Radu Lazar

This professor has taught: BMGT230, BMGT230B, BMGT230H, BMGT430, BMGT431

Sort By:

Information	Review
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/07/2024	Although this is a tough class, please take it. If you're looking to get into the business school, this class is perfect. Even though I had no prior statistics knowledge, I still succeeded. Radu wants you to succeed. Go to office hours when you're confused. Ask questions in class. Watch videos while you're eating at the dining hall. And most importantly, GO TO CLASS. I didn't open the textbook ONCE. Go to class and take notes and you will do great. Exams are curved which helps greatly, and the "practice exams" are a great indicator of how you'll do on the real test. Also, sit in the front (it helps a lot). Radu might come off as intense, but he really just cares and wants his students to succeed.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/25/2023	Radu is honestly a pretty solid professor and I truly believe I wouldn't of found as much success in the course if it wasn't for the fact that I did it with Radu and in a much smaller environment to the normal BMGT230 lecture halls w discussions. Some complaints around Radu are valid (messy handwriting, sharp tone, accent) but he is fully willing to repeat himself and will make sure that if your active in the lecture that you understand any mistakes being made and the correct way of approaching a problem. The course is Exam heavy (80% of final grade is on 3 exams) but he often adds curves which makes the exam mean around 80%. Homework is substantial but theres no reason you shouldn't get a 95%+ if attempting and lowest 2 homework's are dropped. Overall Radu gets a lot of hate as he's forced to teach a class that is designed to weed prospective BMGT majors out (he's forced to have a GPA average of around 2.8 for the class) and he gets most of the flack for it. Would recommend taking B-stat with him if in a smaller group such as FC section.
Radu Lazar BMGT430 Expecting a D Anonymous 12/20/2023	his grading is not consistent and has no structure when it comes to final grades at all.
Radu Lazar BMGT430 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/07/2023	Tough course, but manageable. R studio is tricky at first, but since it is not on exams you really just have to make it work for the homework assignments. Attend every class and make sure you understand everything Professor Lazar discusses, and you'll be fine. He writes some of the formula derivations out for context, but you don't need most of that information—it's pretty clear which equations you'll need and which equations you'll never see on an exam. Professor Lazar isn't as harsh as other reviews say; he's just foreign, and there's a cultural difference. He's very direct, and he'll tell you you're wrong without hesitation, but this is so that people can learn the content better. In short, he's just not going to tiptoe around politely like other professors. Pro tip: type your notes according to what he says out loud, because reading the white board is super hard due to 1) small writing, and 2) the whiteboard has an awful reflection.
Radu Lazar BMGT430 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/25/2023	He is very knowledgeable and you will learn a lot of real life skills in this class (Programming language called R). However you can't skip class and you definitely have to study for the exams. Like other people said he can be sharp but sometimes he was funny when he would go on rants about the structure of the English language during class. If you put in the effort which was not an unreasonable amount, you can at least get a B.
Radu Lazar BMGT430 Expecting a W Anonymous 05/17/2023	It sucks that he is the only professor for BMGT430 because he does not know how to teach. I genuinely do not think he enjoys teaching because he acts annoyed when students ask questions and come to office hours. He is one of the worst professors at UMD. If you want to pass and learn something, do not take him.
Radu Lazar BMGT430 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/04/2023	Not as bad as everyone thinks he is; just has a strong accent. If you've got an immigrant dad that's literally the experience you'll have with him. His handwriting is legible just don't sit in the back. The class is definitely difficult and he can be a little scary, but if you're interested in stat this is a great course with a knowledgeable prof and you learn a lot. Go to class, pay attention, and be understanding of the fact that he didn't grow up in America and has an accent LOL.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/02/2023	He can come off as harsh, but really does care about his students. I took 230 last semester, and its basically AP stat repeated, so I barely showed up to class. The only reason I am lowering his rating is because I could see people who hadn't taken AP stat in HS really struggle with the way he teaches. He can be a little confusing and has bad handwriting. He curves very generously though, so keep that in mind.
Radu Lazar BMGT430 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 04/26/2023	Yall need to relax. He knows what he is doing and is very knowledgable in the topic. He just moves quick and you cant skip class.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting an A user1209 04/19/2023	Exams are open note but obviously if you don't study you will fail. His curves are amazing and the only reason I got an A. He is intimating and moves super fast. But if you keep up with the material, do and understand the practice exams, go over and understand the practice problems you did in class, and have the formulas with you, you will be fine. Took this as a first semester freshman in freshman connection and I am not a math genius by any means and I did fine. You will be fine too if you put in the work, don't let the reviews scare you.
Radu Lazar BMGT430 Expecting a B Anonymous 04/13/2023	Worst teacher I have ever had at UMD. He degrades students and insults them when they ask him simple questions.
Radu Lazar BMGT430 Anonymous 04/13/2023	He is the most arrogant person I ever met in UMD. He does not know how to respect students at all. Went to his OH before, he was so annoyed when I was asking him questions that he started to do some other random things. Witnessed him saying something like "I don't understand what you're talking about" for multiple times when students don't even finish asking their question.
Radu Lazar BMGT430 Anonymous 03/01/2023	The worst professor at UMD. He cannot explain anything clearly and blames the students. Go to his office hours and he will act annoyed. He offers no help outside of class and you cannot read anything he writes on the board. If you ever asks questions, he will tell you he doesn't understand you. Please take someone else, I had my first ever F in a class because of him.
Radu Lazar BMGT430 Expecting a C Anonymous 02/20/2023	he's a good guy and means well. lectures are extremely hard to follow and blames students when the entire class is lost at the same time. spends more time explaining the math than the fundamental concepts we need to know which makes it difficult to follow. its like explaining the answer without explaining the process of getting there. wish he would slow down especially when he realizes students are not following
Radu Lazar BMGT431 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/10/2023	I feel like this class was pretty well-run. Professor can come off as intimidating at times, but if you show effort in the class, he becomes a lot more approachable. The exams were open-note, which was very nice. The course grade is pretty dependent on those exam scores though, so don't slack off because it is open-note.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting an A- Anonymous 10/03/2022	I think he's a great guy and his principles are pretty good too. My problem was just how the class was structured. It's different than the normal Bstat with Eric in the way it's formatted. For example, we have Pearson online homework which honestly doesn't help. In addition, we cover different units than the other Bstat class. I tried getting help from a couple of friends in the other Bstat, and they didn't know what some of the stuff we were doing was. We have to learn from the Textbook before going to lecture, and it's hard to learn math from textbooks. I remember the first practice exam I took was very easy, but I got 20% below that in the actual exam. He does curve his exams, but I just think the class wasn't structured right. Took Stat100 later, and I found that many of the concepts Bstat had are very easy, but I didn't understand them when I took Bstat because it wasn't taught how they should have been.
Radu Lazar BMGT430 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 05/26/2022	Professor Lazar was a good professor, seems scary but isn't so bad. But I did terrible on the exams so take it as you will.
