i never write reviews (I’m a senior and this is my first one lol) but HAD to for adi! Tbh i found 115 easier than my psychobio electives and it was even more interesting. He gives practice exams before every midterm and final that are pretty representative of the actual thing. The only problem is that tests/quizzes were made so that u cant go back once u finish a question. Quizzes were also worth kind of a lot (each question is 1%) but tbh he drops 2 of the 7.

Take 115 with this dude! He even has questions on Star Wars and Harry Potter. He super approachable at OH too. ofc I get it may have been diff pre-pandemic but tbh he’s not at all bad and if anything, this is one of the best classes I’ve taken/learned the most in since COVID.

This is my first ever bruinwalk review, but I felt like I needed to say something, because I had a bunch of friends not take this required course cuz of the prof and his bruinwalk rating! I was also SO scared to take this class due to its reputation, so I want to ease your fears if that’s how you’re feeling!

Given this is under COVID circumstances, in which we were allowed to use our notes and obviously things are different on a virtual platform!

The bad...
I found the timed nature and not being able to go back to questions once you answered them challenging! Also, I personally am not a fan of my whole grade being made up of quizzes and exams as I’m not the best test taker and often felt rushed! The quizzes were rough (but he did drop two of the lowest scores), the midterm was also tough and weirdly worded, but the final was very similar (with more straightforward questions). The material is quite dense and it honestly feels like there’s too much that you need to know from all the pathways to the differences between mechanisms and brain regions!

The good!
He gave four extra credit problems on the final that helped boost your grade if you needed which definitely gave me hope!! Our PLF was absolutely amazing and I found her midterm and final review session and weekly worksheets instrumental to condensing the material and ensuring I had the basic concepts down! At the end of the day, I genuinely enjoyed the content and really loved the material! I found it so interesting and engaging and loved sharing some fun neuroscience facts with my friends!

Takeaway
Yes, the grading was quite stressful, but the prof was very helpful in the end by providing the extra credit q’s and also apparently he is rounding up final grades! If you take extensive notes and keep up with the material (which kind of helps with the weekly quizzes), you should definitely be good to go!! Just believe in yourself and know that you are totally capable of doing well in this class as long as you put in the work!

Going into winter quarter, I was really hesitant to take this class because of the Bruinwalk reviews, but I'm actually glad I did because Professor Adhikari is a funny and caring professor who is able to teach the dense material fairly well.
The class itself was not too hard, but it had to do a lot with the quizzes and exams being open note/book/internet. The grading scale is based on performance on weekly quizzes (you can drop 2), the midterm, and the final. Taking good notes and understanding the concepts from lecture will ensure success in this class. There was a textbook, as well, but Professor Adhikari included PDFs of the chapters on CCLE, and the reading was supplementary to the lecture I believe.
Overall, Professor Adhikari is a good professor who tries his best to make the dense material of PSYCH 115 engaging, and I would recommend taking this class with him, especially if exams are open note/book/internet.

I don't know what this class was like pre-pandemic, but I found it to be very enjoyable. The professor is very passionate about the material he lectures on and it shows in the lectures. I don't think he deserves these bad ratings. Yes, there is a lot of information to learn in this class but I think it's an overall challenging class no matter who is teaching it. For us, it was open note exams so it really was not that bad. You just need to dedicate time to learning the material. I personally think he is a great professor and very helpful.

Dr Adhikari does not deserve such a low rating. I don’t know what he was like pre-pandemic but the previous reviews make me believe that they have to do more with the course itself rather than the professor.

For winter 2021, the course was open note for ALL quizzes and exams which took a huge weight off of my shoulders. In addition, the quizzes and exams are not very difficult if you pay attention to the material in lecture and take good notes.

Personally, I didn’t think discussion was useful at all. Adhikari frequently monitors the discussion board and answers any questions you may have about the material. He also posted practice midterm and final which is a very good indicator of how well prepared you are for the exams.

We had one midterm and one final, both weighed at 35% and 7 quizzes with two being dropped and making up 30% of your grade.

Breakdown of scores:

Quizzes (best of 5): 26/30
Midterm: 46/50
Final: 48/50 (he added 4 bonus questions to the final)
Overall grade: 91.8%
There will likely be no curve as most of the class performed well.

Overall, Adhikari is a great option but if the course is not open note in the future then that will definitely cause some stress.

One complaint I have about the course was the wording of some questions on all material (quizzes, midterm, final, practice tests). Could have been better worded.

