Benjamin Kedem | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Benjamin Kedem STAT430 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/23/2021	I took this class in Fall 2021 Pros: + Genuinely nice guy, really wants you to do your best. For example, on the final he will tell you exactly what each question will be on + Gives extra credit for participation + You can pretty easily convince him to push back some deadlines Cons: - Speeds through SAS examples in class, you essentially need to learn SAS on your own. All in all focuses way more on statistical theory rather than SAS code, and the class is worse off for it. The class becomes much harder than it needs to be - The class has no sense of organization. Kedem may go over a concept for the whole class period and then go "oh don't worry about that I'll never ask about that" at the end. It's unclear how important each concept is - There is no online presence for the class. No ELMS page, no gradescope, nothing. This means the only way to know what is on each HW assignment is to ask Kedem, but if you forget, good luck. Additionally, HW assignments had to be handed in MANUALLY, ON PAPER. This was EXTREMELY annoying to most of us who did not have a consistent printing situation - There is no consistency as to when HW assignments are due. Some are due in 2 weeks, others in 2 days, you never really know - He is not the best lecturer, a lot of the time it's very unclear what he's going over
Benjamin Kedem STAT430 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/13/2016	Prof. Kedem made it extremely unclear what was expected from this course. The syllabus was barely a page, with much of it stating why the course was "so important." The professor was extremely uncommunicative outside of class, never alerting us about upcoming assignments through email or Canvas. He was very loose with deadlines, which was helpful if you missed class and didn't know when something was assigned, but it added to the lack of structure in the course. His advice for preparing for the first midterm was "look at the notes," which is tough for a course that is some part mathematical statistics and some part statistical programming in SAS and coding language, and the exams are unknown what part of each will comprise them (plus the midterm is worth 35% of the course grade). His instructions for our statistical project was "look at the syllabus," which had a 3-line description of the entire project, including only one line on the write-up portion, which essentially stated "summarize what you researched." I was then docked many points for not being descriptive enough or providing a long enough write-up, when there was minimal description for what I had to do. Thus, Prof. Kedem is a nice guy, and he tries to relate to the students, but his courses is extremely disorganized, and it thus hindered my learning experience.
Benjamin Kedem STAT430 Anonymous 12/16/2011	He is very smart however He does not know how to teach undergraduate classes. He write on the board all these formula and proofs that most of the class no one understands. He usually tells you about what is on the midterm however it is very difficult to review the midterm since a lot of materials are not in the book. The final project is very easy but you need to find a interesting topic. He allows you to hand in late home works. Overall his class is not difficult to get a B in because he is very generous about grading and if you get an A in his final, he gives you an A in the class.
Benjamin Kedem STAT430 Expecting an A keyoung 05/24/2011	I took this class to learn SAS and only feel that I am familiar with it. I don't feel like I know its "in's and out's." However, I do feel this class was an easy A. He gives quizzes and HW that prepare for the exam. Take notes directly on the handouts and always print and bring them to class. Don't BS the project but you don't need to put that much effort. Be creative because he likes that. A lot of people did projects on grades and Heart rates which got boring after a while.
Benjamin Kedem STAT430 ana9701 05/19/2011	SAS is a very good software to know, but he is a wierd teacher. I don't recommend his class.
Benjamin Kedem STAT430 Anonymous 05/18/2011	You really don't get much about SAS in his class. He is funny guy and you don't feel bored at his class, but actually he doesn't teach you SAS. Instead he takes time of class with many complicated and big formulas that it's not really necessary to know to be a SAS professional. He calls it "wisdom behind SAS", but actually he is teaching what he really knows (statistics theory), not SAS! and he gives questions about them at final exam, although he says that he doesn't ask about them. I agree with other people that he really doesn't answer you question about software.
Benjamin Kedem STAT430 Anonymous 12/12/2009	Perhaps it's just been an off semester, but Kedem was neither approachable nor encouraging. On the first day of class, he handed out the syllabus with his e-mail and phone number, then told us not to call or e-mail. He also listed a half-hour long scheduled office hour, which he said no one ever goes to. When questions were asked in class, they were often ignored, misunderstood, or magically hand-waved away. Many times, the question of "Can SAS do (such and such)?" was met with "I don't know." On the plus side, Kedem is fairly humorous and entertaining. He is also very intelligent. His tangents about his research, though generally unproductive to learning SAS and well beyond the scope of the class, were interesting. If you want to learn about statistics theory, Kedem is your guy. Furthermore, (as someone else said) Kedem accepts late homework, which is nice. (Be warned, however, that if this happens repeatedly by a majority of the class, he will attempt to retract this privilege.)
Benjamin Kedem STAT430 Expecting an A ecdysis7 03/08/2009	Kedem is a really funny guy, and you actually learn a lot of stuff in his class. It also isn't difficult to get an A in the class, as long you put in the work. He can get a little carried away with proofs and his research sometimes, but hey, what math professor doesn't? Take 430 with Kedem.
Benjamin Kedem STAT430 Expecting an A konthelion 06/05/2008	Teaching: He mixes his lectures with both SAS programming and statistics and overall does a good job teaching the material. He is knowledgeable in the content topics and always encourages students to ask questions. He often go on tangents or talk about his research, but he always relate it to statistics. Personality: Professor Kedem is pretty funny and approachable. Grading: Grading is not a big deal and accepts late homework/projects(even those that are weeks late). He doesn't treat you like kindergartens. If for example, you got a C on your midterm, and you received an A on your final. He'll give you an A.