Radu Lazar BMGT431 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/11/2022	The class feels slightly less structured than his 430 class does, but just come to class and keep up with the slides. He goes over practice exams the class before every exam that are really helpful and the exams really aren't difficult. The R that's involved in the course is also pretty basic and you can just copy off of the examples he posts online. Radu comes off a little scary/harsh at first but he's actually a super nice guy-he cares about teaching the material well and explains everything pretty thoroughly. The exams are easy to do well on (in person but open note) if you study the examples he goes over and he curves them a lot.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/15/2022	If you have taken AP stats, the majority of the content is review content until about the last 3 weeks of the semester. He can be intimidating, however, he ultimately wants his students to learn and understand the concepts. He can be blunt, but he teaches well enough to do well on every exam. He did curve all the exams, ranging from a couple of percentages to 10%. He also allowed a cheat sheet on each exam. Making sure that you review the slides before class and attend all lectures is important in understanding the concepts, especially later on. I would recommend taking this class with Radu.
Radu Lazar BMGT430 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/31/2021	Excellent no BS professor that will teach you exactly what you need to know. Don't be afraid of him, it feels like he's taking it personally when no one answers his question correctly. But he will like you if you try. Gives a cheat sheet for each exam. If you did fine in BMGT230 there's no reason you can't get at least a B in this class if you show up to class and pay attention. Homework is easy if you follow him do the stuff in R in class and his videos on ELMS. He is a pretty funny and intelligent guy and it was a pleasure to take his class. He knows his stuff 100% (although this stuff is very basic to him, so it may seem he gets annoyed or tired of the class when people don't follow).
Radu Lazar BMGT430 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/24/2021	he's good at teaching and you'll do well as long as you go to class. I personally put in a lot of time into this class and I know people who put in less and did as well as me. If you feel for even a little bit that you don't know what you're doing, promise yourself that you are going to attend class regularly because it'll save you a lot of time and energy than trying to learn it yourself. He tells you what information is relevant and what isn't, so if you try to teach yourself everything, you'll waste time. TLDR go to class, study, and try.
Radu Lazar BMGT430 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/23/2021	I took BMGT430 and 431 with Radu during online classes, and I thought he did a great job. The courses were entirely asynchronous, so you could watch the lectures and do the homework on your own time. Sure, the class was pretty dry since it was async and Radu talks pretty slow, but I thought he did a great job of explaining different concepts. The homeworks and exams were straightforward, and you get to learn R and XL Miner for the class. I recently finished a machine learning class (CMSC422) where we learned a lot of similar topics to BMGT431, and I thought Radu really prepared me well for it.
Radu Lazar BMGT431 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/19/2021	Very interesting class and Prof. Lazar genuinely cares about their students during office hours. However, this class sucked during covid as he would just upload videos and you were supposed to grasp all the content in one take,. It felt as if he was reviewing content for himself during the pre recorded lectures, for someone taking in the concepts for the first time is very hard if you don't rely on the TAs or prof office hours for help, which is not always possible to keep up when running a packed course load. I'd loved to take this class in person
Radu Lazar BMGT431 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/16/2021	He’s a pretty good teacher and the class is interesting. Grading is pretty tough, but he’s great at responding to student concerns. The final was an ELMS quiz and my work disappeared right before I could submit (accidentally put the page in read-only mode). He was really understanding and reopened the exam for me. Very nice and understanding dude.
Radu Lazar BMGT230H Expecting an A Anonymous 12/12/2019	Professor Lazar is a great guy. He makes his class much more engaging and the concepts are easier to grasp than the regular version of 230. The tests are all multiple choice, compared to the regular class which has short answer questions. Highly recommend this class!
Radu Lazar BMGT230H Expecting an A Anonymous 11/19/2019	Dr. Lazar is a hilarious teacher and really wants his students to succeed in class. Definitely take this class instead of the regular version, it's much easier.
Radu Lazar BMGT430 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/24/2019	Radu is a good guy. If you attend lectures and pay attention you will learn a lot in his classes. This course is not particularly easy but it isn't too difficult if you are willing to put in a bit of work to understand the concepts.
Radu Lazar BMGT230B Expecting a B Anonymous 12/10/2016	I am TOTALLY not a math person, but I actually really enjoyed this course. Radu is funny and chill, and he seems to care about his students. His accent is also fun to listen to, and in no way impedes his ability to teach. The lectures go fast (we usually take notes and do a few practice problems), and then discussion is really helpful if you need any extra review. There's a quiz once a week in discussion (out of 5 points, usually pretty easy), one homework assignment, and one pre-lecture quiz. This means that you have to learn the info beforehand and take a quiz on it, all before he lectures. This sounds waaaaay worse than it, and most people get 100s on them. Don't leave class early, but other than that Radu is really laid back. I highly recommend this course! When I took stats in high school, I hated it because my teacher made it way harder than it needed to be. Radu breaks it down in the simplest way. Find someone to teach you the calculator tricks if you don't already know them, it'll save you a ton of time and effort!
Radu Lazar BMGT230 soulelite 09/30/2016	As long as your do all your homework, and I mean doing them without using the show answer feature, you should be fine. He's not the best professor in the world, but his expectations are very reasonable. People only complain about this class because they expect an easy A without having to go to class or do the homework.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 turtleterp 07/13/2016	Lazar is a funny guy, but he can definitely be intimidating if you are lost or don't want to follow his rules. (For example, NEVER walk out of lecture early. He will yell at you for being rude). Otherwise, he explains he is just talking loudly and normally tries to make a lot of jokes. I was fortunate enough to have taken AP Statistics in high school so none of the material was new to me. If you can, find a prior AP-stat student who can teach you all the calculator tricks that will practically do the problems for you. It saves a ton of time. He allows you to make exam cheat sheets so take advantage of that! The weekly quizzes are all multiple choice and pretty easy. Try to keep up because by mid-semester all the material will start building on itself. He provides practice exams and the TAs tend to be very helpful at explaining concepts. If you have taken AP Stats before this class should not be difficult at all, but I do really feel for those who do not have this background. Study and practice and it should be okay!
