<p>Ratemyprofessor universally bashes him. But anyone on CC took this class with him? Is he really that hard/bad?</p>
<p>I vaguely recall someone from my Chem 3AL lab this summer (who took him) bashing him.</p>
<p>I took Stat 2 with Purves in Spring 2007 and most of the things on ratemyprofessor.com ring true with my experience.</p>
<ol>
<li> His lectures are horribly boring. He goes over the same calculations over and over again.</li>
<li> His quizzes are very easy.</li>
<li> His midterms and final are challenging. He is one of those professors who test concepts. Simply remembering what numbers to plug and chug is not enough. You have to understand why, since he asks for explanations.</li>
<li> He gives out money in class. Sit in the front of the class if you do take him. He does bets with the students sitting in the front of the class.</li>
<li> The curve isn't the best. On the bright side, the class is comprised of mostly humanities/social science majors that aren't very mathematically inclined in the first place.</li>
<li> The text was expensive when I took the course.</li>
</ol>
<p>
[quote]
He is one of those professors who test concepts. Simply remembering what numbers to plug and chug is not enough. You have to understand why, since he asks for explanations.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Newsflash: that's what Stats is all about -- applied math, even AP Stats in HS. The mathematical ability required to do well in Stats is Algebra I, so it's applications (and why) that makes it a college course.</p>