A great guy, he explains things step-by-step, making it easy to follow along in lecture, he throws in some funny nerdy jokes. He makes himself really accessible to his students, personally leading study sessions before tests.

I CANNOT believe that someone actually labelled Prof. Purves as hot!! He is a sweet old guy, but definitely NOT HOT!

Although the class goes by really slow, Purves is a great guy - he's always smiling and cheerful. He explains concepts thoroughly (maybe a bit too much though).

Purves is the man. He knows what he is talking about.

He really spells things out for you during lecture, and is a very clear lecturer. However, his tests are really hard and are often much harder than the material he lectures on. To balance that out though, he sets a fairly generous curve.

He's not a horrible professor compared to some other stats professor but he just gives difficult problems on the exams and quizzes. He is very stubborn about changing your grade and can be irrational on grading. It's a difficult class so tons of studying is required to do well in this class.

Very cute man, I enjoy his sense of humor. He explains the material very well, and in an easy going manner

I liked the way he explained things, but he moved a bit too slow. When we got to continuous things, he rushed through and we didn't really understand. He is a generous grader though, giving 1/3 A's, 1/3 B's and 1/3 C's.

Easy course. Was able to get good grade without really going to lecture. He has a very slow pace so it's easy to lose concentration. Good thing he wrote the book himself so everything is in there. Okay course

Funny man. Lectures go at a very slow pace and it's easy to lose interest. Material comes straight from the book and you don't have to attend lecture to do well on his tests.

i maybe went to 2 lectures during the entire semester.. and aced all the quizzes and tests. all you have to do is take his practice exams he gives right before tests and skim the sections quizzes are on in order to get an a. hes a sweet little man but i dont really go to class just to listen to sweet little jokes and ramblings.

Impressively nice guy who is very approachable and generous with his time. Lectures are usually rather basic and a waste. Quizzes are challenging, and tests are very difficult. I found the class to be harder than Calculus 16B, just because it was so difficult to prepare for the exams. He said he shoots for 20% A's, 30% B's, which helps.

Really hard subject matter, but Purves is an amazing teacher, he helped out alot and helped you connect what you were learning in class with real world examples. Hard tests

Purves was a great teacher. As he is the co-author of the textbook there was no variation and the text was so simple. Just read and you're set. I liked how organized the lectures were. I went to office hours once and he was really good at explaining the problem.

I can understand why there are so many negative comments here. Considering the subject matter, Purves is one of the best teachers that I've ever had. Make sure you go to his problem solving sessions before the tests, understand how to do the practice problems.

As long as you read the book, go to the discussions, and know how to do the midterm and final practice problems, you'll be fine. Don't listen to those people who say the class is hard. The curve will help you, 20% of the students get A's, 30% get B's.

I found him to be entertaining in lectures and he was fairly organized, but on the tests he expects you to put ALL concepts together regardless of how many of the topics were thoroughly covered, which makes the tests difficult.

Dont need to go to class to get A. just know algebra. professor is trying to help a lot though, gives out money for free.

His tests might be tougher than others, but that is no excuse to complain, cuz he gives you ample preparation by giving you 50 (50!!!) extremely useful practice problems before tests. Great book, very willing to help. People who complain abt him are probably business majors needing an easy A. If you want a rewarding challenge, take Purves.

He lectures straight from the book with straightforward examples so you don't have to go to class. But tests = HARD. There will always be a question unbelievably twisted; going to office hours will make you understand only for the period of time you're there. Nevertheless, Purves is a brilliant teacher who KNOWS his subject.

I took Stat 21 with him and he made me really like Stats!!

If you've never taken stats before, you have to work extremely hard in this class. The class work is easy but since it's a weeder class the tests are incredibly complicated and hard. Major stress from this class if you're taking it for a letter grade.

I hadn't taken stats prior to this class, but if you go to all the lectures/discussions and pay attention, it's not that bad. Tests are harder than homework but they are possible once you figure out what point he's trying to make sure you understand. Overall, not as difficult as people hype it up to be.

