Not the easiest subject matter, but prof banks is always willing to answer questions and help you out. He has a genuine interest in having his students understand the material. Also- he is funny.

Reiter was the best stats teacher, but he has moved on to 103. Of the current STAT101 profs, Banks is the best. Not too hard, but not easy... the daily quizes get tiresome.

Hard class, fast pace and the HW and quizzes are ridiculous but the man does want his students to learn. Also the labs vary from very easy to decently hard and are totally useless in terms of learning material. Very funny in an "am I laughing with him or at him?" kind of way.

Prof Banks is one of the best professors I have had at Duke, loved stat altho I was dreading it for three years. He is also the spitting image/mannerisms of Mr. Hall from "Clueless" and Vincenzo from "Princess Bride."

Dr. Banks is really a good teacher. I was not looking forward to stats at all, and he made it much more pleasant than i anticipated. he is quite clear. its hard to get an A because theres no partial credit and the TAs are on power trips. Be more wary of the hardcore overachieving students in the class rather than the professor.

Good teacher. funny. the class is semi hard but if you do the work you will be fine. also, going to the help room helps a lot

His lectures are really fast paced and confusing but he is always willing to give extra help outside of class. He is really aprocachable and is not the type of teacher that likes to see students fail.

Such a nice man! Always willing to help, and keen on learning everyone's name. Daily quizzes can get tedious, but they force you to really learn the material along the way so that you barely have to study for tests. The weekly HWs and labs are also dull, but in the end boost your grade. Pretty OK way to learn stat.

the secret to doing well in this class is the homework. go to office hours and make sure you get As on all the assignements. the book is completely useless except for reading comp questions (i.e. portacaval shunt exp.) - don't try to learn the math thru the book. banks is always willing to help, always. so nice. however, this class is difficult

Man oh man, I'm going through the class right now. It is fast paced, and there are a crap-ton of assignments. The material is easy enough actually but boy can the grading scales suck. Or rather, the fact that the TA graders don't give partial credit so you end up lower on the scale. So basically, aim for as perfect as you can be.

Banks is a really caring professor who really concerned about his students. Classes are full of wisdoms related and unrelated to statistics.

Professor Banks is a wonderful teacher. He cares about his subject as well as his students. His classes are interesting, his homework relevant, and he answers questions clearly. If you have a problem, he is always more than understanding and ready to accomodate you.

He's really one of the best professors I met at Duke. Knowledgeable and passionate about teaching! He always told us grades don't matter and wanted us to learn as much as possible. But his class is really fast-paced and sometimes pretty hard!

Tough

Stats 113 is not supposed to be a tough class, but Professor Banks, who taught it for the first time, made it a really hard class. He gives out homework problems that the TAs don't know how to do.

He is a funny and interesting professor who cares a lot about the material and the students. In STA 113, his lectures, however, often did not prepare us well for the homeworks. The problems he comes up with are usually not straightforward and require a deep understanding of the material. On that note, it makes it a more thought provoking class.

Banks is a funny, engaging, helpful prof who truly wants his students to understand and enjoy the materialâ??quite possibly the nicest professor alive. That said, he made Stat 103 the hardest it's been in a long time with DAILY quizzes and no partial credit on exams. He forces you to keep up at a furious pace, but you get a lot out of the class.

One of my favorite professors/people at Duke, basically the most approachable, helpful teacher I've ever had. His class material is really hard cuz he's used to teaching grad students, but he will "take care of your grade". Just GO TO OFFICE HOURS and he'll help you with anything. Taking his class convinced me to major in Stat!

Banks is one of a kind. He knows literally everything, and he knows all of his 100+ students by name. That being said, his class is not easy. But it's heavily curved, and as long as you put in enough effort you'll manage a decent grade.

Brilliant. Always recommend him. The class is tough but so rewarding.

Banks is a really cool guy. He is an awesome professor and loves interesting conversations. I enjoyed his class, although some of the material was going all over our heads. Toward the end, presentations got boring, but Banks himself is pretty great. I'd take another class with him.

Dr. Banks is a really animated guy with a TON of knowledge which makes his class really interesting. The material of the course is pretty difficult, but he's very willing to help.

Prof. Banks is excellent. There is no partial credit, which is irritating, but it worked out for me with the curve. Go to his office hours---he is more relaxed and explains the homework (i.e. the material) perfectly. I recommend him highly. N.B. "Introduction to Probability and Statistics," 4th ed. by Alder and Roessler supplements the course well.

Banks is a good teacher. His lectures are well done and his slideshows are concise and clear. His HW is very difficult as are the tests. The curve sucks in this class. Also gives quizzes every class. Does not give out partial credit on anything. I enjoyed the class but wished the curve was friendlier.