Radu Lazar BMGT230B Expecting a B Anonymous 05/05/2016	Professor Lazar gets a bad wrap, but it is honestly not his fault. It is more the class that is less interesting than him. Professor Lazar may seem to some to be forceful and mean, which he can be if you act disrespectfully (leaving class early, talking, being on your phone), but overall he wants to make a large lecture style class more engaging for students. He has started letting TA's write on the board, and our TA Katherine Feng was superb, and was a wealth of knowledge if you didn't understand something. Lazar, is not mean, and he is very effective in helping students understand the content. The only thing I did not like him for is when you ask questions he often is like "well thats not really correct" when it is usually almost exactly correct, but not the way he would want you to say it. So to summarize the class is hard and you have to put in A LOT of work to get an A, but he does what he can to help you learn the concepts and he will curve the test average to about a 75 which can be nice.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/20/2016	This is possibly the worst teacher I have ever had. He's horrible at explaining simple questions and the whole lecture is confusing. The only was I survived was going to my TA every week. When I went to him for help and asked about concepts he yelled and said "I don't know why so many students come here asking that, if you don't get it then you don't". If everyone asks you haven't explained it right -__-.Take this at your local community college over the summer.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 05/17/2015	I was scared heading into this class especially after never taking a statistics class before. Radu a good professor but I see why some students don't like him. He can be intimidating to the point where you don't want to ask questions in class. I will say that he does go over examples a lot and you will know if an idea is important. As the other reviews say, he does want you to do well in his class. The tests are challenging but he curves. DO NOT SLEEP on the first test. It's supposed to be the easiest but questions can be tricky and it will be curved the least if at all. The second test is the hardest. I did the best on the final with a B. 1)Attend lectures and SIT CLOSE. His handwriting can be hard to read. 2)ATTEND DISCUSSIONS. These are easy points and the questions can help understand concepts. 3) Make a GREAT Exam sheet for the tests. My cheat sheets for the first two exams were unorganized and I paid for it. For the final I made one organized with the formulas and it helped. Study, practice and you should be fine.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/20/2015	I know a lot of my friends have struggled in this class, but if you take the time and effort to do lots of practice problems on your own, you should be able to do well on the exams. I have never taken stat before and I did well. Lazar cares so much about his students and he is so sweet and supportive towards his students and he truly wants you to do well. Radu does have an accent, but he is not difficult to understand. Exams: First exam is not curved, my second exam was curved 16%, and the final was curved 11%. Overall, the exams are pretty much like the practice exam that he sends out a week before the exam. Discussion: Go to discussion! My TA was super helpful and she held review sessions all the time before exams and was willing to answer all questions. Be sure to go on time, otherwise you lose points. Class: Go to class, because while he vaguely follows the slides, he adds a lot of additional information and his work on the whiteboards helps a lot with understanding the problems.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/17/2014	Overall: A lot of students in this class find it to be very difficult, but one of the biggest things you can do to help your grade is by doing problems on your own and making sure you understand how to use your cheat sheet. A lot of students do not do well, because they think that if they just have the formulas and definitions than they will be fine. My key for anyone taking this class is to do a lot of problems outside of class. I skimmed the book and barely went to class after the first couple of weeks; the only reason I received an A was by doing a lot of practice outside of class. Curves: His curves are so generous for this class. He did not curve the first exam for my class, but he curved the second exam by 16% and then curved the final exam by 14%. On top of that he curved the class as a whole so that the cutoff between a B+ and an A- was an 88%. Final thoughts: Just do a lot of practice in preparation for exams and make sure you really understand how to find the answer on the practice exams he gives you. These exams are a big help, but you still have to understand the concepts to do well. The way he teaches in class is more for understanding the concept, but you have to do work outside of class in order to really understand how to apply the concepts.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 LetsRaduThis 12/15/2014	1. He really wants you to do well in his class. Don't take the negative reviews too seriously - it's a difficult course, but he explains the concepts thoroughly and he reviews every lesson at least 3x. 2. If you didn't take stat in high school, be prepared to study. a lot. a lot a lot. This is a fast-paced course with a lot of material - he has to go over the lessons pretty quickly. Know your fundamentals - the course builds on itself. You'll see, it actually gets easier toward the end. 3. He has really nice arms and a nice tapered back. wuow.
Radu Lazar BMGT230B Expecting an A Anonymous 11/23/2014	I took stats in high school. It's pretty much the same thing, except all multiple choice. There are two midterms and a final, not cumulative. He genuinely wants you to do well. He does get upset if you get a question wrong in class or in office hours, but it's mostly just his tone. He teaches extensively in class and gives good examples, so go to class. Discussions apply concepts taught during the week. You can have a formula sheet for theoretical notions, no assumptions, so there's no memorization. You just need to know when to apply a certain formula/concept. This is a weed out class, so it is hard. I did poorly on the first exam because I thought knowing the math was enough. It is not. You have to be very careful because his true/false questions are pretty hard. Do the practice tests and take note of the questions you get wrong. The first exam is easiest and got no curve. The second got 16%, and I assume the final will be curved by a little less. That's what he implied.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Anonymous 11/12/2014	This is a difficult class and Lazar is not a good professor. His accent is difficult to understand, he screams when he lectures, and faces the board half the time. He writes very fast and has terrible handwriting, which is frustrating to read. He teaches way to fast, and much of his style is just throwing formulas, without explaining anything conceptually. He doesn't go over examples, and to learn the concepts you have to go to your TA or learn it yourself.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/30/2012	He teaches extremely fast and I almost never understood anything (chapter 6-7+) after his lectures. You have to supplement his lectures with your own studying. Your TA is a very good resource. The discussions are key to helping you understand everything. Just by listening to Lazar's lectures I understood maybe 15-25% of the material, then 30%-50% from the homework/textbook and the rest was due to a good TA who taught in a much more straightforward step by step fashion. In all honesty, past chapter 9, everything is essentially the same, and you have to recognize that in order to o well. For example, you will have to do Z-test/T-Test/CI and do it for a variety of situations, the rules are just slightly different. Somethings I wish were different was that he would post answers to his review slides and make his lecture slides more reader friendly as if you didn't attend class. Do not let yourself fall behind, I skipped a week of classes and I had to study twice as much to get an A on the final exam. As for curves: 1st Exam: No Curve 2nd Exam: 12-14% (forgot) 3rd Exam; 125 End of Semester "curve": 88% = A-
