2.4
Quality3.9
Difficulty39%
Would Retake107
Reviews39%
Would Retake
107
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
23
4
10
3
10
2
12
1
52
What Students Say
“Try to avoid taking it with him”
PSYC210 - 1.0 rating“Prepare for the worst”
PSYC210 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
23%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Improving
+0.83 avg changeRatings by Course
PSYC219
5.0
(1)PSYC301
2.9
(8)PSYC210
2.4
(87)PSYC201
2.0
(1)21O
2.0
(8)Difficulty by Course
PSYC219
4.0
21O
4.0
PSYC210
3.9
201W
3.5
PSYC301
3.3
Reviews (107)
His midterm is sooo long with so many questions. Many of my friends could not finish it. I did not get the short questions done. His lecture is boring but he seems nice.
He is not very organized and mostly just reads off of his slides instead of teaching. Class is pretty boring. He is a nice guy but I would take the class with someone else if you can.
Not enough practice questions given, then exams were analytical (40% avg.) and extremely long. Lectures were very boring, blasts through without theory, connection, or explanation. Impatient with theoretical questions. Prepare for the worst. Worst class i ever took. RUN.
Just don't ever take his classes lol he looks nice but he doesn't know how to teach, and his test is way too hard and long. My friend is majoring in stat and she is learning what we are learning... he expects us to be stat experts.
Honestly you get what you put in. He's new to sfu so he may not be the best at explaining things but he tried his best. Exams were long but not too difficult if you knew what you were doing.
I took this class last year with Prof. Tafreshi and didn't work very hard so I decided to take it again to bring my mark up. Big mistake. He is very boring in lecture, doesn't explain things properly, and doesn't make any connections between what he's teaching and psychology. Try to avoid taking it with him. Take it with Tafreshi instead.
He is not very clear with expectations and is confusing in class. I wish there was more logical connection made between the different types of analyses we are learning. Take it with someone else.
There are little works to do in this class. It only has one midterm, one final and 2 assignments. You don't need to study for this course except before the exam. You only need to put a little effort into this course. No attendance grade. Dr. Matthew is a very nice guy.
doesn't explain concepts very clearly, slides are very vague and often no context with big blocks of code. But exams are pretty okay and straightforward comes directly from notes and assignments are easy. Lectures and labs both super boring with no breaks. Overall not the worst class, not the best, painfully average but better than Michael Mauran.
I would describe this class as painfully boring and confusing. It's not confusing because it's hard, it's confusing because he spends way too much time teaching code and too little time teaching the actual concepts. So you basically end up learning a bunch of code but have no idea how to actually do statistics properly.
the lectures were kinda boring, I would try so hard to not fall asleep. but he is a good prof that cares about what he is teaching. it was a good class as long as tutorials were attended, and there was a lot of studying done for exams.
Most students did not attend lecture whatsoever because honestly, you're better off just staying at home, reading the textbook, and teaching yourself all the material. He seems like a very nice person, but attending lectures is completely useless because he reads straight off the slides anyways.
Dr. Sigal is a super nice guy and super passionate about what he teaches. Overall a good class considering how much I was dreading it! Also if you are lucky enough to get Ric Hohn as your TA you will ace this course he is absolutely amazing!
Worst prof ive ever had, is terribly boring and the structure of his lecture slides is confusing and doesn't make much sense. Only a final exam no midterm, but gave absolutely no indications of what the structure of the final would be. Rambles, talks slow, monotone voice, limited/useless lecture slides. Wish he was not a professor at SFU.
WORST prof I've ever had. I don't recommend going to lecture. He rambles on about pointless stuff about the material, and does not explain any concepts clearly. Even the TA's have mentioned during office hours that they are even confused with what Dr. Sigal wants and said that the grading is all up for "interpretation". Plus the exams are brutal.
Matt was nice, but lectures weren't that informative. I went to every lecture, just because it helps me personally, but 80% of the class never showed up. Textbook is completely unnecessary; students relied heavily on TAs who provided worksheets and extra help (which was much appreciated). Matt was a decent prof, but I mostly just relied on slides.
