Balakrishnan, Jerald  

I would advise you to NOT take this professor for stats. He throws up formulas on the screen and doesn't explain anything. If I hadn't taken stats in high school I would have no idea what's going on. He knows a lot about statistics but he cannot teach it or explain it. Everyone is always confused and we have to read the book if we want to understand anything. I go to every class, take notes, and pay attention, and when I went to do this giant homework packet he assigns with work out of the book, I didn't understand how to do any of it. He makes you use his power point calculators that he creates to do problems and you never use charts to look up z scores, etc. His tests are really hard with confusing multiple choice questions and are mainly theoretical without a lot of calculations. If you need stats 217, do not take it with balakrishnan, you will be lost.

Save yourself and your GPA by not taking Balakrishnan for STAT 217. Though he seems to know a lot about stats he doesn't know how to teach it. He shows power points with equations that he briefly explains. They're not much help either since they consist of no details or explanations. He creates his own calculators for students to use instead of using the general Z-chart or T-chart. He brings us into the computer labs to work but really he doesn't start on any labs or problems until the last ten minute and by the time we can load everything up class is over. He seems rather unorganized. He also doesn't't one had a clue what he was teaching, if we wanted to understand what was going on we had to read it in the books for ourselves. I was there for every class, took notes, and once it came to his homework assignments, I had to go to his office hours and his T.A.'s study sessions for them to explain to me on how to do anything. His tests are also very conceptual but all he really teaches in class are the mathematical problems which don't prepare you much for the tests.

Jerry is an awkward funny nerd who knows so much about stats, but doesn't know how to present it. His lectures are him going around in circles trying to explain something, when it can be easily explained in one sentence by a student who has taken a basic statistics class. He makes little programs/computer exercises that (if you put effort into them) help you understand the material. Jerry truly has good intentions and wants to help all his students, but is honestly in the wrong profession.

Jerry is a very nice man, but the worst math teacher I have ever had. He means well, but has no idea what he is talking about and cannot present the material in a way that anyone understands. AVOID this class at all costs. His lectures make no sense, and he makes the class do pointless computer exercises that have nothing to do with the course. Whatever you do, do not take this class with Jerry.

I have absolutely no idea what we learned in this class. I took a stats class in high school and figured this would be similar, with no text book and his confusing lectures I'm not even sure if some of the stuff was even stats. Jerald is such a nice guy he is just in the wrong profession. I somehow did fine in his class but I cannot remember a single thing I learned or that we did.

I could not tell you one thing I learned this quarter. He has you do computer simulations that don't clarify the lessons whatsoever and in the end leave you feeling more confused than before. They also don't work on Macs, so you have to go to the library to complete them unless you have a PC. He also gives different equations than ones you'd find online or in a conventional textbook and doesn't teach you how to use a calculator properly, which is almost essential to the subject. On top of that he told my class that homework was worth 25% of our grade, then the day before the final said it was "just practice" and that our tests were now worth 33% instead of the original 25. So why I wasted my time on hours of computer simulations and unhelpful assignments, I'll never know. In addition to that he would sometimes get very frustrated when people had questions because he couldn't explain the answers in a way we could understand, thus making some classes really tense. He's a nice guy but he has no idea what he's doing when it comes to teaching, I'm honestly surprised I passed. My advice: run.

Jerry is such a nice and incredibly smart guy. He wants his students to succeed but at the same time wants them to think. He will not just spoon feed you the information. If you go into the lectures and labs focused and prepared to learn you will do well in his class. Everything he does has a purpose, so if something doesn't make sense the first week- give it time! It all comes together and will eventually make sense!

I took this class because I was 11th rotation and this was one of the only open classes that worked toward my major. I can now see why no one came rushing to this class. Balakrishnan, although knowledgable in STAT, cannot teach for the life of him. He takes a topic that could be easily understand and puts it in the upmost confusing way. He is very reluctant to help and has even said to me we "don't have time to go over my questions". I am doing well in this class for the sole reason that I have taught myself the material and have been getting help from a few people in upper level stats. I cannot stress how you should avoid this class at all costs. It will leave you feeling frustrated and hopeless.

Jerry is one of the nicest teachers I've ever had, but he has no idea how to present information to a class. I took AP Stats in high school which is why I was able to grasp some, but not all, of the concepts. He is such an understanding guy who wants his students to do well, however, he is a horrible teacher. I would not be able to tell anyone what we learned in class this quarter. He's such a sweet guy, but avoid the class if you actually want to learn something about statistics.

he sure does like his women, wet!!