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Anonymous 12/14/2012	After having just taken the final today, here are my thoughts: 1) It's such a cop out when everyone blames Radu for this class being so hard. He's a good guy who makes it clear that he wants students to do well. The only reason why he may appear to be condescending and cynical is because he knows the material is hard and expects students to work hard at getting the concepts down. He seems tough because he blows through lecture material at 100 mph, but that's only because the business school designed the course to be a weed out class, and so it was designed to pack an absurdly large amount of difficult material into one semester. Also, all of the complaints about his accent and handwriting are bullshit. You can understand his voice just fine and if you don't sit in the very back row of the lecture hall then you can clearly understand his handwriting. 2) There's no getting around it: this class is hard. Like some other reviewers have said, statistics is unlike any other field of study. Half of it is really tedious math formulas and the other half of it is inference and vague concepts. The material is even more difficult if you don't read the book and skip lecture. Each chapter also usually builds on the previous one, so don't fall behind otherwise you'll sorely regret it come exam time. Some people get stat and some people don't. It was easily one of the hardest classes I've taken during my three years as a terp so far. College is hard as hell in general though.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/18/2012	Lazar continually mentions that this class is a weed out class, and taking the course, I now know why. This class will be a nightmare if you do not put your effort into it. It is very difficult, however, I actually found it very interesting (I guess I'm in the minority). And please, it really is quite doable. I did not take Stat before yet I have an A right now. It is true that he really does go fast during his lectures but it REALLY helps if you have the powerpoint slides with you during the lecture. Also, NEVER LET YOURSELF GET BEHIND IN CLASS. Keep your phones in your backpack for just one hour because a couple seconds of not paying attention could cost you a lot! He is not a mean guy really. He comes off as a bit loud and judgmental (he's not though) but he really wants his students to do well. He knows this stuff by heart.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting a C Anonymous 11/06/2012	One of the hardest classes if not the hardest class I took in college. Only reason I took this class was because it's a requirement for business majors and he's the only teacher for the course.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting an A+ wkoutre 09/01/2012	PLEASE: Read these reviews as a student, meaning someone who is going to school for the purpose of learning and gaining new knowledge. If your idea of being a student does not include the will to learn, you will find this class difficult. The concepts are not difficult if you put your cell phone down for an hour, pay attention in class, and go to most of the discussions. His slides are great, although he doesn't usually follow them. Take the initiative to have them in front of you so that you have what's relevant in front of you at all times while he's writing on the board. Homework is pretty simple. You get a couple of tries, there are identical problems to practice (with different data sets) if you're really struggling with a concept. Practice exams are a GREAT tool to use to study. As mentioned by others, curving is usually very generous. I took this Spring 2012: The first exam had a class average of B+ without any curve, so it wasn't curved in the end. The second exam was curved 13%, the third was about 10%. After these curves, FINAL GRADES were then curved once again. So, if after all the exams and their included curves, you have an 88%, you would get an A. This class is pretty much laid out for you in terms of what you need to know. There are NO surprises. There are TONS of opportunities for "extra credit" via Lazar's heavy curving policies. If you can't squeeze out a B in this class, something is wrong with your focus. YOU GET A CHEAT SHEET, front and back of a printer paper, that you can write almost anything on -- if this isn't enough, I don't know what is. Professor Lazar is a smart, funny guy who WILL call you out in front of lectures of 300+ if you claim that 2 squared is 6, or if you ask a question when the answer to it was on the previous slide that was up for 5 minutes. Come to class to learn, not to sit there and listen half-heartedly while you're on your phone. Don't come if you're going to leave early. Sit closer to the front because everything is written on the dry erase boards. If you go to lecture and discussion, spend an hour or two a WEEK on the homework, and start studying the practice exam a week or so ahead of the exam itself, you'll be fine.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting a C- Anonymous 06/12/2012	Radu is not a good or bad teacher, however be aware that the curves can save you. I got Ds on two tests and failed the final, but I was still able to pass the class(just barely)because I went to all the discussions and got the points there, while doing well on the online homework. You can tell it is a weed out class so be prepared.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/16/2012	This class is doable, but definitely a huge pain, unnecessarily. Radu's accent isn't what bothers me. It's his handwriting. He scribbles complicated formulas on the board and speeds up his talking speed 3x whenever he's writing a formula, and unless you sit in the first two rows good luck getting it down. Between that and his 500 rhetorical questions during lecture, prepare to be completely disengaged from the lecture. His condescending tone when no one has the guts to answer makes him totally unapproachable. Homeworks can be a *****, depending on your skill level with the online tools, and the textbook style is really annoying and gives you a ton of info you don't need to know. At the end of the day, I don't care how much of a master of statistics this guy is. If you're teaching business students who 99% won't go a step further in the field of stats I don't see why there isn't a more relatable professor. the only way I eked out a B was through the help of a beastly TA who gave a review the night before and actually controlled the attention of a packed lecture hall. It's no wonder that when I met with Radu after adding the class a week into the semester, he said "you cannot avoid me unless you take this class in the summer"
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting an A- Hosea 05/15/2012	Radu is the man. I don't understand all the hate he gets. I think his accent is awesome, it reminds me of Borat. He truly wants you to do well, he says this all the time before an exam. He knows the material extremely well - and I think he conveys it pretty clearly. Everyone that complains about his handwriting should sit closer to the front.. it's definitely not neat, but you can read it. Truly try to understand the material. I got a 66 on the first exam somehow and was feeling low, but that motivated me to do better. Second exam I got a 81 with the curve. At this point I'm sitting at a C. The final is easier than the second exam and you should do your best to ace it. I got a 90 without the curve (102 with the curve) and received an A- in the class. Did I mention that he curves it so that an 88 is an A? Study the practice exams that Dr. Lazar gives out! They are very similar to the exams! I studied the practice final until I knew it like the back of my hand. That is how I got an A in the class. Dr. Lazar does not deserve all the hate he deserves. Come to class and pay attention, and if you don't understand something, go ask him. He may seem intimidating but he honestly wants you to succeed.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting an A- spb10123 05/15/2012	I finished the year with an 88.02 and everything above an 88 was an A, so I got lucky. Overall the course was pretty difficult. This was my first time taking stat. Make sure you go to all the discussion so you get a 100% on 10% of your grade. Same principle applies to homework. If you follow the examples that are provided, a 100% is not out of reach. The rest of the 80% of the grade is determined by exams. Make sure your cheat sheet is good, and practice as many problems as you can before the test. The first test is not curved at all, but the second two tests are curved about 12 points each. Radu is a good guy, but sometimes his teaching style is confusing. I went to most of the classes and took good notes, but found myself more helped by just doing the homework. Overall if you spend about 8 hours in total studying for each test and make sure that you get a very high grade in homework and discussion, an A is reasonable.