Reviews for CCJS200

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Robert Brame CCJS200 Expecting an A Anonymous 02/01/2024	Not even a Monk could stay awake listening to this dude teach. Really boring but nice.
Sarah Tahamont CCJS200 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/30/2024	Dr. Tahamont is really not bad at all. Although her teaching style is not the best, I got the sense that she is really trying her best, as she was always asking for feedback. She really does want her students to succeed in the class, but she seems to not know how to make that clear. A great part of the class is that the participation activities are fairly easy since it's mostly group work AND she offers plenty of opportunities for extra credit. After scrolling through the reviews on this page, I can say that the ones from 5/16/23 and 5/12/22 are super dramatic, as those students are probably ones who did not pay much attention in class, skipped class a lot, and/or expected the lecture slides to help them. The lecture slides are quite vague, but once you ask plenty of questions, both in lecture and at office hours, you start to learn it. The 5/12/22 rating that says she is uncooperative about office hours and she purposely tries to make students fail is a complete lie, as she does make herself available for office hours and makes sure her students understand the material. CCJS200 is not exactly a class where you can be on your phone scrolling through social media or shopping online. You have to pay attention and ask questions, or else you will miss valuable information about the material and get even more confused.
Jane Lee CCJS200 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/25/2024	Jane is a really nice TA who led my section for CCJS200 in Fall 2023. She made sure that everyone understood the material from class and was SUPER helpful. I didn't go to her office hours, but went to the other TA's (Jordan) office hours since it fit my schedule better. All in all, Jane is a very nice TA and I would give her 6 stars if I could.
Sarah Tahamont CCJS200 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 11/28/2023	Honestly, she is definitely not as bad as I was expecting, but if you have the ability to take this class with someone else, please do. Her slides are not helpful and I found myself spending hours teaching myself the material. She is a good person and I do think that she wants us to succeed, but it seems like she doesn't know how to accomplish that. I think she has improved over the years, but she still has a very long way to go. If math is not your strong suite, prepare yourself for a brutal and humbling semester.
Sarah Tahamont CCJS200 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/15/2023	I think people give Dr. Tahamont a harder time than they should. Her content is really difficult and she moves quickly, but neither of these things are her fault. She gives plenty of examples and is CONSTANTLY asking students to give her and her TA's feedback. The exams are hard but if you dedicate good time to the material to master it you have the potential to do really well. Also, she gives so many oppurtunities for extra credit. On my first exam my raw score was an 86, her extra credit bumped me up over 10 points. Her TA's are great, Jordan and Jane are so knowledgeable and are great at helping through examples, definitely do not skip discussion. I personally never have attended their office hours but I hear from classmates that they are very very helpful. Going through this page I just want to say that the 5/16/23 review on this page is majorly dramatic, in my opinion. Don't take that at face value because this class is what YOU make of it. The material is hard, that is not her fault. Put in the work and you will see the results. ALSO join the GroupMe. Peace and love
Greg Midgette CCJS200 Expecting an A- Anonymous 11/12/2023	The class was hard, but I felt like he cared a lot about us succeeding. I don't get how people were upset that lecture was hard to follow when the slides and videos of the lectures are all online. The exams were just like the class assignments and he was helpful in office hours.
Jordan Pierce CCJS200 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 11/06/2023	Jordan is a really nice TA! She's super helpful during office hours; she really takes the time to explain as she reviews whatever people ask her to review. I went to her office hours every time I struggled with stuff from lecture, and she was EXTREMELY helpful. Hopefully some of you CCJS major students have her as your TA when you take CCJS200.
Sarah Tahamont CCJS200 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 09/05/2023	Dr. Tahamont is not really as bad as her ratings suggest. I will say that she is not the best, because her lecture slides are somewhat vague compared to the practice/prep activities we do in class. As long as you really pay attention and ask plenty of questions, you should do just fine.
