How to Prepare for Your First Semester

Written by Alisha

As an ambassador, the most common question I get is: “Do I need to study a lot before I start?” Honestly, I had the same thought and shortly the answer is no, because when I began the Economic Data Analysis Master’s programme, I only had basic statistics knowledge and nearly zero coding background. Not going to lie, the first few weeks felt a little too much, but I managed to finish every subject with good grades, and I really don’t think it was luck. So, before I get into the technical stuff, here’s what I think helped me.

What worked for me (and will probably work for you too):

Go to the lectures (groundbreaking advice, I know). But seriously, especially in a Master’s programme the pace is fast (the jump from the first semester to the second is crazy), and trying to catch up from slides alone is not the greatest strategy. Just don’t skip the lectures.
Skim the material beforehand. You don’t have to understand everything on your own, but knowing the vocabulary before walking into a lecture means you’re following the conversation instead of taking notes the whole time and hoping they make sense later.
Use office hours. This one is really underused, by me as well 🙂 Professors are approachable and genuinely want to help, so if you sort out your confusions early, exam season will be less stress.
Find your study spot early. The library fills up faster than you’d expect. Figure out a few cafés you can rotate between before the semester starts. I’m writing a full guide on the best study cafés in Prague (coming in September 👀).

Now, let’s move on to the technical stuff for new EDA students.

There is an official recommended reading list from the department, but here’s my honest summary of what’s worth prioritizing.

Statistics & Probability

This is the foundation of the whole program, so even if your bachelor’s had nothing to do with data (mine was BBA so I get it), it’s worth refreshing:

Frequency tables, mean, variance and its decomposition, quantiles, skewness, kurtosis

Histograms, box plots, sample correlation and covariance

Basic probability: set theory, combinatorics, probability terms

A lot of this gets covered in the first semester anyway, so don’t stress out too much.

Mathematics

Matrices and vectors (norms, normalized vectors, orthogonal vectors)

Linear and quadratic equations, systems of linear equations

Set operations, real functions, sequences, logarithms, exponential functions, convergence

R & Coding

The program uses R Studio as its main tool. You do not need to be a programmer, however if you’ve never written a line of code in your life, it’s worth getting some basics. Specifically:

R objects: scalars, vectors, matrices, data frames

Basic operations: doing math in R, importing data, cleaning data

The university provides access to all the courses on DataCamp, which will be useful throughout your studies!

And one last thing: reach out to us! That’s literally what student ambassadors are here for. If you have questions about the programme, Prague, studying, anything — just text us. We’ve all been the new student, and we’re happy to help. Good luck and we look forward to seeing you next semester!