Easiest Way To Learn Statistics

Learn how to survive and pass your college-level elementary statistics form.

For many college students, college is the start time you lot volition encounter statistics. And because of this, it may be one of the more than challenging classes you'll take as an undergraduate educatee.

In this guide to passing your college statistics class, I am going to walk you through everything yous need to know near taking statistics in college.

From the concepts you can await to acquire in form, study tips and tricks, and how to get assist for statistics, I'm here to guide you through it all.

As a college elementary statistics tutor and graduate student in a Master of Science in Applied Statistics program, I feel like I know a thing or two about passing, and fifty-fifty acing, a statistics course.

So without further-ado, allow'southward become started.

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Should I take a statistics class?

For near higher majors, you are likely to be required to take a statistics course whether y'all similar it or not.

For case, when I was an undergraduate, I majored in Psychology and was required to take an introduction to statistics course in order to accept higher level psychology classes.

But if yous have the choice to take statistics in higher, I would highly recommend it since statistics is one of the nigh applicable math classes you lot can take. I mean call back about it… nosotros see statistics everywhere!

From Facebook posts to newspapers, statistical data is used all the time to convince people to purchase things or to think or human action in a certain mode.

Taking a statistics class in higher can assistance you recall more critically about what you read on social media or see on Tv set and help you understand where the heck people become those numbers from.

Should I take statistics online or in person?

I would highly recommend taking your college statistics form in-person rather than online. Why?

For many college students, college is the first time they will encounter a total-fledged statistics course.

Every bit a outcome, the material you learn in a stats course has a steep learning curve because there's a lot of concepts and terminology that are very different than algebra or trigonometry, which are classes you've taken since at least high school.

Taking a statistics class in-person can help you learn and understand the concepts better considering you become to interact more with your professor. And there are less distractions in an in-person form versus an online class.

When I worked as a statistics tutor during the Autumn 2020 semester, I tutored a lot of students taking their intro to statistics class online and a lot of them mentioned having a difficult time learning the cloth on their own.

How do I set for a college statistics class?

Some colleges may crave you to take prerequisite (pre-req) form, similar college algebra, trigonometry, or precalculus, before taking your uncomplicated or introduction to statistics course.

However, other colleges may let you take it without a prerequisite course.

Whether or not y'all are required to take a pre-req course, I'd highly recommend at to the lowest degree taking college algebra earlier taking your first statistics grade.

In statistics, you'll need to have:

A basic understanding on how to manipulate formulas
The power to do basic calculations similar adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing
Conviction to work with numbers past hand and with a reckoner.

Your college algebra course should assist you gain those skills, so you tin focus on the more challenging concepts of statistics like:

Probability
Confidence intervals
Hypothesis testing

Is statistics hard in college?

Statistics is honestly like learning a new linguistic communication.

Information technology's unlike whatsoever math class you lot take taken before because it involves a lot of reading comprehension with a side of math.

How I explain it to people: Statistics is 60% reading, 40% math.

Meaning, if yous don't understand what the problem is request you lot to do or what to solve for, you're going to have a very difficult fourth dimension passing a statistics class in college.

In a statistics course, you lot'll come beyond a lot of word problems, so you'll need to be able to wearisome downwards, read, and extract the relevant data in order to solve the problem correctly.

Here's an example:

A researcher is collecting information on how much television the average 18-yr-old in the United States watches per week. They take a random survey of thirty xviii-twelvemonth-olds and observe that the mean average watch time is xv hours with a standard deviation of 3 hours. Given that the population mean is xvi hours per calendar week, is there enough evidence to conclude that the average amount of hours 18-year-olds watch television receiver per week is actually less than the reported population hateful?

Students who don't read this trouble carefully are likely to utilise the incorrect formula, and therefore, go the trouble wrong.

Is statistics harder than calculus?

Honestly, I think calculus is harder than statistics, but every student will have their own opinion on this.

Calculus is some other fauna in and of itself.

I consider it another "foreign language" of math if you take never even heard the words, for instance, "derivative" or "the Chain Dominion," in your life.

Is statistics easier than college algebra?

Most probable, you have taken some form of an algebra class since heart school or high school, then by college you should be pretty well adjusted to the rules and concepts of algebra.

With that being said, statistics volition probably be harder than college algebra, just it really depends how your brain works and how easy it is for you to adjust to a new way of looking at math.

To exist honest, I did not understand anything in my introduction to statistics class in college, still I did surprisingly well it.

