I would highly recommend taking a class in R before taking this class. I did my homework problems in excel but I'm sure it would have been a lot easier in another language. Math people will like this class, but I've heard some complaints from people who only want to learn the software and don't care about fully understanding the underlying equations. The tests are straight from the material he provides, no surprises, but most everyone in the class was still there when the time was up at the end of the final.