He's ridiculously nice... but beware: this is a weeder class for Haas wannabes. If you don't absolutely have to take stat with Purves, DON'T! Read: TAKE THE OTHER GUY. Why? Just read below. And don't say you weren't warned...

Nice guy, very friendly and really tries to teach the conceptual aspects of Stats. However, his quizzes and homeworks are all fairly simple until you get to the midterms. He likes to throw curves balls and while they're not that difficult, you frustrate yourself; but when you get it right you'll feel so satisfied. Not the easiest professor.......

Really nice guy; very approachable; willing to re-grade tests if you were miss graded, or can argue your work well; not easy, but if you go to section regularly and lecture at least every so often, do homework, go to office hrs, you can get an A; tests are tricky, but read questions carefully and practice LOTS before hand and you;ll do fine.

People made me so nervous to take Stats with Purves! But seriously, he is really nice and funny, and the tests arn't that hard. You just really have to read. Actually, you just need to read the boxed parts in the chapters. And go to lecture. On the final there was a question that asked for a definition given in lecture, not the book.

This class is known for the absurd bell curve. The material is not that hard, but be aware that all business students come through this class, and a lot of students get bad grades not because of the material/tests, but because of the competition in the course. I would recommend taking another course if you can.

I expected this class to be hard, so I studied intensively for a week before each exam. Memorize as much of the book as possible, and pay VERY close attention to the details in the questions he asks on the tests. The points you get for carefully answering the questions can improve your score significantly on the midterms and the final.

Purves is a good teacher. I have to agree that his exams are difficult, but they're not unreasonable. I never read the book (only used it to do problem sets), only went to lecture, and managed to do well in this class. Just relied on the notes from lecture.

I took the class fall of freshman year with no prior stat experience. The professor is very clear albeit a bit boring. Try to get full scores on the homework, and memorize the textboxes in the book. Try to get at least a few points above average on both midterms, although one standard deviation above average is ideal. The curve of 20% A's helps.

BE CAREFEUL.. attendance not mandatory, hw very easy BUT, midterms nothing at all like hw. very very difficult. HOWEVER, gives tons of practice problems from past midterms. holds review sessions 4 each midterm. MUST go 2 those to do well. final even harder than midterm! oh yea, and he wrote the book. my advice is avoid if possible.

Do and re-do the practice midterms so you know the format of the q's. SLC wkshts very helpful. The final is harder to prepare for since the questions are pretty unique. Though I'd say if you do enough practice final&midterm qs/SLC wkshts then you will do above average in final -avg was 46/100 for my class so don't be too intimated when you take it.

Contrary to popular beliefs, I found Purves to be a pretty good instructor for Stat 134. He is organized and explains concepts clearly. Almost never uses the textbook throughout the semester. The first 4 weeks are very easy if you have some mathematical maturity, but it gets harder. Final was overly difficulty though and the curve was too harsh.

I thought the test would be easy since his lectures were clear and relatively easy to understand. As other people said, solve and re-solve past midterms. Tests are not that easy. Cute old man

Very clear professor, explains everything thoroughly. However, extremely hard midterms and final. There was only one midterm and the final was 50% so if you flunked anyone, your grade was in the drain. Only gives our 10% A's and 10% A's, with the other 80% BCDF's. I received an A after studying nonstop like a madman for 15 days in a row.....

Very intuitive. He doesn't shove a bunch of formulas down your throat. I had stat 21 with him too. His midterms and finals are hard. Barely ever uses the book. I should've done what the previous poster did - studied like a madman for 15 days instead of 5. Ended up with an A-. One of the better professors in berkeley.

Absolutely delightful lecturer, especially for statistics. This guy knows HOW to teach, and is very grounded, but midterm and final is substantially more difficult than lecture examples and problem sets. Book (he wrote it) breaks things down clearly and is very useful.