I only started grasping the concepts of statistics in my research methods in psychology class.

But so I went on the pocket-sized in statistics and even did a statistics research projection and that's when information technology truly clicked for me.

What do you learn in statistics course?

Statistics covers a wide variety of topics.

Some topics y'all may have heard of before, but hither's a list of what topics y'all tin can expect to learn in your outset higher statistics course:

Population vs sample information
Categorial vs numerical data
Variable types
Visualization of data (scatterplots, bar charts, steam and foliage plot, box and whiskers plot, etc.)
Measures of key tendency (mean, median, and manner)
Measures of dispersion (variance, standard deviation, and range)
Probability
Correlation and regression
Confidence intervals
The normal distribution
Hypothesis testing

How to become help for statistics

If you currently are struggling in a statistics class, I would highly recommend getting assist before it's too tardily.

When information technology comes to getting help in your statistics class, you have several options:

Get assistance from your professor
Get a tutor on-campus or off-campus
Employ a service similar Chegg Study
Watch YouTube or Khan Academy videos
Use any assistance features in your online homework tool (Connect Math, Aleks, etc.)

Getting help from your professor

The best resources for getting assist in your stats class is your professor.

At the end of the day, they're instruction you the concepts how they want y'all to learn information technology, so why not become assist straight from the hand that feeds you?

You can inquire questions in course, ask your professor your questions right later on class, or go to their role hours for additional aid.

I'yard sure your professor would love to assistance you in learning any statistical concept you are having difficulty with, but if you are finding your professor more disruptive than helpful then consider getting a tutor.

Getting aid from an on-campus or off-campus tutor

Going to your professor for help can exist quite nerve wracking or may be challenging if you have a busy schedule that doesn't fit your professor's part hours.

Getting a tutor, either on-campus or off-campus, can exist a corking flexible option and allows you to become help from someone who's already taken the class earlier or well-versed in the subject.

If you have to choice whether to become to an on-campus or an off-campus tutor, I would choose to go to an on-campus tutor start.

Why?

You pay for on-campus tutoring services in your tuition and fees, then this is a "gratuitous" service you can take reward of
On-campus tutors are required accept had made an A in the class, so they truly know what they're doing
Some on-campus tutors are even graduate students, like myself, and then they are well-versed in the subject they are tutoring
Tutors are students themselves, so they tend to exist more than compassionate and agreement most your struggles in statistics and in college

However, if on-campus tutoring is non an selection, for whatever reason, you lot can find an off-campus tutor past asking your friends and family members, looking a bulletin boards posted around campus, or through a simple Google search.

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Using Chegg study

If you demand additional help to your professor's office hours or tutoring or you merely don't accept the time to do either ane of the latter, then Chegg Report is a great pick.

I personally accept used Chegg Study in my graduate level Statistics Methods grade and it was a total lifesaver!

I went from making a 70 on my first quiz to a 89 on my 2nd quiz thanks to Chegg Study.

Using Chegg Report, you get access to on-demand textbook and homework step-past-footstep solutions to help you learn and sympathise difficult concepts on your own time. You can click here to check out Chegg Study for yourself. I absolutely love it and I bet you volition too.

If your statistics textbook is making your caput spin from all the mathematical jargon, I'd recommend trying out this textbook. It's complimentary to download and is by OpenStax, which is based at Rice University.

Scout videos on YouTube or Khan Academy

Every bit hard as your professor tries to brand statistical concepts make sense, information technology tin can withal be challenging, especially if it really feels like statistics is a foreign language to you.

And sometimes, the instructor-educatee connectedness is just not there!

I've been at that place before, in my Statistics Methods class… my professor's lectures always went over my caput because she'due south from an engineering groundwork, then she speaks in very technical terms.

If you lot're having a similar experience, sometimes it can help learning the concepts from another perspective.

On YouTube, I'd recommend watching videos past Brandon Foltz. He explains basic statistics concepts and so well and he takes you step-by-step through easy to understand examples.

I've likewise heard dandy things nearly ZedStatistics on YouTube from another graduate student in my master's program.

Khan Academy also has an entire library of videos about statistics and probability that you can access for gratis anytime you'd like.

Use the help features embedded in your online homework tool

Near likely, your college statistics homework will be done using a tertiary-party website like Aleks or ConnectMath.

Both websites have tools to assistance you larn how to solve the problem and step-past-step instructions for each problem you come beyond.

