Introduction to Computer Aided Design

Introduction to computer aided design (CAD) concepts, techniques, and design synthesis.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Christopher Choi3.6/5

Summary

1 / 6

Students should expect 3-6 hours of weekly work, with exams described as hard but curved, and all assignments completed online.

Grade history

average GPA
letter grades
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AB
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
BSE 270

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Fall 2026
/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.25/5 from 4 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 4.0/5 raw quality · 3.0/5 difficulty · 3 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Christopher Choi provides a textbook that helps students master SolidWorks, though lectures are less helpful for problem sets. He requires mandatory meetings for a small grade portion and offers helpful office hours. Reviews note that while content is easy, exams are hard but curved.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.23 GPA, 54.3% A/AB (n=35 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.46 GPA, 66.7% A/AB (n=36 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.38 GPA, 57.5% A/AB (n=40 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

CHRISTOPHER CHOI is recorded teaching in Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LAB 001Online Only55 / 550

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records

No records available.

Student experience

the class

Christopher Choi is praised for respecting student time and providing helpful resources, though one reviewer found his lectures less useful for problem-solving.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.23 GPA, 54.3% A/AB (n=35 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.46 GPA, 66.7% A/AB (n=36 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.38 GPA, 57.5% A/AB (n=40 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Students should expect 3-6 hours of weekly work, with exams described as hard but curved, and all assignments completed online.

Reviewers found the textbook helpful for learning SolidWorks and office hours useful, but noted that lectures focused on real-world significance rather than problem sets.

Topics

  • Two- and three-dimensional drawing presentation
  • Parametric solid modeling
  • Part design
  • Survey data and surface construction
  • Orthographic drawings, dimensioning rules, and drawing standards
  • Assemblies
  • Animation

Skills

  • Computer aided design concepts and techniques
  • Two- and three-dimensional drawing presentation
  • Methods of graphic communication
  • Design synthesis
  • Parametric solid modeling
  • Part design
  • Survey data and surface construction
  • Orthographic drawings, dimensioning, assemblies, and animation

Grades

Latest available · Fall 2025— not enough history to project Fall 2026.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Fall 2025

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Fall 2025 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1320 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Selected offering source records
BSE 270 · Fall 2026

Introduction to Computer Aided Design

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records
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  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:112:024046",
    "course_id": "BSE 270",
    "course_uid": "course_159c6ad76d7ffad6a2830fba",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "024046",
    "source_subject_id": "112",
    "title": "Introduction to Computer Aided Design",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Model & dataset provenance
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "d2bcc903de7a0977c9587e41bcc80cc5a287ee37af2a0e58f797846dd5ab9782",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}