Professor

Dennis Briggs

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3.8
Overall Ratings
Based on 86 Users
Easiness 3.4 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Workload 3.4 / 5 How light the workload is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Clarity 3.4 / 5 How clear the professor is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Helpfulness 3.8 / 5 How helpful the professor is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

Reviews (86)

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July 9, 2024
Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: A

The lectures have always been at 8am with a quiz in the first 10 mins, but the timing and Dr Briggs' slow pace of lecturing meant that half the class would leave the lecture after the quiz to watch the recording later. The class is super manageable throughout the quarter, but do be prepared to spend the entire Week 9 weekend on the project, and possibly attend office hours if you get stuck on the homework question. The project instructions are unclear, but Dr Briggs is helpful outside of lectures (i.e. during labs and office hours), and so are the TAs (shoutout Alexiy!) and IEEE student mentors. Knowing how to code in Arduino and about RC circuits is definitely helpful for this class.

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June 27, 2024
Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: A+

Dr. Briggs is so helpful and he cares about every student. GREAT professor to take class with.

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July 1, 2023
Quarter: Spring 2023
Grade: A

It really helps to know Arduino before going into this class, though I think it would be manageable to survive if you have no experience with it. Taking Physics 1B before this is recommended, since Briggs will expect you to know how RC circuits work right off the bat. I didn't take Physics 1B before, and it was a struggle on the quizzes. You can fail some of the quizzes and still get an A, since the quizzes aren't worth too much. The first few weeks will be fast, but once you start working on the car, the class gets a lot easier. This quarter, he screwed over a lot of the class by changing his grading distribution (for example, you needed a 92 for an A-) and not following his syllabus (he didn't drop a quiz when he said he would) because I think he didn't want to curve down.

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EC ENGR 3
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Jan. 4, 2021
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A

Should have a prerequisite of Physics 1B and possibly CS30/31 (the main project involves simple code). Briggs actually didn't believe me when I told him Physics 1B was not a prerequisite for the class. Having never taken physics before, the material was difficult, but if you've taken Physics 1B then I'm pretty sure it would all be quite easy. The main project is essentially worth 60% of the grade, 30% for completing the project and 30% for the report, neither of which is very difficult. There were quizzes at the start of every class, which were not hard. Briggs is not an engaging speaker, so lectures move extremely slowly. I would not recommend taking it with him if you can avoid it. I would recommend Xin Li as a TA, if he's there.

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EC ENGR 3
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Nov. 4, 2021
Quarter: Summer 2021
Grade: A-

Professor Briggs is old. He is unhelpful and disrespectful in office hours. He refused to help me with the homework and did not teach me anything. The class is easy and I was able to figure things out anyway. I got an A- because he gave me a C- on the final project report. The grading for this report is completely arbitrary and the instructions were unclear. This class is required and it shouldn't be too hard, but don't bother trying to get anything out of the professor. Figure it out with classmates or TAs.

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June 26, 2023
Quarter: Spring 2023
Grade: A-

The class is not beginner friendly at all. Professors' lectures are not good, and it feels like he explains how to plug and chug rather than actually understanding why things work the way they do.
Additionally, the project is not structured well for students without much experience. He gives a lot of instructions and you don't know why you are following them. PID control was taught and we were told to not use I, and while he explained P I and D, the intuition was not well explained. Similarly, other concepts in the class are never explained and do not make sense.

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Nov. 24, 2022
Quarter: Spring 2022
Grade: A

Attending 8 am lectures is hell. Now adding a quiz in the first 10 minutes is devilish.

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June 29, 2022
Quarter: Spring 2022
Grade: A+

Very very easy class, significantly less workload than any lower div math/physics/cs class. Professor is just not a good teacher, lectures are boring and don't properly introduce concepts so it's only helpful if you have a background in EE topics already, completely defeating the point of the class. Briggs is very nice though, very willing to help. 1 HW problem per week (10-30 minutes) + 2 question quiz at 8am each Monday (so get ready to wake up early Mondays!). Quiz is easy too. 70% of grade is a project where you make a feedback control system for a line-following robot. You can secure an A in 1 hour of work to follow the line, or get a full letter grade of extra credit if you put in 6-10 hours of work to follow the line in under 15 seconds.

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June 23, 2022
Quarter: Spring 2022
Grade: A+

Despite getting a decent grade, I have mixed opinions on Briggs and the class. This class comprises of no midterms, a final project, and a final. Most of your grade is based off your projects so if you do well on them, you'll do well in the class. A problem with this class is that it was given only at 8 am, and there a weekly quizzes given at 8 am sharp, so you don't really have the option to miss lecture. This became such an issue that you'd see over half the class leave ten minutes into the lecture once they turned in their quiz. Additionally, the content usually jumps around a lot and it often feels disjointed. If you are going into the class blind, with absolutely no knowledge on the material before hand, you're in for a really rough time, especially since Briggs tends to skip around what seems to be the most important stuff on his slides. An example of this was in the first lecture, he spent around 10 minutes on Ohm's law and never came back to it. Similarly, once we got to AC circuits, he completely skipped around half the lecture. If you already know the content, you will be fine since you don't delve extremely deep into it, but if you don't know it, good luck. On the other hand, Briggs is not too bad - he gives a bunch of practice problems (not graded) for you to work on if you need extra help or practice on the material, he is very approachable, and only assigns 1 homework problem a week. In the end, if you already come in knowing a lot of the content, and want an "easy" class that gives relatively low work, go for it, just don't expect to learn the material very well.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Dec. 26, 2008
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A

Briggs was straight up by the book, no curve balls or anything. I went to class probably three times and did really well. He offered three extra credit assignments which can boost your grade by a +/- for each one, so effectively one whole grade if you do all three. If your'e good at working out of the book then you should have no problem at all.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
EC ENGR 3
Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: A
July 9, 2024