Using these tools can help you impact up on concepts yous may have missed in form or did not fully empathise, so I would highly recommend using them if you are stuck on a homework problem.

However, sometimes these programs' help tools use a different method to solve a trouble than your professor. This may end up disruptive you more, so rather than be frustrated, go straight to the source for help–meaning your professor or the teaching assistant if your class has ane.

What is the all-time mode to written report statistics?

Just like whatever math class you have taken, the best fashion to written report for a statistics quiz or test is to do as many practice problems as possible.

Get comfy reading and working problems with unlike scenarios and ways of phrasing the same concept.

Also, the more practice you do, the more confident you will become in your abilities to practise the calculations by hand and in the calculator.

But across doing practice issues until you're blue in at that place face, hither are 8 tips and tricks to help you survive statistics.

1. Never miss class

This goes for any class honestly… but if you lot want to be successful in college, peculiarly a math-based class, then you demand to show upwardly and participate at every class meeting.

Missing grade tin can set you dorsum in your ability to succeed and it can be hard to catch back up one time you lot have fallen behind.

If you exercise need to a miss a class, for any reason, try to:

Observe a classmate at the beginning of the semester who you can trust to send you class notes
Adjust a meeting with your professor, explain your state of affairs, and see if they would be willing to requite you an abridged version of the concept(south) you missed
Exist prepared to seek out tutoring

If your class is online and synchronous, you may be able to get abroad with missing a class or two, specially if the lecture videos are uploaded subsequently class.

But at the end of the twenty-four hours, nothing is better than attending a lecture in existent time with your professor and classmates.

ii. If your class is online, treat information technology like an in-person class

Going off of the previous tip, if your class is a synchronous online grade, meaning you take a scheduled online meeting time with your professor and classmates, treat it like an in-person course.

This means:

Don't play on your telephone or surf the internet while the lecture is in session
Don't log into the lecture and then walk away to "fake" your omnipresence
Print out any course materials, guided notes, etc. and follow forth with your professor merely like y'all would do in an in-person class

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iii. Practice equally many do issues as you can

I'm repeating this tip because it is so important!

Math and statistics classes are not the kind of class where you tin can just listen, watch your professor solve bug, and and so instantly sympathize what is going on.

Instead, these classes very much like playing sports or learning how to play an instrument.

Pregnant, if you desire to become ameliorate at it, you have to actively exercise!

So practice as many problems equally you can.

Exercise homework problems, textbook problems, in-class problems, and whatever additional practice issues your professor provides you.

For example, the professor who advises my graduate didactics assistantship uploads and shares previous quiz questions in the grade of additional practice problems.

Students who do not exercise these problems miss out on a huge opportunity to get familiar with the types of questions that could be on a future test or quiz.

And so if your professor uploads extra practice problems, go ahead and practice them. Y'all never know when the same or a similar problem could show up on a future test or quiz.

iv. Go aid as soon as yous start struggling

With statistics being such a new type of math for many higher students, it is easy to become tripped upwardly on concepts and start falling behind in the grade.

If y'all discover yourself struggling to understand something, fifty-fifty if it is every bit simple equally parameter vs statistic, get help and get your confusions straightened out ASAP.

Once more, y'all have so many resources on-campus, and even off-campus, to go help in statistics. And then utilise them to your reward!

Whether y'all get to your professor for help, a tutor, lookout some videos online, or utilise a service like Chegg Written report, there are always ways to become assistance that will fit your schedule and condolement level.

A very handy resource I've recently constitute for learning statistics is Penn State's STAT 500 online class. It'southward a complimentary resources that takes you through bones statistics concepts in "plain english."

5. Slow down and carefully read every single problem

Statistics is different any other math class you take taken before.

Instead of being given something to solve like this:

10 = 2x + 5

Where yous accept to solve for X, you are instead expected to read, interpret, and solve give-and-take problems with a bunch of statistics jargon (I like to call them keywords) like population hateful, sample standard difference, and confidence level.

If y'all don't slow down and read the trouble, you could piece of cake make a mistake or misinterpret the problem altogether.

And once you've misunderstood what a trouble is asking you to do, there's no way you'll get a right answer.

And then when you are solving whatever problem in a statistics class:

Slow downwards and read the entire problem and so read information technology over again
Use a pencil or pen and underline central phrases or words
Write down the relevant information you need to solve the problem in the margin of your newspaper
Show your work for each problem, step-by-step

By showing your work for each trouble, especially on a quiz or a test, you do have the potential to earn fractional credit even if you get the concluding answer wrong.

