Spring 2027

Circuits Laboratory II

A laboratory course covering electronic device characteristics, operational amplifier applications, and feedback circuits through hands-on experiments.

offering recorded1 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Mark Allie3.0/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Mark Allie

A past student noted that the class did not expect much comprehension, requiring students to simply show up and build circuits.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Predict electronic circuit outcomes using equations and simulations

  • Compare physical electronic circuit functionality to predicted functionality using computer models

  • Specify analog circuits to perform linear signal processing with passive and active components such as resistors, capacitors, inductors, transistors and op-amps

  • Specify analog circuits to perform non-linear signal processing with passive and active components such as diodes, transistors and op-amps

  • Construct circuits to implement linear signal processing such as gain

  • Construct circuits to implement non-linear signal processing such as converting AC to DC and boosting DC voltages

  • Communicate test results from electrical measurements using tables, equations and charts

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

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

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

E C E 270 and (E C E 340 or concurrent enrollment), or member of Engineering Guest Students

    • take all
    • member of Engineering Guest Students
    take one
ECE 271 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
    • All of
    • member of Engineering Guest Students

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 2.28/5 from 18 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: 3.5/5 raw quality · 1.0/5 difficulty · 2 reviews

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

Past student reviews · Mark Allie

Mark Allie was described as a supportive instructor who cared about students and helped them catch up on prior material. Students reported that the course allowed them to learn significantly without the stress of poor grades, as he did not expect much comprehension beyond building circuits. One reviewer noted that TAs created the final exam, causing it to change every semester.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.40 GPA, 58.2% A/AB (n=55 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.04 GPA, 47.6% A/AB (n=105 letter grades); Spring 2026: 2.74 GPA, 38.6% A/AB (n=57 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

MARK ALLIE is recorded teaching in Fall 2006, Spring 2007, Fall 2007, Spring 2008, Fall 2008, Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, 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 001Classroom Instruction0 / 900
LAB 002Classroom Instruction0 / 900

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 · Mark Allie

Students reported that Mark Allie helped them learn a lot and catch up on prerequisite material without the stress of getting a poor grade.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.40 GPA, 58.2% A/AB (n=55 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.04 GPA, 47.6% A/AB (n=105 letter grades); Spring 2026: 2.74 GPA, 38.6% A/AB (n=57 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Mark Allie

A past student noted that the class did not expect much comprehension, requiring students to simply show up and build circuits.

Past student reviews · Mark Allie

Students described Mark Allie as a nice guy who cared about them, while noting that TAs made the final test which varied each semester.

Topics

  • Electronic device characteristics and operational amplifiers
  • Linear and non-linear signal processing in analog circuits
  • Electrical measurement and data communication

Skills

  • Predicting electronic circuit outcomes using equations and simulations
  • Specifying analog circuits for linear signal processing using passive and active components
  • Specifying analog circuits for non-linear signal processing using diodes, transistors, and op-amps
  • Constructing circuits for non-linear signal processing including AC to DC conversion and voltage boosting

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · 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 · 0.31 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

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
ECE 271 · Spring 2027

Circuits Laboratory II

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:320:006298",
    "course_id": "ECE 271",
    "course_uid": "course_4f43ea59ec9f575fd58e0a5f",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "006298",
    "source_subject_id": "320",
    "title": "Circuits Laboratory II",
    "credits_min": 1,
    "credits_max": 1,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring, Summer"
  }
]
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": "04b6c5404daeb65c878815c435e6b5036e1311de8c08abce7558664d7c460881",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}