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting a B Anonymous 04/02/2012	Something you need to keep in mind before taking this class: Statistics as a field is unlike anything a normal student will have encountered in high school before taking it in college. The rules and ways of thinking that apply for math and other sciences are not the same that you need to develop for statistics. So don't think you'll be able to ace the class because you're a math whiz (although that would probably help.) The second thing you need to know is that this class is a gateway course for the Smith School of Business. What does that mean? It means that this class is inherently difficult to weed out the kids who don't want to work as hard or aren't as good students. There are reasons that not everyone gets into the business school. This class is one of them. The third thing you need to know is that this class is entirely what you make of it. If you put in the time to go to class, listen to Radu, take notes, go home, review your notes once or twice a week, do the homework, study for the tests (ACTUALLY study), you'll be fine. You need to put a lot of effort to get that A, but the curves should help you. That being said, I would rate Radu as an above-average teacher. He's definitely not the best I've had, but he's absolutely not the worst. Almost all of the complains that have been posted here are problems with the class itself, not with Radu's teaching style. HIS ACCENT DOES NOT GET IN THE WAY OF HIS TEACHING AT ALL. If you think his accent is hard to understand you need to wake the fuck up, get your head out of your ass and welcome yourself to the real world, because in real life there are people who are a lot harder to understand than him. Radu does teach quickly, but again, this class is hard and there's a lot to cover. His handwriting isn't the best but he'll always clarify what he wrote or any question if you just have the balls to ask it in front of a lecture of 150 people. Sit close and you can read everything. The power-points are hit-or-miss in terms of helpfulness. If you don't understand something, though, Radu will always meet with you during office hours and is pretty good at explaining things one-on-one. YOU need to take the initiative and go ask him, though. If you resign yourself to failing in this class that's exactly what will happen. A new calculator will not help you at all. The math in this class is pretty basic-it's the concepts that are hard. The book is not really helpful, and is most of the time more confusing than the way Radu teaches it. Ask yourself honestly if you're willing to put the time and effort into taking the class, because the majority of you reading this don't have a choice. It's really not that bad, but your only alternative is taking it at community college. The rest of you shut the fuck up about hating on Radu and just accept that your lazy, retarded asses didn't try hard enough to get a good grade and move on with your life. Sheesh.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting an A+ Vinayak Ramaswamy 12/25/2011	I really don't know why people ride Radu so hard. Yeah, he has an accent, but it's not a detriment to his teaching. He goes fast, but that's because there is such a large breadth of material to cover. Plus his curves are absolutely ridiculous, which overrides the difficulty of the material somewhat. Tips to do well: 1.) Come to class. You don't have to show up all the time, but at least once a week, just to keep up with the material that he emphasizes. 2.) Do the homework. You can use the View an Example tool, but don't rely on it to get the answer. It can help you understand the process for sure. 3.) Make a kick-ass cheat-sheet. Seriously, this is all I really did to study for the exams, and there's plenty of room to really have everything you need. 4.) Do well on the first exam. He didn't curve it at all. I got 100 on it, and it gave me some nice cushion. Second exam is the hardest, but he also curved it by 18% this semester, and he curved the final by 14%. Additionally, 88% and above got an A I think, so the curves really help, so much that I actually ended up with over a 100% in the entire class. The class is doable, if you pay attention when you do go to class, really try to the understand the material, and make a good cheat sheet. Good luck! You can buy a TI-84 calculator if you want, it can come in handy in a pinch.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting a C b97820 12/23/2011	Professor Lazar is hilarious, and a VERY nice guy. He was very understanding of my situation, (I'm a commuting student who worked two jobs this past semester), and switched me to a different discussion mid-semester because of a work conflict. I'd recommend this class to anyone because of the curving. I'm just terrible at math as it is, and was not trying to get into the business school. I wanted to "challenge" myself by not taking elementary statistics- and I'd call that a big mistake, if not for the curving Prof. Lazar did. The required avg. GPA for the class is 2.7-2.9, so grade curves are adjusted based on that. Learn how to use a TI-83 or 84, because it'll save a LOT of time. Do all the homework, too, and never miss discussion, and you'll be golden.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/21/2011	This was arguably the hardest class I have ever taken in my life. Radu didn't really connect with the students that well so it was hard to follow his lectures. His writing was incredibly sloppy so it was another reason that it was more challenging. The only positive thing I can say is that his curves were incredibly lenient.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/20/2011	Overall I thought radu was good at presenting the material, after each class you kinda get a idea of what he's talking about. hw and discussion are meant to boost your grade so make sure that you complete all those. The only problem I had with this class are the exams i thought they were extremely challenging. I studied hard for every test and pretty much knew all the concepts and barely passed every exam. the important thing is to not fall benhind in this class. even though radu curves like crazy, if you have no idea what your doing you will fail. The exams consitute pretty much your entire grade so try not to fail too bad. Studying from mymathlab seldomly works. study the worksheets from discussion and review questions he gives on slides this is why going to lecture is imnportant he gives you answers to the review questions. The most important thing to study are the past exams that he gives you that's the only thing i felt helped. The problem with this class was that I felt as if i was never prepared for the exams no matter how much i studied.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/14/2011	This class sucks so much. Professor Lazar has good intentions and trys his hardest to help you understand. But the fact of the matter is that you can barely read what he writes on the board and you won't understand any concepts he explains in class. He goes off of his power points which are long and full of information which is impossible to write all down. He tries to put up the equations on the board, but he never explains what certain variables and symbols really mean. If you have to solve one variable to put into a second or even third equation for an answer, you have no idea how to find or compute the first variable. He also never gives examples to problem sets. He just shows you an equation and moves on. Extremely confusing class, and his tests and just as bad. I do not recommend taking this class to anyone who doesn't have to. Its boring, and might be the hardest class i've ever taken throughout my whole time in school.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting an A devinjackets 12/12/2011	First of all, this class is horribly dry and boring. That being said, Prof. Lazar MAKES THE BEST OF IT!! There is only so much you can do to make business statistics exciting and engaging. He has a lot of material to cover in a really short period of time, so class seems like it is constantly rushed. Which is pretty much is. Also, his accent is not that bad. People on this site are just whining because they didn't put the effort in and they didn't get good grades. Seriously, I don't feel bad at all because it's not impossible to get an A or B in this class! *NOT TO MENTION HE CURVES AN UNBELIEVABLE AMOUNT* I am not one to cut corners when it comes to studying because I actually want to make something of my $32,000 a year education, so I put in my fair share of work and I will definitely get an A in this class (WITHOUT the curve) and I've never seen stat before this class in my life. *IT IS POSSIBLE TO GET AN A IN THIS CLASS WITHOUT THE CURVE IF YOU DO THE WORK** My advice: 1. Attend lecture. He sometimes gives out helpful hints about what to expect on the exams, and he always does extra examples on the board -- MANY of which are similar to exam questions. 2. Do the homework, and try not to use "show an example." It sucks, but think of the extra hour or two on stat as time put forth towards studying for the exam. Because that time will add up, and it'll be 20 hours you already put into trying to learn it over the course of the semester rather than the night before. Easy solution. 3. I know a kid who never went to class, (took AP stat though in high school), knew how to use his calculator, and passed every exam with an A - no curve. So... I guess if you've taken it before in high school, you won't have to work as hard as the other students who've never seen stat in their lives. Good news for those kids. 4. Read the chapters before class! They are usually pretty short and they make his lecture soooooooooo much easier to follow. 5. Study using your cheat sheet so you know where to find the information quickly on the exam. 6. I used a basic scientific calculator on every exam. You'll probably spend more time learning how to use a TI-84 (if you're not familiar with it) than learning how to do the material by hand.... which isn't that much. I can't help but laugh at people who seriously think a TI-84 will help them pass this class when over half of the exam is testing concepts and understanding, not hard math. I never once used a TI-83 or TI-84 in this class and I got an A without the curve. Seriously, this class is doable. Also, he makes corny jokes in class and they're actually kind of entertaining so it isn't so bad. Again, people who complain about it are just admitting they're lazy students! THIS IS A REQUIRED COURSE FOR THE BUSINESS SCHOOL, SO YOU MIGHT AS WELL GET IT OVER WITH AND BE PREPARED TO WORK HARD! The book is super helpful, his accent has nothing to do with people failing this course, the class is terribly boring, but it's NOT impossible!
