Nico was a friendly and clear professor. The material was difficult, but overall I feel like I was able to effectively learn everything. My TA Maddy was also pretty helpful, and I feel that both were fair graders.

The class has several homework assignments, and the lowest one is dropped. The midterm and final were both online, and lectures were recorded due to COVID. No textbook needed, and slides are posted on BruinLearn.

Loved the professor, they were so nice and very approachable. Lecture slides were uploaded and easy to follow along with/ take notes. However, for me, some of the material was kind of hard to understand. I would think I would get it, but then confuse myself and overthink it in which I would ultimately be stuck again trying to figure out a problem. My TA was very helpful, but they were a harsh grader for the homework assignments which is why I probably got a C+ overall :,) Also, some of the questions for the homework assignments needed to be completed online, but sometimes I would forget :/

teacher is not even a native English speaker and has a thick Italian accent
hw are not related to lectures or discussions

Nico is a very kind and approachable professor. She's the type of person to say hi to you even outside of class, which shows how welcoming she is. On top of that, she knows her stuff and can definitely help if you ever get stuck.

Homework in this class was very manageable. It covered the topics in class and there was never a moment when I questioned whether a problem correlated with the lecture. She posts her lecture notes, which are very helpful (I recommend studying by going through this and studying/copying all of the example trees).

Her midterm and final lined up with the homework and there are barely any curveballs. For this class, do the homework well, go to office hours if you get stuck (I had Zhuo Chen as a TA, phenomenal guy), and review homework and lecture notes. You'll be fine.

Good luck!

Nico is one of the best professors I've ever had here at UCLA. I had her for LING 120B and 165B (Syntax I and II) in Fall 2018 and Winter 2019. I would highly recommend taking her for this course. I really hope I can take more classes with her as my professor. She is so kind, patient, and very understanding of students' needs and concerns.
Her overall grading scheme is:
50% Homework (7 Assignments)
20% Midterm
30% Final Exam
The midterm and final were very similar to the homework assignments and fairly straightforward if you did well on the homework and/or went to TA office hours for help (My TA, Zhuo, was also very helpful and friendly). If you take this class with Nico and also plan on taking LING 165B, try to take it with her again or the same professor you had for 120B because the teaching style and material covered varies from professor to professor.