Circuit Analysis

Hacp

Lifer
Jun 8, 2005
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I know there are a lot of EEs and EE students here so I want an honest opinion on how hard this class is. I'm looking for a class that I can coast through for an easy grade and satisfy one of my technical elective requirements.

This one seems like it isn't that hard.Officially, this is the first real EE course EE students at my college take. I know it is different at every school but what are your experiences? Easy? Hard? Avoid at all costs?
 

gophins72

Golden Member
Jul 22, 2005
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depends on the school and the prof, my first class was digital circuits, the circuit analysis class for me was the year after.
 

exdeath

Lifer
Jan 29, 2004
13,679
10
81
It's not really hard, just study Ohm's Law and Kirchhoff's Law, pretty straight forward stuff. Might get a little hard if you spend any time with impedence and more complicated subjects.
 

Dumac

Diamond Member
Dec 31, 2005
9,391
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It depends on what level you are at.

I just took a really difficult 300 level circuit analysis class that I found a bit difficult...

It went more in-depth that I was used to. I ended up with an A, but it definately wasn't a coasting class...
 

mcmilljb

Platinum Member
May 17, 2005
2,144
2
81
This is not a coasting class. It's not OMG hard, but it does take some work and learning if you do not already have exposure. There are better classes for getting an easy A.

What are some other choices? The 2 best classes I took for major electives were Robotics(fun) and Selected Topics in Multimedia(easy).
 

ussfletcher

Platinum Member
Apr 16, 2005
2,569
2
81
This is not a coasting class. It's not OMG hard, but it does take some work and learning if you do not already have exposure. There are better classes for getting an easy A.

What are some other choices? The 2 best classes I took for major electives were Robotics(fun) and Selected Topics in Multimedia(easy).

My class was OMG hard, so the difficulty definitely varies, but no you should not be able to coast through it.
 

mcmilljb

Platinum Member
May 17, 2005
2,144
2
81
My class was OMG hard, so the difficulty definitely varies, but no you should not be able to coast through it.

The OMG hard came when I was doing my Signal & Systems class, but that was mainly because the teacher wanted tons of homework. However I did learn a lot.

If you want to compare what you did to what I did, you can look my school's course information. I did this back in 2003 during the summer. So it might be a little different.

http://www.ee.sc.edu/AcadProgram/Current/courseinfo.asp?d=ELCT&c=221
 

Spikesoldier

Diamond Member
Oct 15, 2001
6,766
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course is entirely going to be determined by the professor. if hes the type to teach a class you can skate by, then hes that type of professor.

you really wont know unless you find some feedback site that rates professors by university. i doubt such a thing can be on the interwebs.
 

magomago

Lifer
Sep 28, 2002
10,973
14
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the class is omg hard because its essentially a lot of formalized logic. you have to learn to approach it like that without using your preconvienced notions.

I took it over the summer as a 5 week class with an allegedly hard teacher. I think i studied about 4 hours a day for that class 5 times a week or so and I did fine. I did all the HW, I did all the extra problems (he would assign 4 HW problems and then give us 20 extra problems).
I also read everything in the book and did every example problem (you starting to see why i spent about 20 hours a week?). I solidified the concepts really well, so basically, it didn't matter what he threw at me I understood how to approach it.

However, that was the first level of circuits class..since i'm not an EE i didn't need to go further LOLLOLOLOLOOL YMMV as you hit the harder shit, but, what I've generally seen, is if you really understand the fundamentals of any topic well, the harder stuff isn't as...harder
 

DanDaManJC

Senior member
Oct 31, 2004
776
0
76
my intro class was pretty easy. it's the first EE class, but other engineering disciplines are required to take the class, so that means it was kept relatively "sane"

that said, it wasn't an easy A either. I spent a solid amount of time on homework and studying. nothing crazy, but maybe a whole evening or two a week on homework and test prep per week.

edit:
seems like it does vary per school considerably. as i said, at my school the first class is a graduation req for other depts too... so the profs tend to keep the class relatively simple and introductory for the sake of the non-EEs
 

Hacp

Lifer
Jun 8, 2005
13,923
2
81
course is entirely going to be determined by the professor. if hes the type to teach a class you can skate by, then hes that type of professor.

you really wont know unless you find some feedback site that rates professors by university. i doubt such a thing can be on the interwebs.

