Took this class to fulfill my final pre-req requirement for being a philosophy major. Overall, it was not that bad for me considering the fact that I could get most of what we were learning even though I would not attend lectures. Attendance is not mandatory for either lecture or discussion section, but it is highly recommended by Levy to do so. You learn about validity, symbolizations (phrasing of the symbolization sentences can be hella confusing), derivations (just tedious b/c a lot of rules to use but will become easier when you remember them), truth tables (the easiest section), and invalidities (most confusing).

You're graded on the following: your homework that's due before the next class, two midterms, and a final. Homework is doable, I definitely recommend joining the GroupMe chat for the class since most people help each other out there. The midterms are okay, you get the entire lecture session to do them, make sure your laptop is charged and that it can run Logic 2010 properly, it can crash sometimes. You learn about invalidities by like the last weeks of this quarter, but there's only two questions about them on the final. Our TA (Seungtaek) for this quarter was helpful and had useful handouts that he would pass out during discussion sections and had a google drive for which was nice.

It definitely is more of a math class than a typical "philosophy" one where you mainly discuss and analyze readings. I'm not sure why some people feel a bit like they were lied to about the course, and I think most of the complaints come from the Covid/Zoom era so I guess that didn't go well. I will say Levy is super nice and friendly, but the way he lectures can be confusing especially with his quirky powerpoints. He does not record his lectures but he does share his powerpoints; however, these are difficult to follow if you weren't there for lecture. If you're really struggling, the tutors are usually available (either in-person or over zoom), but some tutors are better than others. I would say it's a fast pace class, but if you put in the effort to try to understand the content it is doable. I will warn you that you'll probably get confused about invalidities and not feel confident about symbolizations so try your best to figure it out.

LEVY SLAYS - if you were good at math in high school or are interested in cognitive science and/or enjoy syntax/linguistics, PLEASE take this class. Some people struggle w logic, while with other people, logic comes really easy to them. So just be prepared for learning a new symbolic language that has a similar logic to math problems but applies this logic through the lens of sentence structures in English. It may be intimidating at first but Levy is a really sweet, kind, and knowledgable professor. Many tutoring sessions held out of class (dont need to go to them but they do help if you have questions!) and open note midterms and finals! Highly recommend taking this w Levy :)))

This guy rules. Favorite class so far at UCLA.

I took this class in Fall 2022. Not everyone has an affinity for logic or quantitative reasoning, but for those interested in taking a logic class, I highly recommend professor Levy. He is a crystal clear lecturer, who is extremely adept at concisely explaining what you need to know while only including just enough peripheral or tangential information to keep the lectures interesting. He is so good at lecturing that I didn't have to read the textbook at all- following along with his lesson and practice problems was more than enough.

The homework took me around 2-4 hours a week and is never outrageously difficult (I only had to go to office hours twice). Exams use the same program and thus format as the homework, and he gave our class practice midterms with the exact same number and format of questions which were more difficult than the actual exam (so you get good practice and know you're prepared for the exam if you can complete the practice exam in a reasonable time).

He is slightly unaccommodating with issues surrounding technology (like if your computer crashes during an exam) and extenuating circumstances (during the Fall 2022 TA strike he converted to live zoom lectures in solidarity with the TAs, but he wouldn't record them so that he would have an audience at 9:00 am), but I would never call him unreasonable (he even let us have a 1 page "cheat sheet" for the exams.

Professor Levy is clearly someone who teaches for the joy of it and he's gotten really good at it. Choose him if you're taking PHILOS 31.

Really great class, loads of supplemental help. Thing is you either get it or you don't when it comes to symbolism, I struggled. Levy was a sweet professor, who was very concise and funny. I appreciated his energy and understanding. I would recommend him for Logic.

On the third day of lecture, I sneezed really loudly and no one said bless you. 5 minutes later, some guy in the front row sneezed equally as loudly and the whole lecture hall said "Bless you!" The professor then proceeded to stop his presentation just to praise us for how UCLA students are so sweet and caring. I dropped out of the class that day.

Great class and Levy is an amazing professor, both in terms of effectiveness in teaching and personality.

I actually liked this class. The material wasn't difficult once you got the rules (literally learn and recognize the rules, that's all there is to it) and the prof/Tristen/tutors were all so helpful even though I only went to office hours once or twice. The other reviews had me a little scared, but it definitely was much easier than I anticipated. There was an exaggerated review on weekend office hours, but that was only for exam weeks and they were meant for students to reach out before the exams if needed. Tristen (the TA) was definitely the most helpful in getting me to understand quantified symbolizations, definitely go to discussion if you want to really do well.

The exams are truly limited in that there are only 15 or so questions on each. Half of the points went to derivations (where you know during the exam if you got them correct) so that was helpful. Symbolizations were the hardest, but as I mentioned before, all you really have to do is know the rules + little tricks that you pick up from others/Tristen along the way!

The class was pretty interesting! I would say it's pretty important to stay on top of lectures and new concepts since all new material builds on prior material. Levy also does not record his lectures, so it's pretty important to go to class.

Also, go to the tutor sessions! A lot of them have their own know-hows for how to solve problems.

This class is demanding, but honestly so rewarding and kind of fun when you finally understood the concepts. Professor Levy is so nice and willing to help. Honestly I think the key to doing well in this class are going to the drop in tutoring sessions, unsure if he’s still there but Nikolai? was so helpful. Keep up with the homework, I recommend splitting it into two days because it can be kind of draining. Overall, as long as you stay on top of homework you are well prepared for the exams. Lectures can be a little long but the example problems the professor shows sets you up to do the homework.