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STAT 337Introduction to Biostatistics

Units
0.50
Faculty
Mathematics
Subject
Statistics

When it runs

  1. F24
  2. W25
  3. S25
  4. F25
  5. W26
  6. S26
  7. F26
  8. W27
  9. S27

Ran in 5 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: not on the schedule. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.

This course will provide an introduction to statistical methods in health research. Topics to be covered include types of medical data, measures of disease prevalence and incidence, age and sex adjustment of disease rates, sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic tests, ROC curves, measures of association between risk factors and disease, major sources of medical data in the Canadian context including surveys, registries, and clinical studies such as cohort studies, clinical trials and case-control studies. Papers from the medical literature will be used throughout to illustrate the concepts. Introduction to SAS for data analysis and an introduction to database management tools.

Prerequisites

  • Complete 1 of the following
    • Must have completed at least 1 of the following:
      • STAT231 - Statistics (0.50)
      • STAT241 - Statistics (Advanced Level) (0.50)
    • Earned a minimum grade of 60% in each of the following:
      • STAT221 - Statistics (Non-Specialist Level) (0.50)

Antirequisites

  • Not completed nor concurrently enrolled in any of the following:
    • HLTH333 - Principles of Epidemiology (0.50)

Leads to

No course lists it as a requisite.

Fall 2026 sections

Enrolment from UW Open Data, which can trail Quest by up to two days. Instructors and rooms: Schedule of Classes.
SectionClassEnrolledMeets
LEC 001620186 / 150MW 13:00–14:20
TUT 101620286 / 150F 11:30–12:20

Reviewed on UW Flow

93% liked it85% easy85% useful

From 27 ratings and 9 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.

  • Good introduction course for biostatistics. The calculations usually aren't very complicated (stat 231 knowledge like chi-squared tests and confidence intervals are used a lot). The interpretation of results is usually where the challenge lies. The course was almost entirely application based with one or two theory problems in the entire course. Be prepared to read a lot for the assignments. Both midterm and final were fairly straightforward with the final being slightly more challenging but still similar to the midterm. The course also used SAS for some assignment problems but this mostly consisted of modifying the code from the tutorial slightly and was very simple. SAS questions on the…

    Aug 2024 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Solid statistics course that isn't too difficult. Significantly more wordy than other statistics courses but assignments and tests are heavily computational and do not depend on theory. My experience with this course is heavily "plug and chug" computations, but course content was still interesting as you learn a lot of real-life application of statistics. There are a lot of formulas and things for memorization, but my instructor gave us cheat sheets for the midterm and final. The SAS coding tutorials were a bit useless since it was never tested or included on assignments.

    Dec 2023 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • This course is a good overview into statistics in a medical setting. Most of it feels more like a health course, with concepts like medical study design, bias, infectious diseases, etc. The actual math was very straightforward and simple. A few more difficult concepts, but they were not emphasized. Can be a little boring at times, especially if you have taken a health course before or have prior knowledge about some of the topics, but is still good information to have if you want to work adjacent to healthcare, and some topics were certainly interesting to think about, especially because they are so applicable. There would have been a lot to memorize but the instructor for Fall 2023 allowed…

    Dec 2023 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • This course is very interesting. However, there are huge amounts of questions on midterm and final exams with an average of around 65. Cecilia is a very good and engaged professor.

    Jan 2023 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Really long and tedious course. For some reason there was a final project AND a final exam, which is also not that reasonable. The concepts in the course were useful for the real world though. I believe the final exam had an average of approx. 60-65 since it was so long.

    Jan 2022 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this

Discussed on r/uwaterloo

146 posts and comments in 100 threads mention STAT 337, July 2015 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.

Fall 2024

STAT 337 2 points, 1 comment

u/threethousandstars: “Thinking of switching into this course--any opinions on this course, and does anyone have the course outline? How's the prof/lectures? UW Flow doesn't have any reviews for them.”

u/are_you_a_walrus: “… I did way better in stat337 than in stat231, so consider that. I took it with Alla Slynko, and she did a good job teaching the course. …”

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Spring 2024

Easy UW electives 4 points, 0 comments

u/Own_Lengthiness3563: “I have to take three math electives in the fall term and I am confused between the following electives. I am looking to take easy electives and thus, would need some guidance on which ones to take. I am confused between PMATH 340 and stat 337. Math 229 and amath 231. Amath 351.”

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STAT 337 Final Thread 9 points, 0 comments

u/Adorable_Welcome_906: “I'm curious what people's thoughts are on the final exam. For me, it felt very long and the question where we had to compute the life table took forever. Everything else was challenging but not all that much worse than the assignments. How does everyone feel about it?”

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300/400 Math courses for Fall 3 points, 1 comment

“Does anyone have any upper year math course recommendations for the upcoming fall term that are not very difficult or have no final exam/take home exams?”

u/Laeriana: “CS 330, CS 338 and STAT 337 might be good options to look into! It's been a while since I've taken them personally, so I'm not sure how my own experiences in these courses might be helpful or how things may have changed, but I hope this gives you a starting point. …”

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Easiest math courses? 5 points, 13 comments

“Hey everyone, I'm just finishing up my 2B and I was wondering what the easiest math courses are that are 200/300/400. …”

u/Le9GagNation: “If you liked the content in stats, STAT 337 (Intro to Biostatistics) is really easy math-wise and pretty interesting content with applications!”

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Stats 3A course sequence? 3 points, 2 comments

“What courses should I take for stats 3A in the fall? I'm very confused as I know what's required but don't have any context about how doable the workload for the courses I'm considering taking is. …”

u/Extension-Annual1158: “In my 3A, I took STAT 330, 331, 332, 337 and one elective. I really liked STAT 337 because there was very little theory and we got to see how stats is applied in the medical field. Also, it's a bird course. It was pretty easy to achieve a 90+ grade. …”

u/Changuyen: “Take stat 331, 332 or 330, 341 or 337, + any 331 -> 443 331 + 332 -> 430 331 + 330 -> 431 331, 341 -> 44x 337 -> bird 333 is hell on earth idk what advice to give u”

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Fall 2023

Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026

Calendar versions

Undergraduate Calendar