Might be one of the most discouraging class I have taken so far at the University. I really agree to the previous comment on this class, and pretty much sums it up. If I may add more, its just the system. It doesn't make sense learn all the physics behind all these devices in a quarter. Overall the TA, Sam really really tried his best to prepare us for the exams and quizzes but I felt the exam question and the time given was just out of this world. I would say I had a good amount of interests before taking this class but it has made me conclude that it is not for me. I have made up my mind to not take the 121B Capstone as well, a harsh reality. I don't think even if I could even go back in time and redo all this, I would probably be not prepared for Professor Iyer's exams.

I know that ECE121B is one of the "eight pick six" that we are required to take as an EE major, but honestly, I had plenty of interest in the subject matter at the beginning of the class. However, after taking this class, I can confidently say that whatever interest I had in semiconductors is already gone.
To be fair, anything related to physics (semiconductors, E&M, nanotech, quantum, etc) is naturally really hard to teach, and Iyer does a decent enough job at it. You can tell that he really cares about your learning and genuinely wants to improve as a professor, which says a lot about his character, as he is very accomplished in his field. But holy shit, this class is hard. It is genuinely the hardest class I have taken, and so much harder than any of the required ECE classes by a large margin. This is due to a lot of different factors:
- ECE2 did not prepare me well: Even though I somehow got an A in that class, I still did not take away even some of the most fundamental concepts about semiconductor physics. A lot of people in the class feel the same as I do. Apparently, Lyer used to do a lot of ECE2 review for this reason, which might have made the experience different.
- The content of this class is genuinely hard and unintuitive: The class requires you to think like a physicist, not just an Engineer. I feel like I can understand most of the derivations from the textbook, but when I try to apply the same concepts to a new structure, I often feel stuck.
- The quarter system: Most schools cover the two semiconductor classes in two semesters, but we do it in two quarters. Less time means more rushed.
- Prof Iyer has really high expectations for his students. Unlike other professors who teach ECE121B, Iyer does not test you on basic plug-and-chug questions about what you have learned in the lecture. Instead, he will give you something completely new and expects you to apply the same concepts to that. So, unless you are just one of the few who know what is going on in this class despite everything I have listed so far, then you are probably not gonna do well on the exams.

Prof Iyer really wants to hear from us so that he can improve in the future, but honestly, I do not even know how he can make the class better. It seems like this class has a bigger issue than just the professor himself. One thing I will say is that the exams and quizzes are really discouraging. That second quiz, where we are expected to do two full-length exam-style questions in 30 minutes, is absolutely bonkers. Towards the end of the quarter, I basically lost all motivations for studying. Since I did above average on the midterm and the two quizzes, I just hoped that I would get some partial credit on the final for writing down equations and get a passing grade thanks to the curve. Also, you only get a one-sided cheatsheet for the midterm and two one-sided cheatsheets for the final, which is not enough for the amount of content of this class.

This class was very difficult. The professor himself said this wasnlike the honors 121b but without the honors credit lol. No one showed up to lecture but I did as did 15-20 people out of 75. The material is very hard. EE 2 is not enough prep tbh. Averages are low and the midterm was 20 pages and the final was a whopping 39 pages long. Did not finish both exams. In fact i left 1/4 of the midterm and final blank. You need to read the book and do a lot of outside practice because lectures have 0 examples. It’s only theory. The professor is a nice guy and very smart. Just way smarter than the average student. Homework load was heavy. 9 homework’s total for the quarter. And the equations needed to solve aren’t in the slides or the book so you gotta do a lot of assuming and derivations your self. Grading is ok as it is curve dependent in the end.