Biostats

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How many of you have taken a biostatistics course? I'm in grad school and this is my first statistics course of any kind and damn is it hard! I have to really concentrate to figure out what I'm doing and it still takes forever. I'm sure it would be easier if I weren't such a horrible student (I'm regularly like 8 chapters behind on the homework and I miss half the classes), but I think I'd still feel like it's complicated even if I were a better student. Fuck - I'm not used to this. :?


Don't get me wrong; I still have the highest grade in the class.

gimmesometruth27

i hated stats. i took 2 courses in undergrad and 2 in grad school. i hated that shit. and in my career the only time i ever use stats is if i read a medical journal and it talks about statistical significance at the alpha etc...for me the problem was not the math, ok that was part of the problem, but the interpretation of the data was the bigger issue for me.

i can see how it would be useful if i were conducting research or something, but i have been out of school for 11 years and if i was going to publish something i would have done it years ago.

mca47

I took Biostats when I was in college. Not a fan!!!!
I think it was mostly because I didn't care. I had Advanced Molecular Genetics, Ad Cell Phys, etc., at the time which (I was told) was horribly harder but it was a piece of cake compared to BIostats...and I'm awesome with mathematics. Again...I didn't give a crap about stats.

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I'm historically good at math, but I don't think I've taken a math class since 1995. I think I'm just having trouble concentrating. It's like I have to think really hard to figure out what the hell they're talking about. And then I figure it out and do the problem, but then I could be asked to do the same problem a week later and again I wouldn't have the slightest idea what they're talking about. I'm so forgetful; it's like my brain has holes in it and everything just leaks right out. I also think I can't focus as well as I did when I was younger. I don't know if it's a function of age, or because my job takes up so much more time & mental energy, or what. I'm just way more scattered than I used to be. I think if I were dropped onto a deserted island with nothing but food and a biostats book and nothing else to worry about, I'd probably learn this stuff better. I just hate that I have to think so hard about it. I'm too old for thinking! I wonder if this is what my mom's students feel like (she teaches special ed).

Anyone else having this problem as they get older?