The following are suggestions that have been gathered over the years from both instructors who have taught this course online and from students who have taken STAT 414 online.  This is a tough course, but if you follow these tips and suggestions you should be able to participate successfully!

Reading the Notes/Text

You may read either the online notes or the text first; try both and decide which method works best for you.

Do not just read/scan the notes. You should work through the notes with a pencil and paper. You should treat the notes as if an instructor was writing the on the board. Make sure you fully understand every step!

It is our experience, that merely studying the notes/solutions is not enough.   It is important to work through each of the examples fully understand what is at the heart of the problem.

Completing the Homework

Take the homework seriously and fully attempt each problem.

You are expected to be able to understand the concepts that are being developed through the homework assignments.

Once you submit the HW (as a PDF), you should go through the solutions thoroughly. Make sure you understand the solutions and how they were derived. This may mean working through the problem as you would the notes/text (see above).

Completing Quizzes and Exams

You should not expect that the problems on a Quiz or Exam will 'recite' the problems given in the Homework.

Instead, you are expected to complete problems that are unlike problems you may have seen before that focus on the same concepts.

You should expect to work through problems that pull concepts from multiple sections.

You should not be spending time looking through the course materials during a Quiz or Exam. Students that feel there is not enough time on the assessment are usually the ones that are looking through the notes/text for similar problems.

Making a “cheat sheet” or using the one provided helps!

General Tips/Advice

Taking 414 online may be more challenging than taking it on-campus in a face-to-face class.

The Units in the Summer semester are only 5-6 days long (see Course Schedule). If you do not have a schedule that allows you to complete the units when they are due, you should consider taking this course at another time.

STAT 414 is a theory course. It is unlike some of the applied STAT courses you may have taken in the past. Doing well in the applied courses goes not guarantee doing well in this course. Many students have gotten A's in applied courses but have not succeeded in this one.

Do not fall behind in this course! All the material builds off of the previous lessons. If you are struggling with the current material, it will show up again in the future!

Start the lesson on the first day it opens. Do not wait until the due date to start, because most likely you will not have enough time to master the material before taking the Quiz/Exam.

Do not plan on reviewing calculus/math concepts at the same time as taking this course. You will most feel like there is not enough time to complete the Units or the Quiz/Exams.

You are responsible for your education. If you are struggling it is your responsibility to seek help.  Post to the discussion boards or contact the instructor!

Needless to say, in any online course you need to be self-disciplined to succeed.  Is STAT 414 this is especially true.