Sarah Silberman CCJS200 Anonymous 05/25/2023	Amazing TA, she was great! She is really compassionate and will put a lot of work into making sure you succeed. This class was not the easiest for me, my suggestion for future students in her classes: GO TO OFFICE HOURS! She knows what she's talking about. She knows the material inside and out. She is really good at explaining it, go see her.
Sarah Tahamont CCJS200 Anonymous 05/16/2023	Somehow, with this university being ranked #1 for this program, Dr. Tahamont is one of the worst out there. The empirical assignments go over material that she cannot explain at even the ELEMENTARY level, yet she's the only one who is teaching this course. Nitpicky about the tiniest things that have no significance whatsoever, makes the exams harder than the examples that she gives us to work with, and has students coming to classes SOLELY because she gives out easy participation points. I guess universities are giving out doctorate degrees to anybody these days, and I guess that's okay! In a world full of Tahamonts, be like Madoo.
Sarah Tahamont CCJS200 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/25/2023	The material for the class isn't too hard if you've taken a stats class before. Professor Tahamont was great and her TAs were very helpful. There are a lot of extra credit opportunities and resources for extra help. If you go to lecture, take notes, and do the practice problems, you'll do fine. Overall, she's very underrated and if you use the resources she gives you, the class isn't as unbearable as the other reviews make it out to be. '
Greg Midgette CCJS200 Expecting an A- Anonymous 04/22/2023	I have some qualms with him but also some great points. His lectures can be really hard to follow but honestly, you MUST go in order to succeed in any capacity. He spends a really long time on really easy subjects and then not enough time on really hard concepts. He makes you do math HIS way even if you found a way that's easier to do for yourself. Midgette and the TAs will take points off if you do not do the math their way. He will not give you the answers to the practice exams which means you NEED to go to the TA meeting to get the answers. His exams aren't bad though because they basically mirror the practice exams. He does offer extra credit for every exam which did boost my overall grade by probably 5% and it's super easy. He gives out 3 midterms (all open note) and your final is a paper but he needed to elaborate better on the directions of the paper. I would probably pick someone else if possible.
Greg Midgette CCJS200 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/09/2023	If there is another professor available, I highly recommend taking it with them and not Midgette. His lectures are disorganized and boring and the early lecture time and class length does not help. Statistics is not necessarily interesting, but the way that this man taught was so boring and I basically only showed up in person when there was an exam. The TAs were also not helpful at all and were opaque with their feedback. Most of the time, you would have no idea how to do something unless you spent a long time in office hours or asked someone who did. The exams were simple as long as you did the practice exams, but they did not give the answer to those so you have once again go through office hours or ask someone who did. Most people I knew felt that they were lost and did not know if what they did was right when it came to the big assignments ie final paper and problem sets, and I was honestly surprised that I even got an A because I muddled through this class. Not worth your time and effort.
Greg Midgette CCJS200 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2022	Professor Midgette is a very good professor. Most of the time the only students who struggled in the course (and complained constantly in the GroupMe) simply didn't go to lecture. Lecture is a must, at least in the beginning when building the foundation. I am not an expert with excel, so I did struggle with some of the homework assignments (there are 4), but the exams (3) are VERY easy if you pay attention in class (he even allows a whole cheat sheet with practically no restrictions and many easy extra credit opportunities). The comments that review Midgette as rushing through lectures are somewhat correct, however, I only found the first few lectures to be a little bit rushed but that was only while covering basic material. The course is a little fast-paced, but Midgette is not to blame, there is lots of material the course covers and Midgette does his best to explain, and help students.
Greg Midgette CCJS200 Expecting a W Anonymous 10/24/2022	Midgets sucks! I dropped the class when I had a C- and retook it with Lehman the next semester and got the easiest 98% ever
Sarah Tahamont CCJS200 Expecting an A SunnyMD 05/12/2022	The most misunderstood professor in CCJS, Dr. Tahamont is a good professor, although certainly not the best. She explains concepts well in class, is extremely organized with all of the slides and notes being posted on ELMS, and is fair in her assessments. Her attitude does come off as endlessly annoyed, but if you take the time to talk with her inside and outside of class, she is helpful and friendly. What many of her 'critics' don't understand is that this class isn't one where you can shop on Amazon and text your friends while simultaneously taking notes. Put your phone down, pay attention, practice, and participate - and you'll succeed.