The lectures have always been at 8am with a quiz in the first 10 mins, but the timing and Dr Briggs' slow pace of lecturing meant that half the class would leave the lecture after the quiz to watch the recording later. The class is super manageable throughout the quarter, but do be prepared to spend the entire Week 9 weekend on the project, and possibly attend office hours if you get stuck on the homework question. The project instructions are unclear, but Dr Briggs is helpful outside of lectures (i.e. during labs and office hours), and so are the TAs (shoutout Alexiy!) and IEEE student mentors. Knowing how to code in Arduino and about RC circuits is definitely helpful for this class.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
EC ENGR 3
Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: A+
June 27, 2024

Dr. Briggs is so helpful and he cares about every student. GREAT professor to take class with.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
EC ENGR 3
Quarter: Spring 2023
Grade: A
July 1, 2023

It really helps to know Arduino before going into this class, though I think it would be manageable to survive if you have no experience with it. Taking Physics 1B before this is recommended, since Briggs will expect you to know how RC circuits work right off the bat. I didn't take Physics 1B before, and it was a struggle on the quizzes. You can fail some of the quizzes and still get an A, since the quizzes aren't worth too much. The first few weeks will be fast, but once you start working on the car, the class gets a lot easier. This quarter, he screwed over a lot of the class by changing his grading distribution (for example, you needed a 92 for an A-) and not following his syllabus (he didn't drop a quiz when he said he would) because I think he didn't want to curve down.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
EC ENGR 3
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A
Jan. 4, 2021

Should have a prerequisite of Physics 1B and possibly CS30/31 (the main project involves simple code). Briggs actually didn't believe me when I told him Physics 1B was not a prerequisite for the class. Having never taken physics before, the material was difficult, but if you've taken Physics 1B then I'm pretty sure it would all be quite easy. The main project is essentially worth 60% of the grade, 30% for completing the project and 30% for the report, neither of which is very difficult. There were quizzes at the start of every class, which were not hard. Briggs is not an engaging speaker, so lectures move extremely slowly. I would not recommend taking it with him if you can avoid it. I would recommend Xin Li as a TA, if he's there.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
EC ENGR 3
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Summer 2021
Grade: A-
Nov. 4, 2021

Professor Briggs is old. He is unhelpful and disrespectful in office hours. He refused to help me with the homework and did not teach me anything. The class is easy and I was able to figure things out anyway. I got an A- because he gave me a C- on the final project report. The grading for this report is completely arbitrary and the instructions were unclear. This class is required and it shouldn't be too hard, but don't bother trying to get anything out of the professor. Figure it out with classmates or TAs.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
EC ENGR 3
Quarter: Spring 2023
Grade: A-
June 26, 2023

The class is not beginner friendly at all. Professors' lectures are not good, and it feels like he explains how to plug and chug rather than actually understanding why things work the way they do.
Additionally, the project is not structured well for students without much experience. He gives a lot of instructions and you don't know why you are following them. PID control was taught and we were told to not use I, and while he explained P I and D, the intuition was not well explained. Similarly, other concepts in the class are never explained and do not make sense.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
EC ENGR 3
Quarter: Spring 2022
Grade: A
Nov. 24, 2022

Attending 8 am lectures is hell. Now adding a quiz in the first 10 minutes is devilish.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
EC ENGR 3
Quarter: Spring 2022
Grade: A+
June 29, 2022

Very very easy class, significantly less workload than any lower div math/physics/cs class. Professor is just not a good teacher, lectures are boring and don't properly introduce concepts so it's only helpful if you have a background in EE topics already, completely defeating the point of the class. Briggs is very nice though, very willing to help. 1 HW problem per week (10-30 minutes) + 2 question quiz at 8am each Monday (so get ready to wake up early Mondays!). Quiz is easy too. 70% of grade is a project where you make a feedback control system for a line-following robot. You can secure an A in 1 hour of work to follow the line, or get a full letter grade of extra credit if you put in 6-10 hours of work to follow the line in under 15 seconds.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
EC ENGR 3
Quarter: Spring 2022
Grade: A+
June 23, 2022

Despite getting a decent grade, I have mixed opinions on Briggs and the class. This class comprises of no midterms, a final project, and a final. Most of your grade is based off your projects so if you do well on them, you'll do well in the class. A problem with this class is that it was given only at 8 am, and there a weekly quizzes given at 8 am sharp, so you don't really have the option to miss lecture. This became such an issue that you'd see over half the class leave ten minutes into the lecture once they turned in their quiz. Additionally, the content usually jumps around a lot and it often feels disjointed. If you are going into the class blind, with absolutely no knowledge on the material before hand, you're in for a really rough time, especially since Briggs tends to skip around what seems to be the most important stuff on his slides. An example of this was in the first lecture, he spent around 10 minutes on Ohm's law and never came back to it. Similarly, once we got to AC circuits, he completely skipped around half the lecture. If you already know the content, you will be fine since you don't delve extremely deep into it, but if you don't know it, good luck. On the other hand, Briggs is not too bad - he gives a bunch of practice problems (not graded) for you to work on if you need extra help or practice on the material, he is very approachable, and only assigns 1 homework problem a week. In the end, if you already come in knowing a lot of the content, and want an "easy" class that gives relatively low work, go for it, just don't expect to learn the material very well.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
EC ENGR 100
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 26, 2008

Briggs was straight up by the book, no curve balls or anything. I went to class probably three times and did really well. He offered three extra credit assignments which can boost your grade by a +/- for each one, so effectively one whole grade if you do all three. If your'e good at working out of the book then you should have no problem at all.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
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