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting a C Lunar01 12/10/2011	First thing you need to do: Buy a TI-84 Calculator. Just in case that wasn't big enough for you to see... BUY A TI-84 CALCULATOR!!! Your grades in this class will be directly correlated to how well you can use the TI-84 to do the problems on the tests. If you do not know how to use the calculator, take the time to search for tutorials online or ask a friend who knew how to teach you. I wish I was kidding about how much you will need the calculator for the tests but I'm completely serious. Now that the most vital piece of information is noted, let's move on to the structure of the class. The lectures will start with some very easy statistic stuff in the beginning but the difficulty will ramp up steeply after the drop date is over, no coincidence there. Try not to miss the lectures even if you are bored in the class, missing one will put you behind significantly. Learning stuff from the lectures the first time will be difficult so make sure to do practice problems from the book to understand the concepts right away. Discussion sections are NOT optional. You need to go to all of them. Although he will give you 2 free days, I recommend saving them up for when you REALLY need to skip them. You're going to need every points you can get. Same goes for homeworks, he will drop the lowest 2. The thing with homeworks is that you do them online and can view similar problems that basically tells you how to do the problem. So there's no reason you should get anything other than at least 90% in every single homework. Now we come to the most important part of the class, the exams. I will tell you now that the exams are VERY HARD. He will give out a sample exam before the exam and I highly recommend you understand everything in the sample exam. If you do not understand some questions, DO NOT put them off. Try to learn how to solve them as soon as possible. This is where the TI-84 will be your savior. If you try to do problems manually from the way he teach, you will waste a lot of time and prone to making errors. The TI-84 is designed to solve those problems, USE IT! The good news is that he curves the exam and it should help out with your grades a lot. If you didn't bother to read my review, here's the shortened version: BUY A TI-84 AND LEARN HOW TO USE IT!!!
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Anonymous 12/07/2011	I'll make it short and simple with a full list of pros and cons. I hate to sound like a snobby *$#!, but I'm a pretty smart guy who currently has nearly a 100% in the class, and this is just how I see things: PROS: -Knows his material -Homework helps a lot -Tests are unimaginably simple -My TA was pretty good, idk about the others -Actively uses boards and powerpoints at the same time -Open to questions, help, convenience, etc. Cons: This will be a long list. -Strong accent to get used to -Absolutely horrid handwriting. He writes small, slanted, crooked, even when paying attention it's hard to concentrate. -Stat Crunch is useful if you know how to use it. Plenty of people go through the class without knowing how to use it at all, and as a consequence, they don't do well. He needs to teach you how to use this instead of rushing through it in class and not showing you how things work. -Knows material a bit too well, sometimes what he says doesn't make sense at all. I can read the book for 5 minutes and understand more than what's taught in 35 minutes of the lecture. -Homework is online and has many glitches. You could end up losing points on bad rounding, missing symbols, or things that shouldn't give you no credit for. And finally: This class doesn't help much at all. Since he allows us to use one page cheat sheets (two page for final) front and back, I can make a very elaborate cheat sheet, give it to a 5th grader, and that 5th grader could probably get an A or B. At the end of this course, most people won't walk out with much knowledge of statistics. They'll know a few things, but they'll learn them [b]using stat-crunch or technology, things we can't use in the real world without looking like an inexperienced college student.[/b] Though sometimes tests focus too much on small things. Half of one of the midterms focused on something we spent 2 classes on. The other half is something we spent almost 10 classes on.
Radu Lazar BMGT230B Expecting a C mkoebel 11/30/2011	He's not a bad teacher, Radu curves things like crazy. It's mainly on the student to learn the material though since he cannot take too much time to cover it in class. There's a lot to learn, so he flies during class. -There's nothing he can do about it.- Word of advise, DO NOT GET BEHIND ON READING. I failed the first midterm with a 53% thinking I would be good with my reference sheet. WRONG. I had no idea how to use the formulas. AP stat is nothing like this, you can get an understanding of the material from prior stat classes, but do not understand it to the degree he tests you on. Read the book daily. He is not kidding when he tells you to study at least 5 hours a week. Just read the book, take notes, and do the mystatlab homeworks and a few practice problems and you'll be good. Be prepared to work. Learn how to use your calculator for all of your T-test, and interval tests, it's your best friend.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting a C Anonymous 11/20/2011	Radu is not only a terrible professor but also a terrible person. He breezes through material in class, and though most people blame his thick accent, it is his indifference to his students success that makes people hate him. I went to his office hours countless times and he became offensive about my character and commitment to success. The TA's were terrible. Mine did not add any sort of help whatsoever. AVOID HIM TAKE THIS CLASS AT COMMUNITY COLLEGE/ELSEWHERE HE SUCKS.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting an A- duca237 05/20/2011	Most people complain about this guy, though he is really not that bad. Sure he has an accent, but he knows what hes talking about. Hes definitely not the best professor but certainly not the worst. Actually, he's really generous when it comes to grades. Like people before me said, make sure to do well on the first test, it can carry you the rest of the semester. I got a 100 with the curve on the first test and 60s without the curve on the second test and final and managed to come out of the class with an A-, so really anyone can do it. The class is hard, just read the book, know how to use your calculator and write everything on the reference sheets!
Radu Lazar BMGT230B Expecting a C+ Anonymous 05/19/2011	I hated this class. Honestly the WORST class I've taken at Maryland, and that is saying a lot. His notes in lecture are so sloppy you feel like you're looking at a 2 year old's writing The exams are so hard. Actually, they are extremely hard - and that is because he bases them off whatever is running through his mind at the time. They do not relate to the homework, and do not relate to the discussions either. I never took statistics prior to coming to this class, but was told that its not that bad of a class - that was until I got Radu. His accent isn't bad, you can understand him well, that's not the problem. It's just his tests. Even the cheat sheets that he allows does not really help because yes we can have formula's on there, but the way he writes his questions makes it hard for us to know when to use the formula's. I went to every class, BUT fell asleep 8 out of 10 times. Glad I never have to take statistics again wipes head
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/17/2011	One of the big themes you may have realized by reading other people’s reviews is that Radu frequently complains how all of his students think he’s bad/horrible at teaching. In my opinion, he’s definitely not the best professor at teaching, but he’s certainly not the worst. To his credit, Stat is a difficult course to teach and learn, because Stat is ALL formulas and numbers, so unless students devote some attention to the class, there’s no way to do well. However, because students often don’t give a lot of attention to classes, students typically do badly, and then start blaming the professor for their performance. Also, I think a huge thing that contributed to people’s bad review about him first semester was that he didn’t give practice exams because it was his first semester teaching at UMD. In my semester though, he gave our class first semester’s exams, giving us a good idea of what the exams will be on. Having never taken Stat before in my life though and getting an A (and I’m not good at math or anything), I can personally say that Radu is not bad. One thing Radu is REALLY good at is CURVES. He curves A LOT. My semester, he curved the first exam by 3/35 points (~9%), the second exam by 3/25 points (12%), and the final exam by 3/30 points (10%). On top of that, he even curved the entire class, making an A anything above 87% in the class, a B from 78-87%, a C from 64-78%, a D from 48-64%, and an F below 48%. With this much curve, he certainly