Harvard GOV 50: Data Science for the Social Sciences

The GOV 50 study guide

How to study for Harvard GOV 50, step by step.

1. 1

   Type every line of code yourself

   Copy-pasting from the course materials feels efficient and teaches nothing. Retype, run, break, and fix the examples — R fluency in Gov 50 comes from fingers, not eyes.

2. 2

   Separate the coding problem from the stats problem

   When stuck, diagnose which kind of stuck: syntax or concept. They have different fixes, and conflating them is why problem sets stall for hours.

3. 3

   Write the causal story before the code

   For every analysis, state in words what's being compared and what could confound it. The causal-reasoning layer is what's graded; the R code is just how you express it.

4. 4

   Build toward the final project from mid-semester

   Pick a dataset early and apply each week's tools to it as you learn them. The project rewards accumulation, and the students who start at the deadline produce visualizations without arguments.

5. 5

   Keep both curves climbing with Fennie

   Upload the Gov 50 schedule — or the public course materials — and Fennie's Daily Plan interleaves R practice with causal-inference concept review, generating quizzes from the actual course content so the conceptual layer keeps pace with the coding. Free to start.

   Start my GOV 50 plan free

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