EC ENGR 100
Electrical and Electronic Circuits
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour; outside study, eight hours. Requisites: Mathematics 33A, 33B or Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 82, Physics 1C. Not open for credit to students with credit for course 110. Electrical quantities, linear circuit elements, circuit principles, signal waveforms, transient and steady state circuit behavior, semiconductor diodes and transistors, small signal models, and operational amplifiers. Letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2022 - How can I have taken this class for 10 weeks, did every homework and the day before the final I dont know anything. If i could go back in time i wouldnt have taken this class, I learned nothing and I cant solve a single question. This class made me want to switch majors...
Fall 2022 - How can I have taken this class for 10 weeks, did every homework and the day before the final I dont know anything. If i could go back in time i wouldnt have taken this class, I learned nothing and I cant solve a single question. This class made me want to switch majors...
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - This class was a bit strange, since the exams were both open-note and open-book. However, the exams were fairly challenging, especially because lectures were focused on derivations and not applications of the knowledge, and the exams were focused on application. The median for the midterm was 64% and the median for the final was 59%. I believe the median translates to approximately a B in the class. There is weekly homework, and each problem is graded for correctness. Sometimes, he would create his own problems and those were significantly more difficult than textbook problems. The professor consistently went overtime each lecture by 5-10 minutes, which is not ideal when you have another class immediately after. Fortunately, notes are uploaded online.
Fall 2019 - This class was a bit strange, since the exams were both open-note and open-book. However, the exams were fairly challenging, especially because lectures were focused on derivations and not applications of the knowledge, and the exams were focused on application. The median for the midterm was 64% and the median for the final was 59%. I believe the median translates to approximately a B in the class. There is weekly homework, and each problem is graded for correctness. Sometimes, he would create his own problems and those were significantly more difficult than textbook problems. The professor consistently went overtime each lecture by 5-10 minutes, which is not ideal when you have another class immediately after. Fortunately, notes are uploaded online.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - I had heard a lot of negative things about this class (I put off taking it for as long as I could). After reading other reviews here once I'd finally enrolled, my nerves were definitely not abated due to comments about how the class was when Razavi taught it online. However, for in-person, I thought that his teaching was very clear and that his exams were fair. Discussion worksheets helped to solidify concepts and clarify cases that weren't elaborated upon in lecture. I actually ended up kinda liking the material, which really came as a shock to me. Razavi gives tips on how to succeed in the class on the syllabus - follow them, he's taught the class many times and knows what works (I followed them mostly except for one or two weeks of the quarter - guess what concepts I missed on the midterm). He'd drop a joke here and there, but it took a few seconds for everyone to realize he'd just said something funny. Anyway, if you're taking this class, it's probably because you have to, so you might as well take it with Razavi.
Fall 2021 - I had heard a lot of negative things about this class (I put off taking it for as long as I could). After reading other reviews here once I'd finally enrolled, my nerves were definitely not abated due to comments about how the class was when Razavi taught it online. However, for in-person, I thought that his teaching was very clear and that his exams were fair. Discussion worksheets helped to solidify concepts and clarify cases that weren't elaborated upon in lecture. I actually ended up kinda liking the material, which really came as a shock to me. Razavi gives tips on how to succeed in the class on the syllabus - follow them, he's taught the class many times and knows what works (I followed them mostly except for one or two weeks of the quarter - guess what concepts I missed on the midterm). He'd drop a joke here and there, but it took a few seconds for everyone to realize he'd just said something funny. Anyway, if you're taking this class, it's probably because you have to, so you might as well take it with Razavi.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2024 - C.K. Yang is one of the most interesting professors I have ever had. He is often quite funny if you are paying attention, and is genuinely a good guy when you talk to him. Also one of the most articulate people I have ever met. There is just also a veil of mystery around this guy, I can't quite explain it. Let me start this out by saying I am NOT an CE, or any other computer major. The first three weeks were pretty alright for me, and the content was pretty interesting. After that everything just felt like stuff I did not need to know, or just too involved for it to be useful to my career/life. I have never put in so much work for a class only to get absolutely cooked by exams. Maybe it's just the nature of the content, but I felt like I either really really understood how something worked, or it made absolutely no sense to me and I couldn't even start a problem. This reflected in quizzes (3 problems, all on different concepts). Admittedly, I probably could have put like 25% more effort in the class and done considerably better, I was already neglecting other classes to study for this one, so this was not entirely possible. It just did not feel like I was getting good return on investment for the content. I think CK did a pretty good job, it's clear there is a little bit of room for improvement, (mainly just presentation style) but he seems extremely willing to change if someone tells him that there is something to be improved in the class. Honestly if he just did examples more scattered in the presentation, it would be a lot more easy to stay engaged/fully understand problem. Discussions did not have prepared material, it was up for students to ask questions to TA. This design works on paper, but in practice anyone rarely asked questions when it was clear there was a knowledge gap on a concept. I think this is kind of the whole theme with the class, and I think it's just the nature of the content/sheer amount of content that doesn't aid in making it any easier.
