2019/2020 Sem 2: ST 4248 Policies

Last updated on
January 13, 2020

1 Prerequisites
• ST3248 AND ST3131

2 Preclusion
• ST4240

3 Content
• [Catalog blurb] Statistical learning is a large collection of computer-based modelling
and prediction tools with applications in diverse fields including business, medicine,
astrophysics, and public policy. This series of two modules covers many of the popular
approaches for a variety of statistical problems. There is heavy emphasis on the imple-
mentation of these methods on real-world data sets in the popular statistical software
package R. Part I gives a broad overview of the common problems as well as their most
popular approaches. Topics include linear regression model and its extensions, clas-
sification methods, resampling methods, regularisation and model selection, principal
components and clustering methods.

• [Catalog blurb for ST4248] Part II builds on the knowledge in Part I, introducing more
tools. This includes generalizations and extensions of some of the tools covered in Part
I, but also entirely different approaches. Topics include non-parametric smoothing
methods, tree based methods, support vector machines, neural networks and ensemble
learning.

• The blurb is a very accurate description of what we will be attempting to go over.

• Textbooks used

– “An Introduction to Statistical Learning with Applications in R” by James et al.

1st Edition 2013, 7th printing 2017.

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 – “The Elements of Statistical Learning” by Hastie, Tibshirani, Friedman. 2nd
Edition. (Reference)

• We will be following ISLR parts very closely.

4 Assessment
• 40% Final Exam

• 30% Project

– Work in groups up to 3.
– Grading components:
∗ 3 min proposal presentation (10%) (Week 8),
∗ two-page proposal (20%) (Week 9),
∗ 10 min presentation (30%) (Week 12),
∗ final report (40%).
– Proposal and presentations to be peer graded.
– More details to come.

• 20% Assignments

– Four ongoing assignments. (similar to ST3248)

– Two exam-style assignments (take-home).

• 10% Attendance

– Attendance will be taken when any of the following takes place:

∗ Tutorial discussions (dates provided with tutorial sheet).
∗ Project presentations (not just yours).
∗ Attendance < 50%.
– The attendance grade will then be based on the proportion of attendance taken.

5 Lectures
• Lectures begin at 0815hrs sharp and end around 0930hrs.

• You should be in your seats at the start time, not streaming in.

• Lecture notes will be posted on LumiNUS before the lecture. This is to facilitate note
taking. You are not expected to read ahead on your notes.

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 • You are encouraged to raise questions during lecture.

• Lectures will be webcasted. However, please note that this is primarily for revision
purposes. Please do not rely on its availability as it may take up to 3 working days to
be processed and uploaded.

6 Tutorials
• You are expected to complete them remotely.

• Rolled into lecture time slots, following feedback from ST3248.

• Discussed on select days during lecture slot. Pre-specified on tutorial handout.

• Suggested solutions will be posted following tutorial sessions.

• Assignments will be on the tutorial sheet, and will be grouped for submission for
grading.

7 Assignments
• Softcopy submission via LumiNUS.

• PDF format.

• R code not required unless specified.

8 LumiNUS Discussion Forum and Shared Resources

• The LumiNUS discussion forum is a useful tool for students to have meaningful dia-
logues about the course material.

• Students are encouraged to ask and answer questions.

• You are free to discuss tutorials and assignments, but refrain from just asking for
answers.

• I will answer questions on LumiNUS, hopefully after some student discussion.

• There is an upload folder named “Student Shared Resources” in LumiNUS. Upload

articles, links, study aids, and anything that (however remotely) relates to the class.
Please be mindful about copyrights.

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9 Consultation
• Do make use of the discussion forum first.

• Please keep email correspondences to the minimum.

• I will be available for short questions after lectures.

• For longer questions, please schedule consultation sessions via LumiNUS.

• Consultation sessions will be held on most hours of a weekday TBD. Book via LumiNUS
at least 24 hours ahead. Feel free to book back to back sessions.

10 Feedback and Contact Info

• You are highly encouraged to send feedback on anything and everything about the
course.

• Lim Chinghway stalch@nus.edu.sg or anonymous feedback through LumiNUS.