to this class however, are its logistics + structure: on top of labs and quizzes, you have quite a few worksheets and reading q's. Keeping track of deadlines + simultaneously learning the content makes for a trying experience
It does not get any worse than this.
Berkeleytime grades don't lie, Lucas students underperform average stat20 students. I was fortunate enough to have known a ton of stats from econometrics before taking this class. Lectures did not prepare anyone in our section for the final. Seems like Bray is the only good option. All the other stats professors seem to be great value brand.
Do not take this class. Take stat2 instead. The class has no structure, even the GSI's don't know what they're doing. Nothing is graded timely, the quizzes are unnecessarily hard, they post assignments late and send no announcements or reminders at all to turn work in. On top of all that, the instructors offer little to no help with teaching.
Prof. Lucas seems to genuinely try but he cannot work basic slides/polls, and his explanations are confusing. Content is not difficult but the class is incredibly poorly run. Grading rubrics are unclear, and the staff/tutors are amazingly unorganized. I would recommend only if you have some related experience (AP Stats/CSA at least).
Originally I didn't like him but my gripes are more with the class. Halfway through the course I realized he is a really caring person who will answer your questions and help you understand statistics if only you ask at the right time. Stat 20 sucks, grading is done by graders with weird rubrics and has UTAs with little knowledge but Lucas is great
He's great, and there's a ton of extra material for the course to help. Tons of study sessions with GSIs, lots of office hours, and notes posted online. He's also a great teacher and was always willing to help explain things if you asked him. Engaged a ton with students during class, and rarely if ever cold called.
I am more mad about the way Stat 20 works and tests you, but Adam is a nice guy and is always happy to help you out and explain things to you one on one. Get ready to basically study pretty much on your own because there the quizes aren't so fun. If you end up with him, he is chill and kinda fun.
Bro is literally wrong
This class was a struggle, but unstuck ai helped me ace the final. The lectures were basic, but reviewing practice problems on the platform was a game-changer. Avoid if you can, but if you must take it, lean on unstuck ai to supplement the course material.
he gives sooooo much homework, the class and gsi's are so incredibly disorganized and he is one of the worst lecturers I've ever had
This is the most disorganized class at Berkeley. He relies on five-year-old handwritten notes, yet still struggles with the material, making his lectures confusing and full of errors. It's no surprise that students consistently rate him poorly. If you have the chance to take Data 140, no one would choose this class instead. Avoiding him if possible
Adam is actually a really nice and accommodating guy. He went out of his way for me a couple of times and also has great office hours, but this is just a horribly unorganized class. The material is dense, but it doesn't excuse the poor teaching quality and the poor quality of gsi's in this class. Avoid if you can.
Adam Lucas is genuinely such a nice guy in my opinion & he really cares about his students. I know he tries his best so I don't want to be disrespectful, but I do believe it could be organized a bit better at times--but I do get that the material is hard in general and you can't breeze through it, so the class will be hard if you don't put in time.
take data 140 if you can.. bro didn't print enough exams for the midterm and decided to not count it at all in our grades while bascially not adjusting the curve at all. his notes are super unorganized and no legible, one of the most unorganized classes ive ever taken at berkeley
I don't get why people complain about Lucas so much as a 134 professor. He's very nice and is willing to help. The class is very difficult, but if you read the textbook and then read his lecture notes, they simplify the textbook a lot. The grading bins he makes are very generous, if you work hard, you can do fine in the class.
he is not a great lecturer, I would watch youtube videos (Harvard stat 110) to actually learn the concepts. Exams are not as bad as you'd think but the class is graded on a 30/30/30 curve which is what makes it scary. Do lots of practice problems and you will hopefully get at least a B.
Professor Adam Lucas is one of the best professor I've ever met. Though his teaching skill might arguably be improved, he is caring, responsible, and supportive to all his students. His grade bin is lenient, and his exam is medium hard. For Stat 134, I also want to thank my GSI and SLC. They provided valuable resources to succeed in this course.
Prof Lucas always tries his best to support us, even watching us do his sample problems. However, the questions in the textbook are sometimes too hard to do after listening to the lecture or attending the discussion. SLC is really helpful. Without them giving me problems much harder than the final, I would not get such a good grade. Go STAT 134!
People are so dramatic, Lucas is a good professor that clearly cares about his students. He lowkey speeds through lecture, glimpsing over tough concepts but just read the book and you will be fine. The class can get conceptual, but overall really applicable concepts. Don't let the other reviews scare you, the class is not bad.
I personally found Professor Lucas to be a very understanding, caring, and reasonable professor. He was able to accommodate students' needs from both a conceptual and logistical standpoint, and navigated a seemingly daunting midterm issue quite well. Would recommend, and I'm looking forward to taking his STAT 135 course next semester!
disorganized, strange, and often confused.
genuinely one of the worst professors Ive ever had the displeasure of taking. Its appalling that an institution like berkeley would let someone like him teach. terrible curves
I took the online summer version of this course. The lectures are not taught by Adam Lucas, but are recordings from Covid. The lecturer is clear and engaging. The GSIs are accessible and hold labs over Zoom, but are not mandatory. Overall, the workload is manageable and enjoyable even with no prior stats background.
This class isn't THAT bad. He curves on a 10-30-30-30 (_-C-B-A). As long as you're in the top 90% of grades, you'll pass. The content is conceptually alright to digest but in practice difficult. He's disorganized and speeds through often but he does care about students understanding. Just get points wherever you can and do the homework.
I remember being scared by how low his ratings were, but please don't be. He was a wonderful professor, and I (along with my friends who had him) am so confused at how he's received such low ratings. Exams were difficult but fair, workload was reasonable + helpful, lectures were very very good, and he clearly cares a lot about his students.
I had his online course and trust me, its not worth it. I had to take this as a prereq and there was so much homework, and all the GSI's did everything, he didn't do anything. The lecture videos were made from a different teacher during covid and it was really hard to understand a lot of the concepts without being in person. GSI's were not helpful.
Had an A- till the final exam which dropped it to a B. I should have studied more for the final. Everything is online except for the discussions. Do all the work properly especially on the assignments as they are heavily weighted. Just study and pay attention, you will be fine.
I had professor Adam Lucas for stat134 and stat135. The class is fair, quiz and exam averages are around 50% but he passes 90% of the class. Didn't put as much effort into the class as I should've but I still ended up passing. Cares about his students. I would take him again if I could.
Alright no more Adam slander, this is my second semester with him and he did a good job. He always gives tons of resources to be prepared for exams. The quizzes were reasonable, the final was extremely difficult. I'm not sure where all the hate comes from, he is a good professor that cares a lot about his students.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
19%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.50 avg changeRatings by Course
STAT21
5.0
(1)STATS21
5.0
(3)STAT131A
4.5
(2)STATS2
4.3
(10)STATS131A
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
STAT134
4.3
STATS88
4.0
STATS134
4.0
STAT20
3.8
STATS20
3.8