Sarah Tahamont CCJS200 Expecting a C- Anonymous 05/12/2022	Absolutely the worst professor/teacher I have had throughout my whole entire education. She purposely makes the class more difficult than it is, uncooperative regarding office hours, and purposely is trying to make students fail. Everyone who I took this class with has a C. Even after the class expressing our concern, she does not change anything about her teachings
Sarah Tahamont CCJS200 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/10/2022	The majority of the points come from problem sets that are built around the use of Excel she refuses to cover in class or discussion. Very poor teaching style.
Sarah Tahamont CCJS200 Expecting a B- Anonymous 03/23/2022	Absolutely terrible teaching methods. She hurts all students by not rectifying general misconceptions on topics that were largely missed by students on problem sets, exams, etc. Her slides often include the wrong equations, missed steps, or just complete miscalculations entirely. I have taken AP Stats before and I feel as if I have actually unlearned the material. Her lectures are confusing on top of her inability to answer student questions, and she is highly judgemental of students that make mistakes which further discourages students from learning. Her tests are completely bogus, and do not properly assess the student's understanding of the material, rather, it tests your reading ability to see if you can catch the minor but question-altering language she uses on tests. She gets one star for somewhat trying to address student concerns, but she ultimately made this course much more stressful than necessary. Good luck if you miss class because there's a 50/50 chance the panopoto will upload correctly, meaning you could miss entire concepts that are necessary for understanding future concepts.
Greg Midgette CCJS200 Expecting a W Anonymous 02/26/2022	Worst Professor I’ve ever had. I’m a 4.0 student and this is the only class I couldn’t succeed in…let that sink in. Dr. Midgette is a nice guy but he prepares you for failure. He will rush through lectures and then exam you on topics he spent 5 minutes on. By the time of the midterm, the class average was a C. If you want to succeed don’t take Dr. Midgette
Greg Midgette CCJS200 Expecting a C- Anonymous 12/09/2021	Prof Midgette might honestly be one of the worst professors I have ever had. His lecture notes are often difficult to understand and unexplanatory. During his live lectures, he moves incredibly fast and gets off track. He often describes the importance of what we're learning versus actually TEACHING us what we're supposed to be learning. He rarely shows examples of how to solve formulas and rarely shows the application of these formulas (as you would need to do on an exam). His exam questions are also overly complicated and worded incredibly strangely. He often applies his formulas in excel even though we will need to do the math manually on tests, which leaves me more confused. I really do not recommend taking this class with him. He is the only teacher to have ever caused me an immense amount of stress.
Greg Midgette CCJS200 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/03/2021	Prof Midgette is the 2nd worst professor I've taken in my entire college career. He rushes through lectures so fast you can't even take notes. If you're someone that needs to see examples of problems being done in class to understand concepts in math, don't take him. He write's out very few examples, and the ones he does are confusing because he doesn't explain why he's doing what he's doing. During COVID I think that this class was probably much easier because you can pause and resume video lectures, but you don't have that option in a classroom. I'm expecting all A's this semester, and I'm a good student. I've never rated a professor before, but this class caused an astounding amount of stress and strife in my life.
Alan Lehman CCJS200 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/15/2021	I took CCJS200 with Lehman over the summer - and it was the best decision. He did give many assignments, but they were all fairly simple and to the point. He also gave 3 exams throughout - but they were all open note and he gave you the entire weekend to complete them. The questions on the exam were identical to those he gave on the daily worksheets/assignments. Overall it was a low stress class and he is a very nice guy.
