Michael Akritas - Pennsylvania State University

Professor: Michael Akritas

Department: TBD

College: Pennsylvania State University

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: STAT513
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Worst professor I have ever had

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: STAT401
• Grade Received: INC
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Very difficult to understand. Practically whispering at the front of the classroom. Reads every lecture off of a PowerPoint and offers no useful additional information. Nice man but there is such a lack of communication that it makes going to class almost useless.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: STAT401
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Dont take horrible teacher

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: STAT401
• Grade Received: C
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Very hard to follow along with what is going on in class. Lectures are very boring and dry. Homework was difficult and labs were as well. Was not a fan of R.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: STAT401
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

He lectures directly from the textbook that he wrote(and that said book is awful), so it's extremely boring and hard to pay attention in class. Also speaks quietly and with an accent, so that makes it even worse. At least he lets you have cheat sheets for the exams and final. To do well, you'll either need to teach yourself or find a good tutor.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: STAT401
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Terrible professor, teaches what he thinks is important, and then good luck figuring out everything else for yourself! Teaches the basics for R coding and then you have to figure out how to make everything else work for yourself even if it doesn't make any sense!

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: STAT401
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Super quiet can barley hear anything he says, so you better read up on that text book he wrote and makes you get. All the homework is done in that book, and some of the labs too. If you can pay attention in that class and not fall sleep I commend you, he is a nice guy though, he will help you out, if you can hear him that is.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: 401
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

The course is actually easy, if you have a decent professor. Akritas is a nice guy, but his teaching style is dry, the textbook sucks, he writes really small on a blackboard that takes up half of the classroom! If you have him, prepare to put in a lot of hours learning th material on your own. The only upside is that midterms are open book.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: STAT401
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

First off, I love stats. I loved my AP Stats teacher in high school and got an A. That being said, avoid this professor at all costs. He wrote his own book and it seems like he uses his own made up equations. The only redeeming quality is that he is eager to help but it doesn't matter cause the material makes no sense. Good guy, awful teacher.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: STAT401
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He is by far one of the worst professors I have ever had. He wrote his own textbook, which is the worst textbook written by mankind. I can have a third grader write a better textbook than him. University does not check on the material because I am pretty sure most of it is made up. Goes over a stupid program instead of actually teaching the materal

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: STAT401
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Bottom-line, he is extremely difficult to understand and the TA, Ye Yu, was equally as hardtop understand. The only way to learn the material was to spend countless hours reading the textbook. I credit myself and myself alone for my acceptable grade in this class.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: STAT401
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

he speaks Greek in classes, my knowledge of permutation combination got screwd big time after taking this course. But never the less a helpful guy. Choice is yours, to take this course.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: STAT401
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

really good teacher. very helpful in office hours. extremely patient and understanding that statistics is hard to learn and comprehend.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: STAT418
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

This was his first semester teaching this course so I cut him a little slack for not having great material organization. TA help was dreadful, his help was decent. If you have to take this class, Akritas lectures fluently and does know his stuff. Far too much use of math jargon/symbols, though, so read up on all that stuff.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: STAT401
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He is helpful and wants to make sure that you understand the material. However, the slide shows are the same as the book and they are very boring, so you won't be able to stay alert during the whole class unless you are extremely interested.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: STAT401
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

The worst professor I've ever had at Penn State. Going to class was a waste of time, since the lecture notes are poorly written and badly explained. Awful textbook. In the end, almost all of my HW assignments were lost by him or the TA, and when I asked about them I was flat-out called a liar. Just unprofessional in the worst. Avoid at all costs.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: STAT401
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

he reads right off of his slides and the homework is rediculous. There are very few examples, yet a ton of information...

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: STAT401
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

not helpful

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: STAT401C
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

. His class isn't that hard, you get a sheet of notes for your quizzes and I thought the grading on the HW was fair. The book could use more examples, but its def enough to do the homeworks. I don't really think you can make statistics exciting. but he drops the lowest HW (8 tot) and qz(3) score, it makes it easy to have a good grade b4 the final.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: STAT401
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Terrible class. The book (if you want to call it that) is a piece of what I flush everyday. Lectures are mind boggling you jump through the book like you're in Quantum Leap. The TA is a nazi with grading hw, I'd rather have Himmler looking at it. The quizzes can be bsed though with the cheat sheets. I'd steer clear if you could.