If you don't like stats or coding you will hate this class. I found Matthew helpful, his lectures and slides were clear but I had to do A LOT of studying on my own time to stay on top of everything & make use of TA's time. Exams were hard and conceptual (you can't just regurgitate info). Assignments were simple/straightforward. DO NOT MISS A CLASS!
worst class Ive ever take! Dont miss a class and tutorials. He is hard to understand and his exam questions are terrible. The exam is so long and it is hard to finish it.
Dr. Sigal teaches this class very well. Just be super focussed and attentive in lecture. I took this class in the summer as intersession. It was more than doable. I personally really enjoyed this class and the TA (Ric Hohn) was by far the best TA at SFU. The textbook problems that Dr. Sigal assigns at the end of each lecture are not too difficult.
Rambles during lectures and the information he provides is hard to retain. 80% of the class stopped attending lectures. I went to every lecture and didn't retain much information or take any quality notes. I relied heavily on my T.A. Matt gave no indication of what was going to be on the final exam. Not a caring professor and hard to meet with.
I stayed on top of the coursework for majority of the chapters except the last 2 before the first midterm. The entire exam was based off the last two chapter :( Over half of what he taught in class wasn't tested. On top of that the exam was really really long but out of 35 marks and 35% of the grade. Don't take heavy courses while taking this one.
Dr. Sigal obviously loves what he teaches and it makes the topic more interesting. The textbook isnt needed if you go to lectures and pay attention he doesnt test outside what he covers in lectures. Tests arent hard if you understand the lectures and assignments are easy because you can use your notes. One of the best profs Ive had so far
He's very nice and respects students. The exams can be a bit difficult, really need to memorize and understand the materials well to do well in class. Otherwise he is passionate about the subjects he teaches just overall a good prof.
Great class! I really ENJOY taking class with Dr. Mattew. It was a great data analysis course with useful information! One downside is the final is cumulative, get your self review from beginning of the semester and well prepared!!
This class is verydry but he did his best to make it interesting and was great at reducing stress. All in all would take again, he is kind and approachable and if you can go to his office hours! it helps so much
Matt is a good prof. His lectures can be a bit hard to focus on because he tends to talk as though he's reading a bedtime story but you can tell he's passionate about stats! His assignments and tests are fair; assignments are more calculations and tests focus more on concepts. You definitely have to know more than just how to do the math.
Dr. Sigal is super nice and is very passionate about stats. Lectures are not boring but there is A LOT of information. He focused a lot on the program R and not so much on stats. The assignments and tutorial exercises were very simple compared to the midterm. Because of COVID we had a final assignment instead of an exam so can't speak to that.
Dr. Sigal is passionate about stats & cares well for student growth. There is a heavy amount of content covered by the lectures, but justifiably - his explanations break down the stats & helps students understand the intuition/purpose in said stats. I now have a deeper understanding of stats, over other classes. ic is a phenomenal, caring TA.
BE AWARE OF THE GATEKEEPER OF PSYCH! Just try to pass, do your best. He talks super fast and doesn't take questions during his lectures. TA was completely incompetent and spent 2 hours explaining a problem that he could not solve himself.
Don't understand how the professor expects students to pass this stats class when exams are graded so heavily. There is a reason we are majoring in psychology and not math...
Nice guy, the exams were fair and the assignments were pretty easy. I didn't have to try very hard and still got a decent mark.
Not sure why anyone would say anything bad about this man. He is an amazing prof who genuinely cares. I am not very good at math so I found it really helpful when he broke down the reason why we measure certain things and wrote out the steps. He is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!
great prof! Explains concepts clearly. Exams were definitely fair
Idk why he has a low rating. He explains stat concepts very well and always gives a summary of what we already know before moving on to the next lecture. He started the class discussing the importance of stats and helped me realize how I need to be good at it for research, making me take 301 w him next sem. Nothing more I could ask for in a prof.
I have taken two classes with Dr. Sigal and have enjoyed them both. Psyc 210 is heavy on math and understanding concepts. Lectures are incredibly helpful for grasping material ( I did not use my textbook after Week 2) and Dr. Sigal is a funny guy. If Ric is your TA and you attend your tutorials and do the worksheets, you'll absolutely do well.