Greg Midgette CCJS200 Anonymous 05/13/2021	Prof Midgette definitely wants his students to succeed. He does try to make the class as interesting as possible since it's a mandatory class for CCJS majors and the subject can be boring. As for the class itself, the content starts off not too bad with difficulty but progressively gets harder. In terms of grades, there are weekly quizzes that aren't too hard as long as you look at the lectures and 6 excel assignments where you take data and apply the concepts you learn to them. Overall, you will have to put some effort in but thankfully, Midgette can be very helpful if you need him.
Greg Midgette CCJS200 Anonymous 04/20/2021	Amazing professor. I thought his lectures were very straightforward and easy to understand. Even though its not the most interesting/easy subject, he really tried to help students do well by thoroughly explaining how to do the questions on the problem sets. Ultimately, really great guy and professor.
Greg Midgette CCJS200 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 02/04/2021	Midgette was super helpful during COVID and shaped his course to be manageable while being online. He gives you all the materials you need to do well in the class. The class isn't necessarily easy but he certainly doesn't make it any harder than it has to be.
Raymond Paternoster CCJS200 Expecting an A- takins 05/19/2016	Paternoster is excellent!!! He's engaging and hilarious, so I thoroughly enjoyed attending his lectures. The material itself was somewhat challenging, so it takes effort to receive a good grade... Unlike other classes, however, it's not a pain to attend the class.
Laura Dugan CCJS200 Expecting an A Anonymous 09/26/2012	Dr. Dugan herself is brilliant, but I learned very little from lecture. She uses slides that she did not make herself and explains things a little too quickly. I learned most of the material in discussion (shout out to the TA Zach, he was awesome). To study for exams I would recommend going over the discussion worksheets and the practice tests that are posted on ELMS. If you understand how to do these problems, you can easily get an A or A+ in the class.
Laura Dugan CCJS200 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/06/2012	This course was super easy and Dr. Dugan was great at presenting the material so it made sense. She gave many real life examples in lecture. However her lectures are on powerpoint. I am used to having my math professors writing on the board, but the powerpoints were easy to follow if already printed out the lectures. Discussion was extremely helpful in preparing for exams. Exams are extremely easy especially because you're given all the formulas needed for the test. They are however written so you just have enough time to finish so you need to know what you're doing on the exams. I was actually surprised that we didn't used any calculus based formulas because those would have made the exams go by quicker, but then again ccjs majors don't take calculus. Overall great professor, TA, and easy course.
Laura Dugan CCJS200 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/15/2012	This was a fantastic course and I loved Dr. Dugan. She is a little hair brained at times, but her class is comprehensible and her exams are fair. Her TA's were also fantastic; read through the exams and made sure they were fair and short enough for the time slot. If you go to class and pay attention, or even really just go to discussion for a quick review of the week, you'll do fine. I'm someone who's always hated math and sucked at it, but somehow with very little work in the class I got over a 100 for every exam. Go to discussion, do practice problems and do a few before the exam and you'll do great. Dugan is an amazing professor!
Raymond Paternoster CCJS200 Anonymous 12/15/2011	Professor Paternoster is AWESOME! He is hilarious and he passionate about stats. I was never really good at math but this class was easy for me. He makes it really easy to understand. I would definitely recommend him.
Raymond Paternoster CCJS200 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/06/2011	Pretty cool guy, but since its stat, not a great class. Not his fault though. As mentioned, he trips over things a lot and uses profanity which actually helps keep you involved with the material. Exams aren't too hard, just time consuming. I would recommend taking stat with Paternoster.
Raymond Paternoster CCJS200 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/01/2011	Professor Paternoster is the Man to say the least...He makes lecture's fun through the use of his humor, interactions with students, and not to forget the occasional F word every class...As far as the course material, it is not overly difficult, but again I have a strong background in mathematics and stats so this class seemed easy to me...BUT even if you are not good at math and have never seen Stats before, trust me, you will succeed in this class as he gives practice exams before every exam, which are basically a mirror image of the actual exam...he even has a review in lecture before each exam...Overall, take Paternoster, one of the best professor's I have come across at UMD
Alan Lehman CCJS200 Expecting an A+ kalvarez 07/07/2011	Take any class you can with Lehman! I took this class with him during a six week session, and I was able to do really well. His tests and homeworks are fairly easy but at the same time you learn alot. I'm taking ccjs300 with him in the fall as a result of my experience. buy the book, go to class, do the hw and you will get an A pretty much guaranteed.