I've never cared enough to write a review for a professor I liked before, but Professor Banks is the best. He is astonishingly important in the stat world, but will always have time to personally help you. People say the class is hard, but in a "worth it" way. You will get so much out of this class and if you take it, def get to know Banks.

Professor Banks is a phenomenal professor, one of the best at Duke. He is always willing to help and is the nicest guy you will ever meet. However, the class is very difficult and time consuming but overall you will learn a ton and I would highly recommend this class as the information is useful as well.

Banks was a good professor, but the way he structured this course was unreasonable at best. There were daily quizzes in class which made attendance mandatory, and these quizzes contained material from just 2 days before. This class is difficult and a gigantic time commitment. If you are an econ major, take stats through the math department.

I took stats 111 with Banks. Banks was the best professor I have had at Duke so far. Not because his class is easy or he gives easy grades but because he is a great teacher. Banks is a brilliant statistician who genuinely cares about his students.

Focus class. Really hard if you haven't taken any stats before. He's such a great guy and good Professor. I recommend it, even though it will challenge at times it's worth it. He's brilliant.

Banks is brilliant and won't stop explaining something until you understand. He will call on you randomly in class if he knows your name. Four midterms but you can drop one, and although daily quizzes aren't fun they make you keep up with the material and make studying for midterms easier. Study the slides a ton!!

While this class is undoubtedly difficult and fast-paced, I can safely say that Banks is the best teacher that I've had at Duke thus far. He is incredibly passionate about the subject matter and is open to any and all questions. Daily quizzes might be annoying but they make studying for the tests significantly easier.

Learned more from this class than any other class at Duke, but you definitely have to put in the effort. (Hard) quizzes are given every class, and homeworks take a long time. If you prep during homeworkquizzes, tests are straightforward and fair for the most part. He's one of the smartestmost helpful professors I've ever had, and really funny.

Banks is absolutely brilliant and you will learn a lot in the class. The workload is extremely heavy but if you work on the past papers you will do very well. It is not as impossible as people say it is and beware of the daily quizzes.

He is the best!

D-Banks is the man. That being said, Stat 111 is rough. It is, by a considerable margin, the most work-intensive course I have ever taken in my entire life. Quizzes every day, 4 midterm exams, and they're all very hard. I had to work very hard to get an A- in this class, and people with tougher schedules than me had it way worse.

Go to class and review each class before quiz. Expect to spend around 10 hours a week outside of class (probably double that when you have a midterm) and you should have at least an A-.

Great professor who takes great strides to make his large lecture class feel more like a small seminar. Course material is incredibly fast-paced and difficult, but rewarding if you manage to stay on top of your work and keep up. You do get to drop your lowest HW, Lab, midterm, and 2 quizzes, which is helpful. No final exam.

Banks is straightforward, very helpful, and definitely wants to make sure you aren't suffering with his class. The work load is intense but not unbearable. Expect quizzes every class all semester. Midterms are tough but Banks is very invested in making sure his students get help if they need it.

Absurdly hard class. He's very knowledgable, but he's almost too smart to be teaching this class. Had a very hard time relating the material to his students.

Dr. Banks is great. Almost too smart and moves quickly, but very willing to help. This class is hard but not impossible. Daily quizzes and weekly problem sets can be rough but are actually really helpful for tests, which are not cumulative. If you stay on top of it, put in the work, and go to office hours, you'll be fine.

No words to describe how nice and helpful he is! Quizzes everyday are annoying/stressful & the tests are hard; he posts practice versions that are very similar so if you learn those then you'll be good. HW is hard but you can find some of the answers online. An annoying amount of work. He is a fantastic person but don't recommend this class :/

This class had an insane workload-quizzes every lecture and ridiculous homework assignments. The curve both made and killed my grade, since students who had time to study for quizzes on a daily basis did way better. Do not take this class with other difficult classes.

Hate myself for saying this but Prof Banks is a F'ing legend. Yeah he's probably way to smart to be teaching this class and sometimes can be hard to follow in lecture and the daily quizzes are a little ridiculous but if you want a future in stats he is hands down the best professor you could ask for. Test & HW are hard but he curves fairly.

Dr. Banks is a decent professor-- a genius and cares about his students, but can be confusing and move really fast in lectures. Does a good job of showing students how statistics is relevant to real life. Daily quizzes almost killed me, but did help make sure I knew the material. Office hours are great-- he basically does the problem set for you.

Good.

D Banks is too smart to be teaching this class. He is an engaging professor and expects too much from his students, but the class is interesting and you will learn a lot. He is a generous grader is general and is not out to give poor grades.

Best professor I've had so far at Duke. You have to go to class because of the daily quizzes but they actually help you keep up with material. Go to his office hours! He goes over a lot of the solutions to the homework problems which can otherwise seem impossible.

The man is an absolute legend. One of the smartest professors on campus for sure. Tests are pretty tough but pretty reasonable.