The professor is def easy because I've had him before. He let us hand in all the homeworks the last day of the semester. However, the setting was different. I had him for a 400 lvl course with 6 students. This one is going to be a huge lecture hall with around 200 students. That is why I'm wondering about how hard the actual subject is rather than how hard the professor is.

I'm going to take a look at the book later today. Maybe work out a few problems to see if the course will be easy.
 
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rockyct

Diamond Member
Jun 23, 2001
6,656
32
91
It shouldn't be that hard, but I wouldn't consider it an easy A unless you're familiar with the basics of electricity.
 

Leros

Lifer
Jul 11, 2004
21,867
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81
My intro to EE class was circuit analysis. It wasn't too bad. Definitely not a blowoff class though.
 

Matthiasa

Diamond Member
May 4, 2009
5,755
23
81
Depends, could be really easy, could work into high order simultaneous differential equations. :(
Phasors are your friend, that's all I'm gonna say on it.
 
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ShawnD1

Lifer
May 24, 2003
15,987
2
81
Phasors are your friend, that's all I'm gonna say on it.
Phasors are such bullshit. How can someone tell me that two waves out of phase can be drawn as a triangle? What kind of god would allow that?

hacp, you have nothing to worry about as long as your math skills are as strong as your analysis of economics and unions :thumbsup:
 

dwell

pics?
Oct 9, 1999
5,185
2
0
I am thinking of taking this class even though I've been out of school for over a decade and majored in comp-sci. I want to build guitar effects and amps. Seems like straight algebra to me. Taking the MIT course online but want something more formal.
 

Fritzo

Lifer
Jan 3, 2001
41,920
2,161
126
All I know is any word with that has "anal" in it makes me giggle.

So, *giggle*.
 

edro

Lifer
Apr 5, 2002
24,326
68
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If it's intro to DC circuits, it would be fairly easy... just applied algebra.
If it's AC circuits or anything higher than intro to DC, it will be much more difficult.

I'm assuming it is the first EE class, which is either digital logic circuits or intro to DC... so you should be alright as long as you know basic algebra.
 

jman19

Lifer
Nov 3, 2000
11,225
664
126
Phasors are such bullshit. How can someone tell me that two waves out of phase can be drawn as a triangle? What kind of god would allow that?

hacp, you have nothing to worry about as long as your math skills are as strong as your analysis of economics and unions :thumbsup:

Sarcasm? :thumbsup:
 
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IndyColtsFan

Lifer
Sep 22, 2007
33,655
687
126
I know there are a lot of EEs and EE students here so I want an honest opinion on how hard this class is. I'm looking for a class that I can coast through for an easy grade and satisfy one of my technical elective requirements.

This one seems like it isn't that hard.Officially, this is the first real EE course EE students at my college take. I know it is different at every school but what are your experiences? Easy? Hard? Avoid at all costs?

Depends on the professor. I'd recommend trying to get into a class with a professor who speaks very good English.

It is really an interesting class though. What is your major? I thought digital logic and the transistor class were the most interesting undergrad classes I took.
 

PottedMeat

Lifer
Apr 17, 2002
12,363
475
126
Depends on the professor. I'd recommend trying to get into a class with a professor who speaks very good English.

It is really an interesting class though. What is your major? I thought digital logic and the transistor class were the most interesting undergrad classes I took.

This.

Read through professor reviews and ask your friends how the class was.

I got some chainsmoking greek dude that I don't think had an actual connection to the class. It was like a new lecturer every week. The tests and homework were pretty much by the book and the lectures were 'wtf is this shit?'. I barely got by by going to the TA sessions. Heh my C++ class was actually relevant but being at 8am I just didn't go. I guess Circuit Theory & C++ were EE weed out classes.
 

Hacp

Lifer
Jun 8, 2005
13,923
2
81
1) The guy is white
2) He has very complete self contained notes.
3) The book sucks just based on reviews by amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Electric-Circu...4159618&sr=8-3
4) I'll try to skim through the entire book and work out a few problems per chapter. I have until Feburary to drop this without a note on the transcript. If I can't learn this in a month, I'm going to drop it. I have too much other stuff on my plate.