David: One thing is certain: you’re in for a ride. ECE 110 will stretch you like no other course. Labs will force you to apply what you learn in lectures, and exams will force you to use everything you have learned. Work with yourself AND other people. Don’t try to tackle the course by yourself. You have classmates who are going through the same journey as you are. Don’t stress over the online homework (Mallard). It’s not about trying to solve the problem in 5 tries but about learning really how to do the problems. Do not procrastinate. If you want to do well you HAVE to manage your time well. Don’t put off studying but instead be attentive and work hard. Hard work will pay off.
Y. K.: In order to succeed in ECE 110, you absolutely need to take good notes on lectures at the first place. If you are just writing (copying) the stuff the professor is writing on the board, you will not understand what you wrote if you looked at it after 5 days. You have to understand (in general) the material before the lectures by reading the blue book, and come to lectures, figure out what you missed, and summarize the knowledge in your own words.
Stephen: ECE 110 is a great course on the basics of electronics. If you are an ECE major it will definitely help you decide if ECE is the right major for you. If you enjoy design challenges you will be rewarded in the ECE 110 lab. You will also find some areas of ECE that don’t interest you, but hopefully you will find some that do. To do well in this class you will have to prepare for class by studying the material before class in order to get anything out of it. Also it is important to work smarter and not harder by forming study groups. To study for tests, make sure you attend the study sessions and study old tests.
Dan: In taking ECE 110, you will be taking on a challenging and exciting experience. Throughout the semester, there will be a lab to create an autonomous car, but don’t be daunted. There are many guided labs leading up to this project which also reinforce what is learned in class. In regards to the online homework, there are two times it should be done. The first is as early as possible. If you read the Mallard Lecture notes, enough information is given to do the assignment. Then when the lecture on the topic comes, what the professor says will make much more sense. The other good time to do homework is immediately after the lecture as the content is still fresh. For extra practice, you can refer to the textbook, although I only opened the book on review lecture days. Every lecture presents new material, so do your best to show up for every lecture. Otherwise, you WILL be left behind. On a different note, show up to extra lab sessions extra early to sign up for a time slot.
Mike: The best advice I could give is to make time for studying. Try every day to at least re-read last lecture’s notes and read the notes for the upcoming lecture. When exams approach, don’t be afraid to stay in for a weekend (this will also save $!). Take every opportunity you can to learn the material. The online lectures work good for doing homework, but might not be adequate come exam time. The lecture notes (blue) are presented in a different way than the actual lecture, so if you’re really having trouble, get close to it! At the very least, use it to give yourself a heads up on new topics. Remember, too, that while studying alone is easier, you will never learn as much as when you study with a friend.
Anjali: I was excited to take the first course of ECE. I enjoyed the classes and HW. The work was challenging at first, but consistent hard work got me through. Read the blue book and work out as many practice problems as you can. In my first test I failed to work out problems and hence was not good at analyzing problems on the exam. Use the resources around you. Go for study sessions if a particular chapter is hard for you. Study ECE consistently side by side and the exams will go better. Learn how to analyze rather than memorize formulas. All in all this is a really good course, and you will learn a lot both in class and the lab.
Sam: Expect to devote a lot of time. You must be organized and not a procrastinator. The textbook can be very helpful. A major help is to read the lecture material in the blue book before you come to lecture so you already have an idea of what it is about and it will be less confusing and you won’t have to write down stuff you know is in the text. Also, avoid using your notes as much as possible while doing homework (unless you plan on copying all of your notes onto your cheat sheet), so that you know you can just sit down and do the problems without having to relearn the material every time (important during 60 minute exams). Also, review material frequently and don’t leave studying until the day before / of the exam.
R. L.: In order to be successful in this course, I would highly recommend reading the text before coming to class just to briefly acquaint yourself with each lecture’s material. Work on homework problems together in a study group. Do NOT start the Mallard the night before [it is due] because if you have a question, it will be hard to find someone for help at 3 a.m. Use all the resources on the course Website, practice problems and exams and the WebBoard.
Matt: One of the best things to do before lecture is to read or at least glance over the material that will be covered before lecture. The blue notebook can explain topics which will be reinforced in the lecture. When doing Mallard homework, allow sufficient time before the due date so that you can always post on the WebBoard or ask someone questions. Take advantage of the supervised study sessions and form smaller study groups with friends outside of class.
E. Z.: In taking ECE 110, “a life changing experience is going to occur” as Professor Loui told me the first day of class. ECE 110 is a fast paced high workload course with strict exams and deadlines. No matter how much you believe you know the material, you really can’t even begin to comprehend it. This forced me, along with others, to stress out. Through this stress, however, one can find methods around it. To make the stress of this class easy to handle, first be sure to read the text before every class. Secondly, do examples in the book as much as possible. Thirdly, if the examples do not make sense, go to office hours and get help. Lastly, find review or study sessions and attend them. This class is very intense and time consuming, but can be overcome by doing what I said above. Although it looks like a lot of work, what you get out of this class is what you put in.
A. C.: ECE 110 is a great class for those who will be studying electrical or computer engineering. This class can be either easy or hard according to how you do in class. It is critical to attend the class and stay awake in class.... Most of the material is hard to understand by yourself without the professor’s explanations. If you attend class without sleeping and still have hard time, reading 110 textbook can help a lot. The problems from the textbook will help you to prepare for tests. For Mallard problems don’t forget to check the WebBoard if you have problems. Finally ECE 110 is a great class and you can have lots of fun in this class. Just don’t miss class and stay awake.
N. R.: They’re not kidding when they say to read the text. The lectures and Mallard just aren’t quite enough to prepare you for the exams. The text is more helpful when completing Mallard than most of the tutorials are. Be sure that you know what you’re doing before lab day. If you wait until class time to figure things out, you probably won’t finish some of the labs on time. Go over practice problems until you can do them quickly. Exams have long questions and if you can’t do them quickly, you’ll be pressed for time.
Yubo: About the exams, one (perhaps unfortunate) observation I made was that they’re difficult to study for. Even if you know all of the material conceptually, the exam problems will still be difficult because they test your analytical skills. You will be facing problems of types that you have never seen before, and you will have to apply your knowledge in new, creative ways. In fact, if the exams weren’t for a grade, I’d say that they are fun because of their challenge. Good luck!
Nicole: I’m not an ECE major, but after taking this class I’m definitely considering taking more ECE classes. This class gives a really good foundation for other ECE classes and you get to learn a little bit about a lot of ECE topics. The exams are pretty fair but I would suggest going through as many practice exams as possible because they help you work on timing and show which topics you still need to study for. As far as Mallard HW, try and start early so you have enough time to get your questions answered. Also nothing stinks more than leaving your Saturday morning Mallard HW until Friday night, so try and get it done early. The best advice I have for your design project is to keep your design simple. Simple designs usually work the best and are easy to debug.
J. T.:
Ask questions until you drive them crazy.
Take a break and enjoy yourself.
Make lots of smart friends.
Don’t be a nerd.