eliminates any wrongdoing on his part in my opinion. I certainly don’t think that he’s so bad that even with his curves it’s still his fault of doing bad. He actually really does respect his students performance and cares about how well his students do. In terms of what you’ll be doing during the semester, the three things that make up your grade are homework, discussion, and the exams. Homework is due every week, with 11 assignments in total (the lowest two are dropped). The homework can take anywhere between 30 minutes for easy ones and 90 minutes for hard ones, average is about an hour. The homework is REALLY easy to get a 100% on by looking at examples, therefore you should automatically get 10% of your grade. Discussion is also really easy to get 100%, but it is mandatory. You’re two lowest grades are dropped (so you’re able to not go twice), but after that you’ll start losing points. So as long as you go every time, you’ll get another 10% of your grade. That leaves the rest of your 80% of your grade to exams. Since there were a total of 90 questions between all 3 exams and the exams are worth 80% of your grade, each question on an exam is worth slightly less than 1% of your total grade. By doing the math, that means the class is ultimately curved by about 11% (8.137% from exams and about ~3% by lowering the grade requirements). To do well in this class, I HIGHLY recommend you follow these tips: 1. DON’T EVEN TRY TO LEARN STAT THE WAY HE TEACHES IT. BY FAR THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO LEARN IN THIS CLASS IS HOW TO USE A CALCULATOR TO DO ALL THE THINGS HE TEACHES. I cannot stress how important this is. You need at least a TI-84 to do everything he teaches, I bought a TI-Nspire though which was really helpful. What calculator you have is critical. If you only have a TI-83, BUY a new calculator. As a matter of fact, I would definitely say that you should buy a new calculator before you buy the textbook. If you want to try and learn stat the way I did (by just learning how to use a calculator) then you won’t need the textbook at all. However, the code to get access to the homework comes with the textbook, so sometimes it’s worth it to get the textbook too. To be able to learn how to use a calculator though, it is really helpful to have someone you know who took AP Stat and can help you with how to use a calculator. It would be REALLY difficult to teach yourself how to use a calculator without someone helping you. Even more difficult would be teaching yourself stat the way Radu has to teach it (obviously he can’t just teach students how to use a calculator). I don’t think I would’ve had ANY chance at all getting an A by learning stat the academic way (by using formulas and stuff), I would've probably actually gotten a C. 2. Make sure to do well on the first exam. This exam will require the least amount of calculations and is mostly conceptual (making it the easiest exam for most people). Because it’s the easiest exam, Radu curves it the least. That’s why it’s important to not screw up. 3. Even if you want to teach yourself by just using a calculator, you should still sometimes go to class. For some reason, it definitely helps to go to class. You certainly don’t need to go to every class (unless you want to learn stat the way Radu teaches it) but you should at LEAST go to class 50% of the time if you’ve never taken stat before, trust me, it helps. And just to give some other miscellaneous information, you get to have a reference sheet where you can put anything on it (front and back) for the first two exams and for the final you get to have 2 reference sheets. Also, you get to write your answers down on those reference sheets while taking the exam and then he emails the exam answers an hour after the end of the exam so you can instantly see how you did on the exam. He uploads all the powerpoints during lecture in class too.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/15/2011	He is a good guy but the class is very hard. He does make a good amount of effort to teach the material to his students, though. You really just have to go to class and read the book constantly to get a good grade, but if you do not have time because of other hard classes, you may fall behind like I did
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/14/2011	This guy is an incredible business statistics professor. The guy knows his stuff by heart and can spell everything out for you on the board, which he does daily in class. He's got a romanian accent so he can sound like he's yelling sometimes but as he says on the first day of class and many days after, he's not yelling its just his accent. Another thing that he says many times over is that this class takes effort and honestly he's right because this is probably the hardest of the business school prerequisites to master and understand. He posts all of his lectures online on ELMS before the class so definitely print those out and bring them to class, it's so much easier than trying to write it all down and it's how I earned my A. Tips to pass: 1. Do all of the homework even though he drops the lowest 2, you'll understand the material much better 2. Come to every class and pay attention. Like I said the man knows his stuff and if you want to do well, he's the guy to pay attention to. 3. Make good reference sheets for the exam! These are very important since he lets you use sheets front and back for the tests. I made me reference sheets out of the review sessions that he did before each exam and earned As on every test. They make the difference 4. Most importantly, do the practice/old exams! These pretty closely resemble the current tests and help show what you need to know greatly! Make your reference sheet first and then use it to take the practice finals and to do practice problems. It's not cheating or not helping you study since you are going to use that sheet when taking the test anyway! Overall, this guy is great and since you gotta take the class to get into the business school, you might as well take it with someone who cares and writes out everything you need to know. Be prepared to work hard and don't fall behind. Good luck!
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/14/2011	People need to relax with all the bad reviews about this guy. Dr. Lazar is a really chill teacher who really wants to help his students out in this class. Business statistics is really boring and can be a lot of material at times, but it's not all that bad. The two midterms are difficult compared to other classes, but there were 8%-12% curves. There's weekly homework which is a really good way to review and make sure you understand what's going on. Be ready to work when taking this class.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting an A CiciW 05/13/2011	The work I put in this class is average compared to other students, but I end up getting high As in both midterms and the final, I think this is because I went to 98% of his lectures. You can't just think oh his accent is horrible so I'll skip class and teach yourself the materials later. Unless you are a super genius, it is very very hard to self-teach Stat especially after the first midterm, the long formulas in later chapters are throw you off. Yes his lectures are dry, and I didn't quite understand any concepts during lectures, I kinda just blindly copied down his PowerPoint and his side notes, but these notes help A LOT for me to refer back when I do homework. Tips for this class: 1. Go to as many lectures as possible and write down not only the slides but also his comments on the slides (sometimes he'll say "this type of problem will definitely be on the exam" and it is true) 2. Try to do at least part of the homework before you go to your Friday discussion so you don't feel like an idiot staring blankly at the practice quiz 3. Make sure you know how to do every practice quiz because they are very similar to the problems on the actual test. 4. Make GOOD reference sheet for the test. It's the worst feeling when you leave some formulas out and then you find yourself in desperate need of those formulas for a bunch of problems on the test. The class isn't that bad. People really complain too much. I think Professor Lazar is fine, he IS trying his best to teach, so give him a break and use that energy to find out what you wrong.
Radu Lazar BMGT230B Expecting a C Anonymous 04/26/2011	Radu is a really nice guy and is sincerely interested in his students but he is just not a very good teacher. I do almost everything I can do to do well in the class but the way the homework and presentations are given there just doesn't seem to be a way to study efficiently. When you do the homework try not to use stat crunch or the examples because you will have neither of these on the exam. Try not to study from mymathlab and use the ta's office hours instead of radu's because he will just talk to you about all the terrible reviews he's gotten online. If you must take this class then go into it knowing that you will have to work extremely hard just to gain a basic understanding of the material. Good luck, you'll need it.