Super nice guy and really does care about the students. He does talk slow and makes sure everyone understands. The assignments are a great grade booster and make sure to study for the online exams. I found them a bit difficult.
Surprised by the harsh reviews, I feel he makes stats engaging and relatively easy. Taking this class made me want to take 301 with him. He's really approachable and understanding, and his lectures make sense. He cares a lot about his students. I have a great TA for this course (Bert) which helps a lot, students in other sections seem to struggle.
Here is the thing, the guy isn't a bad teacher. He is a pretty nice guy but his exams are pretty difficult. ESPECIALLY if you have no previous knowledge with stats. The midterm was on 7 chapters, the 7th being taught a week prior to the exam and one of the most challenging chapters. 95% of the exam was on the last 2 chapters. Everyone did poorly.
Cared about his students success - lectures were engaging for a stats course and simplified
Dr. Sigal makes stats easy to digest. Hes a good prof and a nice guy overall. The final was more fair than the midterm imo, but overall I enjoyed stats much more than I thought I would. Going to lectures is also really important for this class, he breaks things down easily.
He's a great professor who tried his best honestly. The class was hard for an intro one and I highly recommend putting in the effort from the very beginning! Go to tutorials and use the TA as a resource!Ask them anything and everything!Also, I hated how the 2 assignments were the only way to get easy marks and I am forever mad. Forget the textbook.
I don't understand how it is expected for students to pass when stat formulas are not labelled properly in slides, half-measured examples, required textbook has errors with completely different stat formulas, assignment questions and exams are trick-based and graded heavily. Nobody should have this treatment if they are just wanting a BA. Not nice
For the average psyc student this class is not super accessible. Lecture slides were very disorganized, which made it hard to study and my TA was wildly unhelpful. If quantitative work is not your strong suit, just do your best to pass.
I struggle a lot with statistics and Matt was the first professor whos ever made me actually understand and sometimes even enjoy learning them. He is approachable and willing to help you succeed! Its a hard class and a lot of work is needed though, so expect to put a lot of time into it if stats doesnt come easy to you.
Dr. Sigal was awesome. I hate math and stats, but even with the dry and tough material he was able to explain it in a digestible way. He was always patient with the class and my TA was so good. This class is really hard though, if you don't study or go to the lectures you won't do well.
He's an awesome teacher and makes his lectures very engaging and entertaining. He made me enjoy statistics, which is wild.
Dr. Sigal is probably the best prof I've had at SFU. He explained concepts really well, the lecture materials were really organized (he posted lecture slides, annotated lecture slides, and an old lecture video recording for each week). This was the first math class I've taken in like 3 years and he made it super easy to do well :)
Took this course in Summer 2022. No clue why this guys rating is so low. He was able to turn a very boring and somewhat difficult topic into a straightforward and interesting math class Watch his lectures (he posts them), GO TO TUTORIAL (most important) and study a few days before the exam and you'll do well. Great professor and very nice.
Sigal is a good prof, he does his best to make things clear and ensure that students are able to get help to further that understanding. While 210 is very difficult it is not the profs fault. I really stress that you practice for this course repetition is what will help you in the final as it relies heavily on application over understanding.
Matthew was a great prof, talked in a way that made sense and was quite engaging and not monotone. This is a hard course though, which it not really the prof's fault. There are some really long lectures that he rushed through, but he just needed to cover all the material.
he takes an eternity to go over what we need to learn. 1/3 of class is taught before MT, and the rest is taught for the final. hes a nice guy but still lots of improvement to go as a proff. nothing against the guy but his teaching method doesnt work. most got a good grade this sem because of a whatsapp groupchat rather than sigal or some TA's.
