Spring 2027

Advanced Computer Architecture I

Advanced Computer Architecture I covers processor design, computer arithmetic, pipelining, vector processors, cache memories, instruction set design, and I/O.

no offering record for this termCredits unavailable
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Matthew Sinclair

The class had a ton of workload with lots of reading. It was considered very difficult, and Sinclair was a tough grader, though he curved grades to meet historical averages.

Grade history

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

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Graduate/professional standing

  • Graduate/professional standing
COMPSCI/ECE 752

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

Prerequisite text tree
  • Graduate/professional standing

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

DAVID A. WOOD is recorded teaching in Fall 2006, Fall 2008, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MATT SINCLAIR is recorded teaching in Fall 2018, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, 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

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist

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

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Matthew Sinclair

Students found Matthew Sinclair's lectures easy to follow and noted he made a sincere effort to ensure everyone understood the material. He was described as super accommodating and provided good feedback.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 3.50 GPA, 77.4% A/AB (n=31 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.36 GPA, 63.6% A/AB (n=11 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.58 GPA, 81.6% A/AB (n=38 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Matthew Sinclair

The class had a ton of workload with lots of reading. It was considered very difficult, and Sinclair was a tough grader, though he curved grades to meet historical averages.

Past student reviews · Matthew Sinclair

One student criticized Sinclair for acting as if he knew most concepts and copying slides, while another found him extremely accessible outside of class and caring about students.

Topics

  • Processor design, computer arithmetic, pipelining, vector processors, control units, precise interrupts, main memory, cache memories, instruction set design, stack machines, busses and I/O, protection and security

Skills

  • Processor design, computer arithmetic, pipelining, vector processors, cache memories, instruction set design, busses and I/O, protection and security

Grades

Latest available · Fall 2025— 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 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

1316 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

No offering records for the selected term.

Raw records 
[]
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": "2e5b974b6db6436790ee6686df1ba588068e82608a7572a353f73efeab9f45a5",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}