Spring 2027

Soil Mechanics

Soil Mechanics covers basic principles and applications in engineering, including soil composition, classification, permeability, consolidation, shear strength, foundations, slope stability, and laboratory characterization.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Jesse Hampton

The class involved hard information, but Jesse Hampton’s clear instruction and multiple problem examples made the content manageable and interesting.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Describe the physicochemical characteristics of soils and their importance to the engineering behavior of soils.

  • Define the factors which control the physical, mechanical and hydraulic behavior of soils.

  • Run the laboratory tests used for the determination of physicochemical properties of soils, the engineering classification of soils, hydraulic properties, and the stiffness and shear strength properties.

  • Perform analyses in each area described in the course and understand the limitations to these analyses.

  • List basic problems in Soil Mechanics design and describe how these problems are tackled.

  • Experimentally assess the interaction of multiple parameters controlling the physical, mechanical and hydraulic behavior of soils; perform more advanced 2D or 3D analyses in one area described in the course and understand the limitations of these analyses; or summarize the state of the art in one research or engineering-applied area described in the course.

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

E M A 303 or M E 306, graduate/professional standing, or member of Engineering Guest Students

    • take one
    • graduate/professional standing
    • member of Engineering Guest Students
    take one
CIVENGR/GLE 330 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Any of
    • Any of
    • graduate/professional standing
    • member of Engineering Guest Students

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

JESSE HAMPTON is recorded teaching in Spring 2022, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

WILLIAM LIKOS is recorded teaching in Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2026. 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

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LAB 301Classroom Instruction0 / 170
LAB 303Classroom Instruction0 / 170
LAB 305Classroom Instruction0 / 170
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 600
LAB 301Classroom Instruction0 / 170
LAB 303Classroom Instruction0 / 170
LAB 305Classroom Instruction0 / 170
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 600

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

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Jesse Hampton

Students found Jesse Hampton to be a caring and considerate professor who treats students as equals and is always willing to help, even outside of office hours.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 2.95 GPA, 23.9% A/AB (n=46 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.28 GPA, 44.1% A/AB (n=34 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.62 GPA, 79.5% A/AB (n=44 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Jesse Hampton

The class involved hard information, but Jesse Hampton’s clear instruction and multiple problem examples made the content manageable and interesting.

Past student reviews · William Likos

A student noted that doing the homework made the class easy going, and that William Likos explained soil mechanics in an engaging way.

Topics

  • Soil composition, texture, and classification
  • Permeability, seepage, consolidation, and settlement
  • Shear strength and lateral earth pressures
  • Foundations and slope stability
  • Subsurface exploration and laboratory characterization

Skills

  • Defining factors controlling soil behavior
  • Running soil laboratory tests
  • Performing soil mechanics analyses
  • Applying soil mechanics in engineering practice

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · 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

1280 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.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
CIVENGR/GLE 330 · Spring 2027

Soil Mechanics

Recorded 2026-10-14
CIVENGR/GLE 330 · Spring 2027

Soil Mechanics

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:240:003318",
    "course_id": "CIVENGR/GLE 330",
    "course_uid": "course_47cd3386ac22f34c6da72c58",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "003318",
    "source_subject_id": "240",
    "title": "Soil Mechanics",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:418:003318",
    "course_id": "CIVENGR/GLE 330",
    "course_uid": "course_47cd3386ac22f34c6da72c58",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "003318",
    "source_subject_id": "418",
    "title": "Soil Mechanics",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "94d94e61474bcf14d4685b5380ff0cf8626dba0c282bf8040f181e6e4d11241c",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}