And some professors may even deduct points if you don't show your piece of work, so always, always ever, show your work!

half dozen. If you become the opportunity to utilise a "cheatsheet" on a test or quiz, practice working problems with it beforehand

At least at my academy, a lot of statistics professors permit students to utilise one side of notebook paper or an index card to make a "cheatsheet" to apply on a quiz or test.

Instead of writing your cheatsheet the day earlier, try to create it at least 2-3 days before the cess and practice using information technology while working practice problems.

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Past practicing problems with your cheatsheet beforehand, y'all'll get used to finding the data you need to solve the problems faster. Every bit a result, this tin help you experience less broken-hearted and more confident during test or quiz time.

vii. Acquire how to do calculations by hand and in your estimator

1 of the all-time ways to learn statistics is by doing hand calculations. Why?

Because you ACTUALLY acquire how each number operates in the formula. And you can't acquire that passively punching buttons on your calculator.

For case, when I was taking my research methods in psychology and experimental design in psychology class equally an undergrad, my professors would NOT allow us to use a scientific computer at all.

We could but use a simple 4-function calculator.

And although it was torture at times, information technology actually helped me acquire the bodily process of statistics and empathize each formula on a deeper level. In other words, I wasn't just "plugging and chugging" and hoping I got information technology right. I actually understood what I was doing.

However, as much as you need to know how to do hand calculations, information technology is also important to know how to utilize your calculator correctly.

Your calculator can certainly come in handy when you are running depression on time on a quiz or test or as a tool to double cheque your answers.

And if you lot're looking for a good reckoner for college or your first statistics class, I'd highly recommend a TI-84. But at the end of the day, become with whatever your professor recommends you getting for the class.

8. Create a statistics notebook to serve as a reference guide

Statistics, like any math course, has a ton of dissimilar concepts and formulas you'll demand to keep rails of. Simply it can be piece of cake for all of this valuable data to get lost in your notes.

And so I would recommend creating a special statistics notebook separate from your in-course notes.

In this notebook y'all can write downwardly:

Formulas
Statistics vocabulary or terminology
Statistics symbol guide (alpha, mu, p, p-lid, etc.)
Issues yous have solved with a step-by-step solution
Instructions on how to use the unlike STAT functions on your computer

This notebook is intended to be a reference guide for you, and then if you finish up having a cumulative final, you can easily refresh your memory without having to dig through months worth of lecture notes.

How tin I pass a statistics test without studying?

I always recommend studying for your exams, but if you demand a way to laissez passer without studying, then brand sure yous:

Pay really skilful attending in class
Attend every class lecture
Work through the in-class issues with your professor, aka, don't just watch and listen, actually put your pencil downwardly on newspaper and work the problems with them
Do all your assigned homework problems
And honestly…have a natural talent at math

Truthfully, it'due south going to be very challenging to pass a statistics exam without studying.

Information technology's simply non possible, in my feel, unless yous've had experience with these types of bug before in high school or even middle school.

And so rather than try to take the easy way out, written report.

It'll pay dividends later in the semester when you aren't scrambling to find ways to earn extra credit or emailing your professor the twenty-four hour period final grades are due begging for a course bump from a D to a C.

Last thoughts on how to pass your higher statistics class

Introduction to statistics or elementary statistics will virtually probable be a grade unlike any other you take taken in college or in high school.

It'due south a challenging course with a lot of concepts mixed with algebra and reading comprehension.

And unfortunately for some students, they will struggle to keep upward with the rigor of a college-level stats class.

But, you lot tin can ease the feet and stress of taking statistics in higher by using the tips and tricks mentioned in today's weblog post. I truly hope you establish this blog post informative and actionable.

And if you accept whatever additional questions about taking statistics in college, delight do not hesitate to get out a comment down below.

As a graduate student doing a Primary of Scientific discipline in Applied Statistics, statistics is my jam and I pretty much live and breathe it 24/7. And so please, don't hesitate to contact me or annotate down below if you have any questions.

Cheers for reading about how to pass your introduction to statistics grade in college.

Juliet Meiling graduated in 2018 with her Available of Science in Psychology with a minor in Statistics. She was a Sister of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority from 2016-2018 and now currently works as a Graduate Education Assistant while attention graduate school total-time to earn her Masters of Science in Practical Statistics. To learn more click here.