Dr. Sigal is very good at explaining the concepts. I just feel like having the midterm (35%) and final (40%) being worth so much makes you grade not look so good, specially because there are lots of formulas. Maybe if he switched some of the grading to weekly quizzes, it would be better. Be ready to study, the textbook does not really help.
he was terrible. the exams were worth most of your grade. it is extremely hard to do well in his class and his TA were not helpful either. i would not take it again.
a cool guy, but his teaching method definitely is not for everyone. tends to breeze through lectures and important concepts due to the time limit. make sure to practice and do the recommended questions at the end of each lecture!! it's so, so easy to fall behind. also 100% contact the TAs or him if you need help. (bert was a goat TA)
mid prof at best. he goes on a tangent on stuff we already did and then rushed through important and new content. people bash him bcz the course is hard but he isn't bad just not great. if you know up to grade 7 math thats all u need, the course is really about knowing steps of tests and concepts rather than math. my TA Megan graham was the best
The lecture content was quite heavy and some things were more difficult to understand just from matt's lectures. However, The tutorial was a game changer. The ta's will go through materials you should know and will make matts material seem easier. I highly suggest to never miss a tutorial if you want to succeed. The tests were fair.
Lecture heavy, but he tries to make it engaging. Slides have step-by-step solutions, but going to tutorials helps solidify the content taught during class. Exams are fair and scaled, but you need to know your stuff to finish on time. Provides enough practice which helps (DO THEM). Approachable, organized, and caring. Classes are recorded.
Nice guy, records lectures and offer office hours. Course material is very boring and lectures are very dry.
Matt is honestly great! I took 301 and 391 with him and it was a steep learning curve for me. I knew nothing about coding and learned so much that's carried me really far in my research career. The tutorial sessions are awesome. Don't be nervous about the exams - all the questions are very fair and he's clear about his expectations. No surprises.
Dr. Sigal clearly cares about his students & does his best to make stats make sense. I have an LD in math, but he was able to teach in a way that I was able to learn & understand. Extremely nice & endlessly patient if you're struggling & need him to reteach something. Also the most disability-aware prof I've ever had, which I really appreciate.
I wish he was teaching more classes, I'd take them all. One of the nicest, caring and most patient profs I've had. Also very well organized, everything is super accessible and clear - lecture slides with annotations and recordings, assignments, practice materials. I honestly don't think you could find anyone better to teach you statistics intro.
Took PSYC 210 with him over the summer. I was SO worried like I assume many of you are about stats, especially because of the math involved but Dr. Sigal makes the concepts easy to understand. He also understood that many of us do not have a background in STEM. Assignments and exams were easy, please attend tutorial, they are so helpful.
Matthew really breaks things down to make it easy to understand for an intro stats course. Things feel intimidating at first but he goes through things very simply. Don't really need to read the textbook tbh, go to tutorials and attend lectures
He does not slow things down one bit and assumes we're just kinda on the same track as him about what everything means. He just doesn't offer explanations other than speeding through definitions. Doesn't really care just wants to get thru teaching the material. If you're not good at math, stray away from taking his class go for Ric hohn instead.
STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS
dude, no formula sheet beforehand, how do we study he is teaching a lec for the final... two days before the final, Seriously, don't take this class with him.
biggest mistake is taking it w him
everyday i hoped i wouldn't make it to class bc i hated him that much
run. far. and fast
what. the hell was that. do anything u can not to take him for anything if u remotely care about your mental health or grades
safe to say he's literally the worst prof ive had. made me hate my life and more
this man teaches like he's never been in a lecture before. he never finished the lecture slides not even once bc he doesn't know how to teach. doesnt gaf who understood or not. taught a 70 slide lecture 2 days before the exam, doesn't give review work and just says to look at his worksheet he gave before. pos. he should be removed from teaching
dude spends an hour on last weeks material, i dont even have words for how bad this guy sucks.
He should stick to earning his top dollar from statistics work. stop ruining students lives
anyone saying this mans good is just his family trying to get his rating up
If ur not religious... pick a religion and pray
I don't even mind stats as sm who just learned... he makes me hate it to the point where if i see the word probability I'll throw up
everyday god tests me. 70 slide lecture 2 days before the final is a war crime. sigal himself is really nice and understanding, but his lectures are dense
matthew matthew matthew...where do i begin. 70 slide lecture days before the exam? truly a professor a student can only dream of
Oh man. He acts like everything's outside of his control. The world doesn't have to revolve around u mathew for u to teach properly. Good luck in your future endeavours--outside of teaching. seriously. stop ruining more students lives with the fact u cant teach if ur life depended on it.
matthew-can u calculate the probability that everyone in ur class despises everything abt this?
