Recent recorded grades — Fall 2025: 3.35 GPA, 61.1% A/AB (n=36 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.
Fall 2026
Introduction to Operating Systems
Introduction to operating systems covering I/O hardware, virtual memory, scheduling, and system evaluation.
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 James Sorenson
Summary
1 / 7
Historical reviews of Louis Oliphant, Michael Swift: Projects require significant time investment, and exams are considered difficult. Students must infer answers not explicitly covered in lectures, requiring independent problem-solving skills.
Grade history
↗ average GPA
letter grades
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F
All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors
Prerequisites
Course mapE C E/COMP SCI 354 and (COMP SCI 367 or 400) or graduate/professional standing or declared in the Capstone Certificate in Computer Sciences for Professionals
- COMPSCI/ECE 354
- COMP SCI 367
- COMPSCI 400
- graduate/professional standing
- declared in the Capstone Certificate in Computer Sciences for Professionals
“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
- COMPSCI/ECE 354
- Any of
- COMP SCI 367
- COMPSCI 400
- graduate/professional standing
- declared in the Capstone Certificate in Computer Sciences for Professionals
Professors
Fall 2026Historical instructors & teaching patterns
Historical reviews of Michael Swift: James Sorenson is the current instructor, but reviews for Michael Swift describe fast lectures that are hard to follow despite his friendly demeanor. Swift's teaching style requires students to infer answers not explicitly covered, and he is noted for running the class fairly.
ANDREA ARPACI-DUSSEAU is recorded teaching in Fall 2007, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2019. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
BARTON MILLER is recorded teaching in Spring 2008, Spring 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2018, Fall 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
EMILY JACOBSON is recorded teaching in Spring 2012. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
HARYADI GUNAWI is recorded teaching in Fall 2008. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
JAMES SORENSON is recorded teaching in Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
KAI MAST is recorded teaching in Fall 2022. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
LOUIS OLIPHANT is recorded teaching in Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
MICHAEL SWIFT is recorded teaching in Fall 2007, Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Spring 2013, Fall 2017, Fall 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
REMZI ARPACI-DUSSEAU is recorded teaching in Fall 2008, Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2013, Spring 2016, Spring 2018, Fall 2021, Fall 2022. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
SHIVARAM VENKATARAMAN is recorded teaching in Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2023, Fall 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
YUVRAJ PATEL is recorded teaching in Fall 2021, Spring 2022. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
ZEV WEISS is recorded teaching in Spring 2017. 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 2026Schedule loads here as you scroll.
| Section | Mode | Enrolled / capacity | Waitlist |
|---|---|---|---|
| LEC 001 | Classroom Instruction | 268 / 301 | 0 |
| DIS 312 | Classroom Instruction | 37 / 50 | 0 |
| DIS 313 | Classroom Instruction | 48 / 50 | 0 |
| DIS 314 | Classroom Instruction | 36 / 39 | 0 |
| DIS 315 | Classroom Instruction | 34 / 42 | 0 |
| DIS 316 | Classroom Instruction | 41 / 42 | 0 |
| DIS 317 | Classroom Instruction | 39 / 39 | 0 |
| DIS 318 | Classroom Instruction | 33 / 39 | 0 |
Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.
Meeting source records
Student experience
the class
Students describe the course as interesting but challenging, with supportive instructors and effective teaching. Historical reviews emphasize helpful office hours and clear explanations.
Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.34 GPA, 66.2% A/AB (n=320 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.33 GPA, 60.4% A/AB (n=333 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.38 GPA, 70.0% A/AB (n=287 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
Historical reviews of Louis Oliphant, Michael Swift: Projects require significant time investment, and exams are considered difficult. Students must infer answers not explicitly covered in lectures, requiring independent problem-solving skills.
Historical reviews of Barton Miller, Kai Mast, Michael Swift: Lectures vary in pace and clarity, while weekly tests at the start of class penalize late arrivals.
Topics
Skills
Grades
Fall 2026 · Projected
Before grades are released– average GPA
Approximate 80% prediction interval
About this estimate
The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.
The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.
8 earlier forecasts · 0.12 GPA average error.
Grades over time
Through Fall 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
1283 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
Introduction to Operating Systems
Recorded 2026-09-07Raw records
[
{
"run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
"semester": "1272",
"observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
"offering_id": "1272:266:004277",
"course_id": "COMPSCI 537",
"course_uid": "course_79e5479d9eb1286e8642b399",
"term_id": "1272",
"source_course_id": "004277",
"source_subject_id": "266",
"title": "Introduction to Operating Systems",
"credits_min": 4,
"credits_max": 4,
"typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
}
]Rate My Professors
Student reviews
Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.
Read original reviews
Madgrades
Grade history
Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.
Explore recorded gradesModel 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": "933a427f382c3b574b99265c4bd7eca577e257c187eb1b19894e0f5785e675ec",
"requirements_status": "needs_review",
"dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
"observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}