This class was genuinely the worst class I have ever taken at UCLA, and this is being said by someone who survived Psych 100B. Professor Adhikari's and Professor Izquierdo's handling of the COVID-19 outbreak's effect on final exams was the most despicable thing I've witnessed from my instructors during winter quarter. Not only did they not consult with students and almost made us use the problematic Respondus software for our final exam, but even when they changed their test administration strategy and made it open-book, the final exam was nearly impossible to do well on even with extensive notes from both the lectures and the textbook. There were questions on topics I know for a fact that we didn't cover. The class average for the final was 75%. I'm thoroughly convinced that if Respondus was used for the exam, at least a third of the class would not have passed. Beyond that, they sent a very passive-aggressive email lauding themselves for having the basic human decency to make the exam open-book and optional, which they probably would not have done had the Vice Chancellor's office not pressured all professors into doing so. Beyond COVID-19, our class had very problematic TAs with incredibly inconsistent quiz creation patterns and tutorial methods, and my TA (Adam Gold) was very unapproachable, which made both class and section as a whole unbearable to attend. I once stood in front of the professor's podium to ask a question for like five minutes before lecture began and they pretended that I wasn't there. I hated this class and it stands for everything wrong with higher education.

This was by far the worst class I have ever taken as an undergrad. On top of the fact that there was a lot of material to cover, it was never taught in a clear or coherent manner. Furthermore, your entire grade is based off of participation (16.7%), quizzes (33.3%), and a final (50%). The quizzes are administered at the beginning of the discussion section and then the material is clarified AFTER you take the quiz which seems counter-intuitive in terms of the purpose of a discussion section. Additionally, there is no standard for what is on the quizzes, it is to each T.A.'s discretion as to what they will include or not include in the quizzes. If you end up in a section like mine, the quiz and discussion section will leave you more confused and frustrated than when you came in. The extra credit offered ended up being applicable to a small portion of the class. The terms of earning the extra credit were to have perfect attendance in lecture and discussion along with participation. The problem with this was that most people who had perfect attendance were not awarded the points because, again, it was up to the T.A. to determine who had participated and who didn't. Overall this was a challenging class with no room for error. If you can avoid taking it, you should.

I was hesitant to take this class based on the reviews but after taking it I realized that it is not the professor that makes this class difficult but just the material itself. The professor clearly shows his interest and devotion to the topic and is always available to clarify any information. I truly enjoyed his lectures and felt that his understanding of the material was relayed to me very well. I would take a course with this professor again! The course set up is based on weekly quizzes, midterm and final. While that is intimidating, as long as you take GOOD NOTES and truly pay attention to the lecture then you are bound to get an A. You can't let yourself get lazy with this course but as long as you understand the concepts you should be good to go.

I was really nervous coming into this class because I do not have a strong background in science, especially in neuroscience. However, Prof Avi made the material accessible! He posts pre-recorded lectures (each around 1 hour and 15 mins long) along with slides and relevant chapters of the textbook. He encourages asking questions on the discussion forum and attending office hours as well as in-person lectures. Personally, I found the in-person lectures nice so that I can get a quick recap about the lectures and add to my notes. During lectures Prof Avi is funny and includes pop-culture references (ex: star wars, power puff girls, etc). Also, I highly recommend going to the optional discussion sections b/c the jeopardy gives you a gauge of what you know / need to review. The weekly quizzes (6 questions and 12 minutes timed) and exams (50 questions w/ 2 hours and 3-4 extra credit questions as a buffer) were fair! The material can be dense, but if you take detailed notes on the lectures, review the lecture slides, and do the jeopardies then you will be solid! Overall, I really enjoyed this class!!

P.S. highly recommend going to his office hours at least once.. his office has some pretty cool Beatles memorabilia!

This was one of the most interesting classes I've taken at UCLA so far; there are so many (negative :( ) reviews detailing how overwhelming and disorganized the content is, but I think that's just the inherent nature of the class & its curriculum. With that being said, these reviews aren't wrong—there really is a very wide range of topics crammed into 10 mere weeks. HOWEVER, Avi did a really great job at breaking down these concepts and providing insightful examples that helped with my understanding. He always began the weekly lectures with big-picture ideas and concepts and broke them down into their respective neurological mechanisms. Additionally, the workload for this class was SUPER manageable: 0 homework assignments, 7 quizzes (2 were dropped), and 2 exams (1 midterm & 1 final). I didn't have to worry about any busy work at all; all I had to do was to watch/attend lectures and to take the weekly quiz when the time came—super simple and straightforward. I cannot say more good things about this class!

Other bonuses: Avi's also super funny (both intentionally and unintentionally). He would physically act out his examples and it made class just that much more pleasant to be in. You can see that he really does love what he does & knows a lot about it. I would LOVE to take more classes with him with the future but there really aren't that many undergraduate courses offered :(.

TLDR: great professor, super funny & engaging, loved the way he structured the lectures, loved the workload and thought it was very effective & fair.