Benjamin Kedem
STAT430

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/23/2021

I took this class in Fall 2021 Pros: + Genuinely nice guy, really wants you to do your best. For example, on the final he will tell you exactly what each question will be on + Gives extra credit for participation + You can pretty easily convince him to push back some deadlines Cons: - Speeds through SAS examples in class, you essentially need to learn SAS on your own. All in all focuses way more on statistical theory rather than SAS code, and the class is worse off for it. The class becomes much harder than it needs to be - The class has no sense of organization. Kedem may go over a concept for the whole class period and then go "oh don't worry about that I'll never ask about that" at the end. It's unclear how important each concept is - There is no online presence for the class. No ELMS page, no gradescope, nothing. This means the only way to know what is on each HW assignment is to ask Kedem, but if you forget, good luck. Additionally, HW assignments had to be handed in MANUALLY, ON PAPER. This was EXTREMELY annoying to most of us who did not have a consistent printing situation - There is no consistency as to when HW assignments are due. Some are due in 2 weeks, others in 2 days, you never really know - He is not the best lecturer, a lot of the time it's very unclear what he's going over

Benjamin Kedem
STAT430

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/13/2016

Prof. Kedem made it extremely unclear what was expected from this course. The syllabus was barely a page, with much of it stating why the course was "so important." The professor was extremely uncommunicative outside of class, never alerting us about upcoming assignments through email or Canvas. He was very loose with deadlines, which was helpful if you missed class and didn't know when something was assigned, but it added to the lack of structure in the course. His advice for preparing for the first midterm was "look at the notes," which is tough for a course that is some part mathematical statistics and some part statistical programming in SAS and coding language, and the exams are unknown what part of each will comprise them (plus the midterm is worth 35% of the course grade). His instructions for our statistical project was "look at the syllabus," which had a 3-line description of the entire project, including only one line on the write-up portion, which essentially stated "summarize what you researched." I was then docked many points for not being descriptive enough or providing a long enough write-up, when there was minimal description for what I had to do. Thus, Prof. Kedem is a nice guy, and he tries to relate to the students, but his courses is extremely disorganized, and it thus hindered my learning experience.

Benjamin Kedem
STAT430

Anonymous
12/16/2011

He is very smart however He does not know how to teach undergraduate classes. He write on the board all these formula and proofs that most of the class no one understands. He usually tells you about what is on the midterm however it is very difficult to review the midterm since a lot of materials are not in the book. The final project is very easy but you need to find a interesting topic. He allows you to hand in late home works. Overall his class is not difficult to get a B in because he is very generous about grading and if you get an A in his final, he gives you an A in the class.

Benjamin Kedem
STAT430

Expecting an A
keyoung
05/24/2011

I took this class to learn SAS and only feel that I am familiar with it. I don't feel like I know its "in's and out's." However, I do feel this class was an easy A. He gives quizzes and HW that prepare for the exam. Take notes directly on the handouts and always print and bring them to class. Don't BS the project but you don't need to put that much effort. Be creative because he likes that. A lot of people did projects on grades and Heart rates which got boring after a while.

Benjamin Kedem
STAT430

ana9701
05/19/2011

SAS is a very good software to know, but he is a wierd teacher. I don't recommend his class.

Benjamin Kedem
STAT430

Anonymous
05/18/2011

You really don't get much about SAS in his class. He is funny guy and you don't feel bored at his class, but actually he doesn't teach you SAS. Instead he takes time of class with many complicated and big formulas that it's not really necessary to know to be a SAS professional. He calls it "wisdom behind SAS", but actually he is teaching what he really knows (statistics theory), not SAS! and he gives questions about them at final exam, although he says that he doesn't ask about them. I agree with other people that he really doesn't answer you question about software.

Benjamin Kedem
STAT430

Anonymous
12/12/2009

Perhaps it's just been an off semester, but Kedem was neither approachable nor encouraging. On the first day of class, he handed out the syllabus with his e-mail and phone number, then told us not to call or e-mail. He also listed a half-hour long scheduled office hour, which he said no one ever goes to. When questions were asked in class, they were often ignored, misunderstood, or magically hand-waved away. Many times, the question of "Can SAS do (such and such)?" was met with "I don't know." On the plus side, Kedem is fairly humorous and entertaining. He is also very intelligent. His tangents about his research, though generally unproductive to learning SAS and well beyond the scope of the class, were interesting. If you want to learn about statistics theory, Kedem is your guy. Furthermore, (as someone else said) Kedem accepts late homework, which is nice. (Be warned, however, that if this happens repeatedly by a majority of the class, he will attempt to retract this privilege.)

Benjamin Kedem
STAT430

Expecting an A
ecdysis7
03/08/2009

Kedem is a really funny guy, and you actually learn a lot of stuff in his class. It also isn't difficult to get an A in the class, as long you put in the work. He can get a little carried away with proofs and his research sometimes, but hey, what math professor doesn't? Take 430 with Kedem.

Benjamin Kedem
STAT430

Expecting an A
konthelion
06/05/2008

Teaching: He mixes his lectures with both SAS programming and statistics and overall does a good job teaching the material. He is knowledgeable in the content topics and always encourages students to ask questions. He often go on tangents or talk about his research, but he always relate it to statistics. Personality: Professor Kedem is pretty funny and approachable. Grading: Grading is not a big deal and accepts late homework/projects(even those that are weeks late). He doesn't treat you like kindergartens. If for example, you got a C on your midterm, and you received an A on your final. He'll give you an A.