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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Fundamentals of Quantitative Modeling by University of Pennsylvania

4.6
stars
8,721 ratings

About the Course

How can you put data to work for you? Specifically, how can numbers in a spreadsheet tell us about present and past business activities, and how can we use them to forecast the future? The answer is in building quantitative models, and this course is designed to help you understand the fundamentals of this critical, foundational, business skill. Through a series of short lectures, demonstrations, and assignments, you’ll learn the key ideas and process of quantitative modeling so that you can begin to create your own models for your own business or enterprise. By the end of this course, you will have seen a variety of practical commonly used quantitative models as well as the building blocks that will allow you to start structuring your own models. These building blocks will be put to use in the other courses in this Specialization....

Top reviews

AP

Jun 15, 2019

Very clear and articulate explanation of the concepts. He doesn't skip a step in the sequencing ideas, drawing comparisons and differences, and illustrating both visually and story-telling. Excellent.

NC

Jul 30, 2019

Very nice course for beginner, the mathematic level is not high (around french baccalaureat) so available to everyone. I enjoyed a lot this course that show how simple math can be used in real life.

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1126 - 1150 of 1,656 Reviews for Fundamentals of Quantitative Modeling

By Tosin T

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Sep 17, 2022

By Yotio M M

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Jul 8, 2022

By Yoshihiro K

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Jan 21, 2017

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By Islam K

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Dec 7, 2016

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By Kumar B

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Aug 16, 2016

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By Bhaskar

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Jun 27, 2016

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By Shoaib A K

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May 8, 2016

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By José C d H

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Feb 16, 2017

The information in the course seems appropriate for an introductory level class and is presented clearly and in an understandable manner; the theoretical portion of the course is solid.

Having said that, the course could do with more exercises and practice tests in which you can apply and understand the formulas, how they are used, and why. The arithmetic component of the course felt glossed over and while that was not the focus of the course a few extra exercises could make things clearer and would not be a burden.

Fundamental knowledge of probability/statistics will help you better understand some of the concepts in the course, so if you have the time you could try checking those subjects before, or even while, studying this course.

Didactically, looking at the instructor's face for long periods of time gets tedious after a while, but this is just a minor issue.

By Jordan C

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Aug 18, 2023

There's a noticeable gap between the difficulty of the problems explored in the recorded lectures and some of the quiz questions. I was able to work through most of them because the majority of this course was a refresh of what I'd learned while earning my B.S. in Finance. That doesn't detract from the usefulness of the course--in fact I'd enrolled precisely because I wanted to sharpen that skill set. But I imagine this would be quite challenging for someone with absolutely no background in quantitative modeling already.

By Emma L

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Dec 25, 2017

I'd give 5 stars if only we can see answers & explanations after finishing the quiz. I understand why answers aren't shown, probably because it's to prevent people from memorising answers before re-attempt the quiz to get pass. However, this can be circumvented by showing answers to people who have passed for the first time - and not record scores after that. I've been frustrating with not knowing where I got wrong. Although I can ask in Forum, it's hard for me to replicate what the selected/unselected choices are.

By Michail T

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Oct 27, 2018

The content was very useful. The instructor is great and his presentations are very helpful. I rank this course with 4-stars because during the tests i couldn't see the explanations of my wrong answers. I have sent a ticket for an explanation but i haven't received an answer yet. Lastly, we haven't been tough how to transform back a log regression and i believe that you should add an extra presentation for math problems like this. Thank you for the knowledge, i am looking forward for the next course.

By Ajit S

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Apr 16, 2016

The course is informative and does its job of introducing the approach to modeling pretty nicely. It could be made more rigorous by going in-depth about probabilistic models, particularly the Monte Carlo simulations and the Markov models.

I would like to thank Prof. Richard Waterman and the Coursera team for making this course available. Prof. Waterman is precise and to the point. Those who find the video lectures to be slow paced (which includes me as well ) can watch it at 1.5-2X speed.

By Bogdan D

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Mar 20, 2016

The instructor is very good at explaining a wide range of notions used in business modeling, statistics and probability theory. Would have liked to get a bit more in-depth insight into certain topics but this course is called "Fundamentals of Quantitative Modeling" and does very good what is supposed to do.

