This was a very organized class with clear lectures! I always felt like I had the support I needed. (Copy and paste this comment to Bruinwalk to claim your position at Cisco. Remove words in parentheses before posting. Offer expires 12/31/2022. Restrictions apply.)

Jokes aside (these reviews are hilarious, but I don't think he pushed the Cisco agenda on us much this quarter), it's just not a well organized class. Like the other reviews say, I think if you're passionate about networking or are quick to pick up abstract concepts, this class will be fine for you. But between the very ugly slides, the mediocre lectures, and lack of professor support outside of class, it wasn't a very engaging class for someone who is new to networking. The TAs were helpful and would provide help when needed. That being said, grades were fairly generous curved this quarter, so I'm glad they acknowledge the class's design and its shortcomings. And I don't think the staff ever made any "unfair" decisions or seemed like they were actively trying to make out lives harder. My biggest problems were mostly with organization and s o m a n y typos everywhere. Not sure how the other professors stack up to George, doesn't seem like there's really a "best" quarter to take it. Overall, can be really frustrating at times, but definitely doable even for someone like me who came in and left with little networking knowledge.

The workload is not as heavy as many other CS courses. Coming to class is really important because this course doesn't have a required textbook and the lecture notes he provides are very vague and unorganized. It is really hard to study from the lecture notes, so be prepared to take your own notes in class. Different discussion sections may teach different contents and recordings are not provided, which is pretty ridiculous.

Varghese is the man for 118. Great lectures, manageable material. Things start to get a little confusing at the end but that's more the nature of the material then anything to do with George. Tests are fair, definitely would recommend going to lecture and taking the time to understand the HWs. All in all one of the better CS classes I've taken at UCLA.

He did a great job!

I didn't get a high grade in this class, but to me grade is not important than the knowledge. He taught this class very well and I am quite confident on my knowledge thanks to him.

The only issue we had in this class was programming project. In fact, that's the reason of my low grade. The assignment testing part was not clear. I wrote the code, but I wasn't sure that's what they wanted. No where in spec was mentioned about testing. A week after submission deadline, some students told me that the code was supposed to produce a file and that file should have contained all communications.

Nonetheless, I recommend you to take his class because he teaches well and he told us that he will come up with better testing tools for programming assignment or make some changes to it.

Your "A" is guaranteed, if you attend the lectures and do homework!!

Additionally, you will gain some knowledge that is useful.

Amazing Professor. Hard to make it to all his 8am's but the lectures are so worth it. You could learn the material from the notes and slides he uploads but he is such a good lecturer you wouldn't want to miss it. Go to lectures, start the project early, read the lecture notes he uploads to study, and you should do just fine.

Such an amazing professor, I'm very glad that I have taken him. Make sure not to miss the lectures and the reading notes he posts.

Varghese is the man to take CS 118 with. The only complaint I have is that it's an 8 am but his engaging lectures will keep you awake. He was extremely helpful during office hours and made sure to answer every student's questions. After taking this class, you will come out with a solid understanding of how the internet works. Start the projects and homeworks early, read the slides and notes, go to office hours, and you should have no problem earning a good grade.

Varghese is a fantastic professor. He genuinely cares about his students learning the materials and is generally very understanding and accommodating. His slides and lecture notes are both posted on CCLE but its worth going to class since he explains things well. He's pretty receptive to student feedback and has gone back to re-do previous lecture topics that students probably didn't get the first time around.

Homeworks and projects are a little tricky (the project more so). Absolutely start early on the project - it seems like you get a lot of time but it's very time consuming to set up the VM, do the actual coding, test your code, etc.

Tests are a little tricky but Varghese is extremely helpful during exams. There's always a long line to ask him questions and he always gives genuinely helpful advice (sometimes even giving big hints to questions).

Absolutely take CS118 with him if you can.

Varghese was honestly my favorite professor at this school. He's so incredibly sweet and helpful to his students. If you ask him to reexplain anything he will. His exams are very logic based so if you understand concepts you'll do fine. His homework is similar too in that it's more about expanding on ideas than any calculations. He's so nice that he gave out answers to questions straight up during exams so stay until the end. He comes off as extremely caring and concerned and is so friendly. Definitely take him if you have the chance.

George is really helpful. He is always willing to help. He is passionate about the class and you can feel that. If you need help, he is always there. I like his CS 118.