Brian Johnson CCJS200 Expecting an A- Anonymous 04/12/2010	Great stats class to test! The examples are great and very relatable. Even uses statistics from a survey directly from the students' own habits. Good teacher!
Raymond Paternoster CCJS200 Anonymous 01/22/2010	Well, I think he was a great math teacher, I mean I am not the best in Math but he really made it easy to understand. He tries to make the class fun! His TAs graded very leniently. Better than Johnson's TAs. with Paternoster TAs you got so many points for just trying. Even if you just used the complete wrong formula. They clearly arent trying to fail anyone. He was a very good teacher and I think ppl are being too harsh for him "trying" to be funny. What's wrong with a little entertainment in math?! Anyways, take him and you will def pass.
Brian Johnson CCJS200 Expecting an A- cam9008 12/21/2009	Professor Johnson was a really good professor. He made the class interesting by giving examples students can understand. If you are confused you simply have to raise your hand and he will repeat it. There is an online quiz every week as well as homework. There is 4 exams and you are allowed a notecard for help answering questions on the exams. He offers bonus questions on the exams as well as extra credit projects to help boost your grade. I definetely recommend Professor Johnsno for a stat class.
Raymond Paternoster CCJS200 Anonymous 12/18/2009	I really didnt like this professor at all...He isnt funny..The only thing he does that might seem a bit finny is use profanity during lecture...But when your not understanding the material you really wont find anything a laughing matter...Choose another teacher...I heard Johnson was the best...My T.A. was great though...I hate math and learning math in a big lecture like this isnt the best strategy!!!
Raymond Paternoster CCJS200 Anonymous 12/16/2009	He has lots of funny stories, and brought his ten year old son to class once. He is a really nice guy, but his lectures are hard to understand because he gets off topic a lot (but he thinks he is on topic). And he trips over things a lot. If you are not good at math, this will be a hard class for you.
Brian Johnson CCJS200 Expecting an A FatJesus 08/19/2009	I took this class with Dr. Johnson as the professor and Dr. Hull as the TA. Both of them are very familiar with all the subject matter of the class and can explain any of the concepts forwards and backwards. Both of them very enjoyable in their own way, in terms of their class-room dynamic. I went to every lecture and learned ALL the math from that. The book is necessary to pass the quizzes, but most of the work in this class is conceptual/mathematical, not definition based. If I remember correctly, there was no curve on the exams. However, there are enough extra credit opportunities that it doesn't make a big difference. The first 2-4 weeks of class (before T-tests and beyond) focus on basic math things that are easy to pass. However, they are IMPORTANT because the class ramps up afterwards and builds heavily upon that. There is homework due each week, but it's not difficult. Most of the time I could finish it within 1 hour, but that is because I took the time to understand each concept. I highly recommend going to lecture/discussion and FOLLOWING ALONG with EVERY problem being demonstrated. If you find yourself finishing before the teacher and they arrive at the same answer you did, then you will pass this class. Formatting is important here. "Step 1: ... Step 2: ..." If you follow carefully and explicitly the formatting you are given, then you will not lose credit. Also, PUT your NAME and SECTION NUMBER ON EVERYTHING. Probably the most straight-forward and satisfying 200-level Statistics course you'll find.
Brian Johnson CCJS200 Expecting an A kadams 08/11/2008	What the other guy said: "Really good professor! Puts slides up prior to class, gives practice exams, and discussion was really helpful. Doing hw sucks but it's actually really helpful for exams." Only problem, is getting a GA that doesn't grade too harsh = 'B'.
Brian Johnson CCJS200 Expecting a B Anonymous 04/08/2008	Really good professor! Puts slides up prior to class, gives practice exams, and discussion was really helpful. Doing hw sucks but it's actually really helpful for exams.