Prof Banks knows pretty much everything there is to know about Statistics. That being said this was by far the most work intensive class I have taken as an Econ major thus far at Duke. With a quiz literally every single class and 4 midterms make sure you are not taking this with a lot of other work heavy classes.

Overall Banks is a pretty good professor. You need to stay on top of the material and actually study for the quizzes that are every class. If you don't, your grade will drop. Quizzes were more of a pain than the tests. Definitely go to office hours to get help with the homework otherwise you will lose points there too.

One of the best professors I've had at Duke. Makes every lecture entertaining, and he's extremely well-known in the stats world. Unless you've been hiding for the entire semester, it's likely Dr. Banks knows your name. It's quite a workload (a quiz each class), but he goes through each homework assignment at his office hours so HW isn't stressful.

Banks is a fantastic teacher. I learnt x2 more in this class than any other I have taken at Duke and the content I learnt will serve me the rest of my life.

He makes you work for it but at the end of the day you will learn a lot, be inspired, and do well in class

David Banks is one of the quirkiest professors out there. He's very smart and has a distinct way of lecturing (you'll see what I mean). His tests are SO HARD but in the end, he's on your side grade-wise because he believes grades don't matter. The only complaint I have is that he's so smart that he often assumes you know more than you actually do.

Dr. Banks was a good professor overall! Taught us graduate level material, but tests are curved fairly. Interesting material. You'll like him better throughout the semester.

Hilarious and has a very distinct way of lecturing--you'll def learn a lot. Quizzes every class on previous lecture + difficult HW that he goes over every week during OH. Lectures/OH are recorded. The way he grades the class, all students get a B/A by the end. Clear grading criteria: curves posted on website + curves quizzes/exams v. generously.

I really liked STAT110FS with Dr. Banks. The class started out hard. The problem sets and tests were difficult at first. However, it got better. He curved the tests fairly and had office hours for the problem sets. He clearly knows his stuff, and I enjoyed learning upper-level statistics that wouldn't typically be in an introductory class.

Professor Banks is super nice and hilarious during lectures. His explanations of topics can be confusing at times, but he's great with clarifying and easy to reach via both email and office hours. STA101 is a decently difficult course with a fast pace at the beginning, but as long as you put in the work, you'll do well. Would highly recommend.

Banks is an absolute legend. He is extremely nice and funny, which makes his lectures interesting. He cares about his students and makes an effort to know everyone. The class is hard and fast-paced, but you get used to it and it gets easier as you go along. You definitely learn a lot and by the end, you will have great grasp on stats concepts.

Professor Banks is the best teacher I've ever had. He is so interested in the content he teaches and cares deeply for his students which really comes through in his lectures and makes you want to learn more. Don't let the difficulty of his courses scare you away - office hours help.

Banks is an amazing professor and an incredibly interesting man. He is probably the smartest person I have ever met and taught me not only about Statistics but also just a lot about life in general. Course content is pretty hard at first but don't worry about your grade, Banks will help you out.

Genuinely one of the most caring professors you could ever have. His lectures are advanced, but he knows this and doesn't expect you to understand everything. He just wants you to and ask questions. Homework can be difficult but he always offers office hours to help with the problems and the exams are never nearly as hard as the homeworks.

Banks is an interesting person with lots of anecdotes, hence his lectures are entertaining until the maths kicks in. Very difficult content for the first half of the semester, but the second half consists of chilled presentations. Go to his office hours! Outside of class, Banks is one of the nicest people at Duke, and he's always happy to help.

This class is so hard, even if you've taken AP Stats. Go to office hours (!!) and ask questions and you will survive. Come to class prepared bc there is a quiz at the end of every lecture. Grades take forever to come back, but everything is curved. There's a final project and 3 midterms that are noncumulative and you can bring a cheat sheet.

Professor Banks is an amazing person. He is extraordinarily smart so the stuff he teaches might fly over your head but he is also caring enough to explain it to you a million times. Nevertheless, the class was very difficult so office hours are pretty much a must.

first half of course has many difficult problem sets BUT he gives answers/explains everything in office hours. lectures are interesting but sometimes loosely related to psets. very inspirational guy (look up his wikipedia) and very wholesome person + good prof to be friendly w/ in stats dept. midterms are just like psets, but he curves everything

Amazing teacher, but lectures are so difficult (grad level) & fast. Tough P-Sets and midterms during first half of semester, but levels out into group projects. Don't stress about your grade b/c he curves everyone to an A. Would only recommend if you're unsure about stats; otherwise, take STA199 b/c we learned no R in this class (& 210 requires R).

most caring professor at Duke. Prof Banks is willing to go over any question. Curves so generously (10 questions wrong on an exam = still an A) that everyone ends up with A or B by the end. Don't fall behind due to daily quizzes. Easy class + best prof = recommended class.

He is a dedicated professor and curves very generously.