The reason I am not giving it a perfect score is because I felt like the assignments were too easy and the videos were a bit too long relative to the amount of information provided.

By Margaret B

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Mar 9, 2016

Course provides a sound foundation in quantitative modeling. Instructor is clear and provides real world examples. I like that I could download the course powerpoint which allowed me to take notes while watching the videos. I feel confident about proceeding to the next course and hopefully through the entire specialization. The only reason I didn't give the course 5 stars is because I think there could be better tie-in with the e-book. I found the e-book to be marginally helpful.

By Damián R

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Jul 25, 2022

The model is very good and the presentation skills of the professor are excellent. The slidesdeck is also good quality but I have missed Excel models to see how the examples were calculated. Most of them are simple but sometimes, such as when dealing with regressions for log-log models or multiple regression, seeing the data and the calculation in Excel could help. Also, once the tests have been done, there is no way to see how wrong-answered questions could be answered.

By Ismayil

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Oct 16, 2017

Good course content however the course doesn't go in to the depth that I was expecting. This is a survey course for people who want a very high level introduction into the subject. If you are expecting something closer to a graduate level course then this course is not for you. If you want to simply familiarize yourself with the fundamentals to then further understand your gaps and further opportunities to improve in a particular subject then this is a good course.

By Onye C

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Nov 26, 2016

The is an excellent course. However, in the event someone takes the quiz and passes with only 1-3 questions incorrect, that the answers be displayed so that the student can rework the questions in their own time. Please note that the answers will only populate if the quiz is passed. That way those who fail will have to go back to their notes and review, without having the correct answers provided to them.

By Izan C S

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Aug 20, 2018

Great course if you want to go deep into quantitive modeling. I personally would have appreciated more examples and more interactive exercises to fully understand how to put all the theory (which is a lot) in practice, making it useful for the real world and to solve business decisions. Overall is good, estimate to dedicate 50% more time of what the course last, at least that is my experience.

By Ben W

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May 13, 2020

An interesting introduction into the quantitative modelling which served as a good platform for reviewing the basic modelling techniques widely employed. A grasp of applied mathematical concepts is valuable as the course does not go into depths on calculations however I expect those who continue on with the successive modules will have the chance to apply their knowledge to real life studies.

By Sada W

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Jun 8, 2020

Course content is great, give a nice overview of the entire modeling process which I lacked in school. Only thing (quite annoying though) is the speaking style of the professor, just wasn't for me. Feels like I hurried to complete the course just to saving myself from that voice. Definitely recommend the course though, since the content is great and seems like a good specialization series.

By Abhilasha

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Apr 3, 2020

actually, theres something i would like to ask

in the assignment part if you guys could provide the answer with solution later after clearing the test so that answers which are wrong or we couldn't do , we could get the concept and answer of it

also the assignment of module 3 and content doesnot match with each other

apart from the examples delivered no other examples of real life is clear

By royal j

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Apr 15, 2017

This was a very informative course. I personally would have liked the course to be a bit more intensive on the math side, but I can understand that the entire target audience may not necessarily feel the same. I think that the course could have gone in depth for other kind of models such a monte carlo, markov chains, probability trees as well. Apart from that the course was quite good.

By Mark J F

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Nov 22, 2021

Professor Waterman is skillful with his teaching, I was able to understand the course from a non business and mathematical major. There a just certain things that made it quite difficult for me was that Prof. Waterman has a slight habit of murmuring, so I have to repeat the video and some formulas that I didn't technically understand because wasn't discussed in a detailed manner.

By J R R D

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Mar 2, 2020

Very good course which provides of an overview of what fundamental of quantitative modeling is. The professor gives a practical examples in how to apply in real life the modeling. I think he is an excellent lecturer in this subject. I have seen these topics many years ago and now I have to review them and study to apply in my job and make my life easier and practical. Thanks!

By Ridhima J

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May 23, 2020

Course is overall nice and is essential if you want to have a strong base in financial concepts but I think log - log model is a little advanced and difficult for beginner I mean the other concepts are been explained so well that a beginner can try hands on in modelling , but I want to say I m grateful that I attended this course because it had made my roots way strong.