Many students wonder why they are being forced to take a course in statistics and worry that they will not succeed in the course. As odd as it may seem to you at the beginning of your academic career, a person really cannot understand psychology at all unless they have a basic understanding of statistics. Even if statistics doesn’t seem relevant to your career goal, you need to understand statistics to understand psychology. As for doing well in the course, anyone can! You don’t have to know a lot about math, because the math in statistics doesn’t get much more complicated than order of operations (remember BEDMAS?). Besides, your professor will start the course with a review of the math you need to know, and then move onto the very basics of statistics. You’ll be fine (even if you haven’t taken data management at high school or don't consider yourself a ‘math person’) as long as you do the work. Staying on top of the workload is more important in this course than any other.
TIPS To Succeed in Stats (2F23)
It’s a stats class, not a math class! Lots of ‘non math’ people do well in stats! You don’t need to know how to do any complicated math to understand statistics.
Don’t allow yourself to get behind. You need to understand early concepts to understand what’s coming next.
Go to lecture and seminar. This stuff is hard to learn on your own.
Do your homework. In stats, practice makes perfect!
Ask for help the moment you don’t understand. Chances are you aren’t the only one who doesn’t understand something. Go to seminar and ask your teaching assistant!
Go to office hours. Professors and Teaching Assistants have office hours for a reason, and that time can be very lonely when students don’t come with questions. This is your chance to get one-on-one help from a qualified professional - take advantage of it!