Winter 2024 - C.K. Yang is one of the most interesting professors I have ever had. He is often quite funny if you are paying attention, and is genuinely a good guy when you talk to him. Also one of the most articulate people I have ever met. There is just also a veil of mystery around this guy, I can't quite explain it. Let me start this out by saying I am NOT an CE, or any other computer major. The first three weeks were pretty alright for me, and the content was pretty interesting. After that everything just felt like stuff I did not need to know, or just too involved for it to be useful to my career/life. I have never put in so much work for a class only to get absolutely cooked by exams. Maybe it's just the nature of the content, but I felt like I either really really understood how something worked, or it made absolutely no sense to me and I couldn't even start a problem. This reflected in quizzes (3 problems, all on different concepts). Admittedly, I probably could have put like 25% more effort in the class and done considerably better, I was already neglecting other classes to study for this one, so this was not entirely possible. It just did not feel like I was getting good return on investment for the content. I think CK did a pretty good job, it's clear there is a little bit of room for improvement, (mainly just presentation style) but he seems extremely willing to change if someone tells him that there is something to be improved in the class. Honestly if he just did examples more scattered in the presentation, it would be a lot more easy to stay engaged/fully understand problem. Discussions did not have prepared material, it was up for students to ask questions to TA. This design works on paper, but in practice anyone rarely asked questions when it was clear there was a knowledge gap on a concept. I think this is kind of the whole theme with the class, and I think it's just the nature of the content/sheer amount of content that doesn't aid in making it any easier.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2022 - I took ECE100 with Professor Zhang and I think he is a good professor. He lectures well and covers the basics of circuits. He also shows us some real world applications of what we learn at the end of every lecture, which is cool. However, he went too slow in the first half of the class, which was mostly review for me since I had taken ECE3 and Physics 1B/1C before. Then, he went too fast in the second half, especially on MOSFETs, (which would later become super important in ECE115C). I wish he had spent more time on those topics and explained them better. The homeworks were mostly fine, except for the one on MOSFETs, which I couldn't finish it on time. The exams were also mixed. The midterm was too long and had too many problems, especially on 2nd order circuits, which took a lot of time to solve (but he curved generously!). Thankfully, he learned his lesson from the midterm. The final was better, as it was shorter and more balanced. He also gave us a practice exam before the final, which was helpful (a bit too helpful?). He graded generously and gave a lot of partial credit. Overall, I learned a lot from this class and I liked Professor Zhang. He is a nice guy and has a good sense of humor. He definitely cares about his students and tries to make the class interesting and relevant. The only complaint I have is the pacing, but definitely take it with him if you can!
Spring 2022 - I took ECE100 with Professor Zhang and I think he is a good professor. He lectures well and covers the basics of circuits. He also shows us some real world applications of what we learn at the end of every lecture, which is cool. However, he went too slow in the first half of the class, which was mostly review for me since I had taken ECE3 and Physics 1B/1C before. Then, he went too fast in the second half, especially on MOSFETs, (which would later become super important in ECE115C). I wish he had spent more time on those topics and explained them better. The homeworks were mostly fine, except for the one on MOSFETs, which I couldn't finish it on time. The exams were also mixed. The midterm was too long and had too many problems, especially on 2nd order circuits, which took a lot of time to solve (but he curved generously!). Thankfully, he learned his lesson from the midterm. The final was better, as it was shorter and more balanced. He also gave us a practice exam before the final, which was helpful (a bit too helpful?). He graded generously and gave a lot of partial credit. Overall, I learned a lot from this class and I liked Professor Zhang. He is a nice guy and has a good sense of humor. He definitely cares about his students and tries to make the class interesting and relevant. The only complaint I have is the pacing, but definitely take it with him if you can!
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