| Willipedia is now back online as of 5/5/2019 |
| It has been several years since Willipedia closed. Please help get it updated! |
| Go to the Willipedia 2.0 Project to learn more. |
Difference between revisions of "Boring classes"
(began page with stats courses) |
m (fix typo) |
||
| Line 2: | Line 2: | ||
===Psychology 201=== | ===Psychology 201=== | ||
| − | Psych stats is | + | Psych stats is a much more hands-on way to learn statistics than Stat 201, because you have to calculate standard deviations, sums of squared error, etc. by hand, so that you really know where the numbers come from. But this means that the class spends a lot of time adding and subtracting and working out the arithmetic details, rather than learning about the concepts. It's required for the psych major -- and don't let it discourage you from doing the major and taking all the other interesting courses -- but just don't get your hopes up. |
===Statistics 201=== | ===Statistics 201=== | ||
The subject is important, and the material can be interesting at times, but much too much emphasis is on learning to use the software (JMP) and interpreting computer output, which is not interesting. This is mainly a technical class, not exactly an integral part of your liberal arts education. | The subject is important, and the material can be interesting at times, but much too much emphasis is on learning to use the software (JMP) and interpreting computer output, which is not interesting. This is mainly a technical class, not exactly an integral part of your liberal arts education. | ||
Revision as of 18:16, November 28, 2005
These are the classes to avoid at Williams. You can only take 32 classes while you're here, so take Interesting Classes and stay away from those below. If it is the professor, rather than the subject matter itself, that makes the class boring, please make a note to that effect.
Psychology 201
Psych stats is a much more hands-on way to learn statistics than Stat 201, because you have to calculate standard deviations, sums of squared error, etc. by hand, so that you really know where the numbers come from. But this means that the class spends a lot of time adding and subtracting and working out the arithmetic details, rather than learning about the concepts. It's required for the psych major -- and don't let it discourage you from doing the major and taking all the other interesting courses -- but just don't get your hopes up.
Statistics 201
The subject is important, and the material can be interesting at times, but much too much emphasis is on learning to use the software (JMP) and interpreting computer output, which is not interesting. This is mainly a technical class, not exactly an integral part of your liberal arts education.