Radu Lazar BMGT230B Expecting an A mellow 12/17/2010	1) I have never taken Statistics before. 2) I went to 70% of the lectures. He's new, and really does care about his students. STAT overall as a subject is dry, but the discussion problems and annoying homeworks really ARE related to the exam. I have fallen asleep. He moves FAST in lecture, yes. But there is too much material to cover. If you manage to keep up, it turns out he makes a lot of sense. So pre-read AND post-read and review his informative slides! The Honors version of STAT gives out much, much more work. Tips to pass: 1) COMPLETE HW without "viewing example" or notes. If you can do that, you're set. Although, I almost always completed with notes. 2) SIT IN THE FRONT. I fell asleep a couple times, and 97% of the class stares at him vacantly/on FB. Stay engaged from minute 1 and be ready when he asks for an answer. 3) My TA was not good, but the discussion was great. Discussion, you work on problem sets in groups for points. Get someone smart/who took AP STAT in group. 4) THE BOOK helped me close to the final. It gives a different perspective from what Lazar gives in class. 5) Score big on the 1st exam, it gets harder after that. Good luck! If you do all this, with his curves you'll do fine.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/14/2010	Worse class I have ever taken in my entire life. Unfortunately it is a Gateway course otherwise I would have dropped it. Professor Lazar does not follow his lecture notes and writes sloppy notes all over the board during lecture. He flies through material making it impossible to follow what he's writing. You cannot write and listen at the same time because you're trying to distinguish what it is he's writing. The second test and final are ridiculously difficult. Yeah you're allowed reference sheets but that means nothing when you see the test. The only bright spot in the class is that showing up to discussion gives you points and you're allowed 2 tries on each homework problem online. I went to Lazar himself for help at his office and he makes it seem like you're inconvieniencing him. When I asked a question he talks to you like you're retarded and should know the answer already. He means well but in reality he doesn't do much to simplify the material, just throws it at you and expects you to retain everything.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Anonymous 12/14/2010	Terrible professor. Poor lecturer so retaining hardly any information is nearly impossible. If you take this course read every chapter and go to every single class. Whatever you do DON'T STUDY FROM MY STAT LAB. RADU makes the test in a manner in which there are almost no useful ways to study because the test questions are so different from the homework and stat lab problems. Overall one of the worst classes I ever taken with one of the worst professors.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/14/2010	Radu cares about his students, but he FAILS in all respects. The test questions are completely different from what is assigned for homework or given in discussions. Therefore, you can study as long as you like, but since you don't have the proper resources to prepare (no study guide or recommended problems!), it is FUTILE. In addition, the class has a focus on completing random formulas and doesn't actually enhance understanding of business statistics. It needs a major restructuring. Lectures are an incomprehensible waste of time, so don't bother going. It won't help you out on the tests. Advice: avoid him at all costs!!! This man doesn't know a thing about teaching and really won't help you understand statistics, which is truly an important thing to understand in the business world. If you are in honors, get into the honors section.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/13/2010	Lazar is not great, but he is not awful either. I found his lectures somewhat useful, once you got passed his thick accent. The course starts out very slow and simple and finishes at a rapid and difficult pace, so you have to keep up and not fall behind. His first test was very easy, but his second had an average around a 60, which he curved to an 80. He responds well when students do not too great. Homeworks once a week were repetitive and did not offer much help for his exams, which were fairly tricky. Overall, the dislike expressed toward Lazar is more of a product of BMGT230 and not him.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting a C Itzahckret 12/10/2010	HARDEST CLASS I EVER TOOK! At first it seemed easy, then I realized the class covers a chapter ever week, next thing I knew we had all these equations to know which made no sense to me. The homework is not hard, but completely useless because you use stat crunch which you are not allowed to use on the exams. Luckily the class grade is curved, so even though I earned a D I will get a C. Radu goes very quickly, and you need to sit in the front row to be able to read what he writes on the board. Attendance is not mandatory which is good for those who like to skip class.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/09/2010	Worse. Professor. Ever. It's so hard to pay attention to this guy with his accent. He takes a long time talking useless stuff to get to the main concept and when he does, he blazes through and expect students to understand. Everyone in the lecture is either 1. Sleeping, 2. Have no clue what's going on, 3. Feel dumber every lecture Oh and the homework is very annoying. You have to Stats Crunch, a very difficult tool that you have to use to calculate some answers. What's the point of using stat crunch when you can't even use it on the exam? Why bother require students to use stat crunch at all? The only way you learn in this class is by teaching yourself. This guy is horrible at teaching. I've had enough with Business school professors.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 jhmaple1 12/07/2010	Professor: Radu really knows his stuff and he's always repeating that his office hours are open. He doesn't really try to engage the students during class though. He puts powerpoints online as well as review problems for that chapter. Answers are not posted online so you do have to go to lecture to get those if you want. Somedays he'll go through the powerpoint fast and it's hard to learn that way but it's manageable. Course overall: I really took a liking to stats and Radu really brought that out of me. The course overall isn't that hard if you read the textbook or find some online supplementary information regarding the lesson he's covering. Stats overall is concept wise and isn't much of a equation-plug-and-chug course. Grades/Exams: There are 2 exams, both of which were not that hard as long as you really read the question carefully and know the concepts. If you don't know the material, it's somewhat doable as some of the questions are 'common sense'. (Ex: chances of getting an even number on a dice) He curved the second exam though because the ranges were so widely spread. Helped a lot. He also allows a 'cheat sheet' where you can post any equations or concepts on a loose-leaf paper but no example problems. Comes in handy during the tests. There are also online homeworks but he drops the lowest 2 grades out of either 11 or 12 assignments. (Right now we have 11 total). These online homeworks have a 'view an example' which is almost exactly like the problem you have to solve and really helps to give you guidelines as to how to solve the problem. These really helped me in studying for the exam. Discussions are mandatory because attendance is taken but as long as you show up on-time to 10-15 minutes late, you can get the full attendance points. TA's also give you a worksheet you get to keep and go over it in class. These worksheets helped a lot too in studying for the exams. Daily class life: Looked at powerpoints as he went through them during class and took notes on that specific slide. Although I recommend bringing paper and pencil as well for any graphs or tables which may be hard to type at the speed he's teaching/going. Overall impression: I learned a lot and I know that I'll be using statistics later on in my academic career. Radu really knew his material and I'm glad I took it with him. To me, this is one of those work decently hard classes and get an A. Fall behind a little bit, 1-3 chapters, and you could still manage a B, granted you catch up before the exam.
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting a C Anonymous 11/23/2010	statistics in general was very hard for me to understand at first, especially because of the wide variety of notation. Radu moves fairly quickly through his powerpoints. several times i had to go online to check what i hadnt had time to write down. BMGT230 took alot of work but he curved both the second midterm, which most of the class bombed, and the final grade. he wants you to do well, but the subject is very tough
Radu Lazar BMGT230 Expecting an A- ebednarc 11/07/2010	An online homework is assigned each week for 10% of final grade, it's difficult to score under a 90%. Just showing up to discussion every week is worth 10%, and he allows you to miss 2 without a reduction of the grade. 2 Midterms account for 23% each, and a final for 34%. Radu allows students a double sided 8.5x11" reference sheet for each exam, and 2 for the final. Overall, with decent amount of input and good work ethic, an A shouldn't be out of reach.