This class is a hot mess. just a perfect class to ring in 2021 in that respect.
I like math, math isn't reading equations at people. This is not a math class. If it was it would at least have a textbook it follows or be better presented with mappings to the books it does use. Instead it's here are some topics we'll cover and three textbooks that aren't bad and they might cover it but they might not. And if they do definitely not the same way we do.
Presentations have clearly been redone, probably better than they used to be.
Two modules were switched in order, some material was dropped from a unit. The homework wasn't updated to reflect that change.
Too few TAs for the class, this was admitted to. If I could suggest it would be that first fixing the course structure might make people more willing to be a TA and secondly that doing so might increase the number of students who are even eligible to be TAs for the class.
TAs have literally told people videos on YouTube are a better way to learn some of this material.
Practice tests don't have worked solutions, so if you miss a question good luck figuring out why. Because some of the TAs don't know. Some give conflicting answers to questions.
Practice tests included questions TAs knew would not be tested. Just space fillers to make the practice test longer.
Some test questions are ambiguous, and ambiguity will be held against the student when this occurs.
Format for final seems to have been changed in the weeks leading up to the final, but with no prep in how to do that type of test/report.
Relative weight for the different parts of the final was not known even after the finals week started.
The final exam this semester for 85 minutes of multiple choice followed by a separate 245 minute hour coding exam/report. Yes the final for a three credit class was five and a half hours. This is absurd.
I've taught college level courses. Part of a good course is that you communicate what is important (tested) by what you focus on. You communicate what people will be evaluated on by what you previously tested on. This is a principle of fairness. Its fine to combine two things on a later test, or make the questions harder, that is still "fair". But when a test includes a concept which was barely touched on in lectures, not practiced in homework, not given the figurative "foot stomp" to indicate a student needs to know how to do that particular thing, then adding it to a test doesn't just feel unfair it is unfair. The idea "everything is fair game" is a lazy answer meant to cover for poor teaching practices.
The advice I would give the people designing this course (and all at GA Tech actually). You should design and write your final exam before the rest of the course. You need to have it written before the class even starts. You then go though the final and ensure ever item on it is something you have assigned in some way. You then do the same for every other test. This is literally the textbook way to ensure you teach what you test. This is how you give a fair test. It can be hard, it can be challenging, but it should never feel like a concept was barely covered, or only given a passing reference. But in this class, and others at GA Tech, TAs (who allegedly wrote the tests) and Professors (who might have written or just approved the final) prepare the final a week before the final starts and tests just before the tests get given. Go speak to your colleagues who actually study education, this is BAD.
I think what I learned in this class was not to take Time Series Analysis from GA Tech. Seriously, don't take this class. Spend the money on a different class. Find a school where you can do a one-off for time series analysis. It'll cost more but it can't be worse and a good chance it will be better.
I think I'll avoid Dr. Serban's other courses if she has any. I like her well enough, she was very friendly in office hours and helpful. But she's just not a good instructor or course designer if this class is any example. (I also took her Regression course which was bad but not this bad).
I expect I'll be getting a low A to middle B in this class before any curve applied (which is a pretty good score in this class). It isn't as though I didn't learn or do well, it is just that bad of a class even people who do relatively well don't like it.