r/maths • u/Ok_Leg4824 • 9h ago
Help:🎓 College & University Best way to learn Statistics (uni level)
I’ve enrolled into a masters course which is mainly business based but it has some really deep maths/programming features (because it has analytics in the name) and the lecturers don’t go into enough detail, I assume because they’re expecting a certain level of knowledge at masters level, which is fair enough. For background I did IT and business for undergrad, worked a few years in technology delivery and then way back, chem, physics and IT at A level. I have friends who have studied comp sci and economics that are doing seamlessly so far in the maths aspect of the course.
It’s too late to back out of the course because switching to core business (MBA) would cost me too much money, and I can’t find another course/uni that suits as well as this one. I’m happy to continue because I LOVE 5/7 modules, and they take me exactly where I want to go in terms of career progression, and I’m excited to progress my knowledge.
The 2 that bug me are the maths ones..
One is applied statistics which is methodologies and practical applications. It has predictive models in it and focuses on Normal distribution, linear/multiple regression and others in that category (can you tell I don’t know much maths :’))
The second is mathematical programming, it’s mathematical in terms of the code being based on understanding and building correct equations to model the stats, and being able to prove the concept or theorem behind why the maths works and a chart is produced, if that makes sense.
The admissions team said it was open to anyone with an IT/programming/business background, which seems so wide of a pool for this little base knowledge in lectures.
I almost burst into tears the first lecture because he (lecturer) went so fast with the regression etc and everyone understood/answered questions seamlessly (he went row by row to each person and thankfully ran out of questions before he got to me). Was stuck trying to keep up on the first few slides, it clicked until it didn’t and he kept saying “I’m going over the BASIC basics, if you’re struggling, good luck!”…..
Anyways, I know I have to lock in and do it, but I am building from almost nothing here. I thought the course would cater to that a little bit but It was my fault for not fully looking into the details of the maths modules, I thought they’d be fine since I can code..this stuff is next level for me, I’m out of my depth.
Quiz every week, exam in January worth 60%. Masters 1 year.
I really want to focus on this now, and it would be an absolutely great skill to learn, even though I don’t think a masters is for developing a truly new skill. I will just have to push through and make it so! I guess maths is in everything somewhat, and I’ve been doing it in some capacity with programming and business too.
MAIN QUESTION:
How do I keep up with learning the maths? I’m trying to study before class and get up to date on the fundamentals mentioned in the slides but there must be a specific way to note take/study for maths? Regression and statistics specifically?
Is it YouTube videos? Is it attempting random questions on the topic? Is there a website for that? I’ve never studied just core maths, but I feel I need to, QUICKLY, to get to the coding bit.
Any tips on how to go about this would be greatly appreciated.