I'd rather drop out than see this man and his lectures ever again
Anything I'd want to say about this class wouldn't meet the regulations for this site. truly, he's a disaster. what a wreck of a semester. don't even try taking this class with him
never in my 20 years... I don't know what this man gets out of making us self-teach all concepts. Why tell us to study or DO the review sheets if you're gonna make the exam completely different stuff? Genuinely a mystery of a man.
Dense is a kind word to describe him and his lectures. If you take this class, be ready to teach yourself everything and listen to hours of annoying lectures that teach you nothing. YAY.
Just stay away:( I couldn't save myself, but you still can. Take it with literally anybody else.
All i gotta say:/
This wasn't even a situation where students didn't study enough. Dude genuinely makes math a mystery somehow. Who knows if you understand it or not, who knows what he's even teaching 90% of the time
If there was a list of who to avoid your whole life, he'd be on the top. Never felt more stupid than sitting in his lecture. Don't think he ever actually "taught"
Maybe he's a good dude outside of teaching and has values outside of education. As for the teaching part...can't say that he does.
I don't know how things can go so poorly for one teacher. He just never seemed to know what he was doing, what he wac teaching, and the fact that his audience is students. Unless you already know what you're doing in all aspects of math, avoid him like the plague.
Do not take this class with Matthew Sigal. Idk if hes brand new to teaching but his teaching style is awful. He tries to make it interesting but does so terribly and makes course material so dry.
He really makes the material so much harder than it should be. DO NOT take this class with him literally chose anyone else even if you have to wait a semester or take it on another campus IDC do not take it with hiim
"I'm not gonna make you do these equations by hand that would be SO mean, don't even worry about learning these steps" *makes u do the equations by hand*
Tough, vague lecture, yapping a lot
He's not worth it. Do whatever you can to NOT take this class with him, hell, go to the Surrey campus if you must. I WISH I had checked his rating so I could have saved myself from this GPA drop. It's disappointing how bad he teaches. If you go through the misfortune of being in his lecture... attend every single one and read the textbook too...
It's not even the subject matter that's that hard. its HIM and how much he makes you struggle because he can't teach a single concept. do everything u can to never take a class of his
You better prey u have somewhat of an ok TA. otherwise...drop it while you can. He's so incompetent in teaching any sort of math concepts, much less making exams.
Wow! words can't describe how i've felt about him all semester. Truly catastrophic. Read the textbook, better yet don't take his class
Ric hohn was worlds and world ahead at teaching this course and he's not a senior lecturer. How on EARTH did they let matthew ever teach let alone this course?
More concerned about pronouns in the world problems than doing his job properly
If you chose to take this class after seeing the reviews, you better hope some higher power will deliver u from suffering
Honestly don't mind him as a prof too much I just found that the lectures were not engaging and material was very dry and included a ridiculous amount of info, would not take unless required for your major.
His lectures are pretty decent for a statistics class and he is a very reasonable prof. The exams were really difficult, everything on the final was confusing and didn't fully match up with what he told us to study, but they were both curved significantly. The assignments are pretty easy but going to the labs is 100% needed.
lol this guy stinks
He's a nice guy but terrible at teaching this course. This is a stats course but he made it into a computer science course as the entire class was on coding and he kept raving about how useful coding is instead of teaching required material. Only way I did well was bc exams got curved 20-30%.
the average was a c+ when past averages have been b- to b... take that as you will
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
23%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Improving
+0.83 avg changeRatings by Course
PSYC219
5.0
(1)PSYC301
2.9
(8)PSYC210
2.4
(87)PSYC201
2.0
(1)21O
2.0
(8)Difficulty by Course
PSYC219
4.0
21O
4.0
PSYC210
3.9
201W
3.5
PSYC301
3.3