Customer Reviews

Statistics (Cliffs Quick Review)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One of the best summaries of basic statistics: this is how I see this brief book. It gets straight to the point without unnecessary verbiage and irrelevant exercises cooked up by authors of some enormous volumes on statistics that serve to confuse and intimidate rather than teach. This book won't give you detailed explanations of statistical concepts, but there is enough here to supply any beginner with a lot of good understanding of basic statistical techniques, and the book will give an intermediate user a nicre refresher course.

I am taking Stat 244 after taking the first class 5 years ago. I needed a review to catch up, but I am finding that this is much more comprehensible than the textbook and the instructor. Nice and straight forward... Makes you wonder why you need to spend $80+ for a used textbook in college when you can learn it more efficiently from this little guy... THANK YOU!!!!!!

Having taken a competitive promotional exam three years ago, I was desperate to find some statistics book I could read and remember without touching the two textbook albatrosses that added unnecessary weight to my bookshelf. This was it.

After reading this my confidence increased the "confidence level" in which I calculated that there was a good probability that I would pass the test among a large, non-random population. (People never get "random" right. I wonder why).

It is also a great little review since probability is one of the fastest things to escape my long-term memory, and I can grab this little yellow and black-striped gem for easy recollection and consumption. It states things easily and simply--just the way I like it. It is very easy to follow. (I gave away the expensive versions.)

The odds are this will be your best bet. This book is much better than the average.

This book reviews the basics of "descriptive" statistics very well. Because of this, it is great for the intro stats student. Although it touches on regression, it does not cover the analytical areas very well.

So, if you only have that high school or one semester stats course to get through, buy this book.

This book should be read before any of the weighty tomes that masquerade as statistical wisdom.Once you have mastered the contents of this brief book,go along to the others-they'll make sense.I recommend this book for all types of audiences-school,college and business refresher. Cliff's should come out with volume 2 covering additional topics.

This book is a condensed review of statistics, without laborious examples. It can be used as a refresher or supplement to a more verbose introductory primer. It is perfect for a high school or a one semester introductory stats course.

i am a somewhat numbers-phobic graduate student. the last math related class i took was six years ago... so i was very intimidated by my stats class this semester. it was frustrating to me that i had to spend a lot of time re-reading the long and dense chapters of my stats textbook and was still confused after doing so. in desperation, i ordered cliffs quick review of statistics and i can honestly say within 2 days of having this book i understand my stats class so much more. the night before my class i read the chapters of this book that corresponded to the chapters in my textbook. rather than blankly staring at the professor while he lectured i actually understood what he was saying and even answered a question correctly in class. this book gives me confidence that i know the material. it makes things easy to understand and doesn't take a lot of time to get through. it is perfect if you are just looking for a strong introduction to statistics. it's also very, very reasonably priced- i definitely feel like i got my money's worth.

Cliff's Quick Review of Statistics is a good supplement
to any Stat course, and should be kept as a reference.
Good intro text. It ought to be required.

For non-quantitative concepts, presented for the layman,
get the classic "How to Lie With Statistics" by Huff.

I bought this looking for an explanatory guide for a basic, undergraduate statistics class. I was looking for something to (quickly) fill in the gaps whenever I didn't understand a concept. For this purpose, it is fairly useless. The explanations are confusing, and have a habit of leaving huge holes in their discussion of various topics. While I wasn't looking for a huge, in-depth explanation of every single topic discussed, the authors of this Cliff Notes book oversimplify to the point that their explanations lead to further misunderstanding and confusion. As a disclaimer, math really isn't my thing; however, I can usually understand something fairly easily if the topic is explained in a comprehensive way. For the average college undergrad, it really is a waste of the $5.00 you'll pay for it, which is saying something. I also bought The Complete Idiot's Guide to Statistics, 2nd Edition [Paperback], which I would recommend. Of course, neither of these books replace an actual person sitting down to go over and personally explain a topic or concept, but the Idiots Guide is a far more valuable resource. Usually I find the star rating system on amazon to be very helpful and accurate; that is not the case for this book.

This book provides a nice summary of statistics, prior to engaging in actual coursework. After reading it and completing all of the practice problems, it serves as a handy reference to supplement your textbook and homework problems. Personally, I've re-read it several times, since the knowledge isn't retained overnight. Whenever I'm rusty on a particular topic, I'll re-read that chapter. While finishing the guide is a good place to begin a study of statistics, you need to continue on to other, more comprehensive sources next. After completing this book, I next read The Complete Idiot's Guide to Statistics, 2nd Edition, which took my understanding to the next level. Now my college textbook makes so much more sense to me, and is easier to digest. This CliffsQuickReview of Statistics is limited in scope, especially with more advanced topics. It does touch a bit on correlation, linear regression, and chi-square testing. However, it doesn't get into topics such as goodness of fit, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and the F distribution.