Recent recorded grades — Fall 2025: 3.25 GPA, 50.0% A/AB (n=26 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.31 GPA, 60.3% A/AB (n=78 letter grades).
Fall 2026
Digital System Design and Synthesis
Introduction to hardware description languages, automated synthesis, and advanced digital design principles.
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Julie Hsiao
Summary
1 / 7
Historical reviews of Anthony Gregerson, Mikko Lipasti, Younghyun Kim: The semester project requires significant effort and early planning. Workload varies widely, with some noting overwhelming weekly assignments or challenging midterm coding exams.
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 352, graduate/professional standing, or member of Engineering Guest Students
- COMPSCI/ECE 352
- graduate/professional standing
- member of Engineering Guest Students
“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 352
- graduate/professional standing
- member of Engineering Guest Students
Professors
Fall 2026Historical instructors & teaching patterns
Historical reviews of Eric Hoffman: Eric Hoffman is a knowledgeable instructor who explains Verilog and synthesis clearly, bringing industry experience to a skills-heavy class. Reviewers note his videos are organized and he is helpful, making him a strong choice for learning digital design.
ANTHONY GREGERSON is recorded teaching in Fall 2010, Spring 2011. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
ERIC HOFFMAN is recorded teaching in Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
JULIE HSIAO is recorded teaching in Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
KATHERINE MORROW is recorded teaching in Spring 2009, Fall 2010, Spring 2011. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
MICHAEL MORROW is recorded teaching in Fall 2007, Fall 2011. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
MIKKO LIPASTI is recorded teaching in Fall 2016. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
YOUNGHYUN KIM is recorded teaching in Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018. 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 | 78 / 85 | 0 |
| DIS 301 | Classroom Instruction | 24 / 45 | 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
Historical reviews describe the course as skills- and project-heavy, with Eric Hoffman praised for clear explanations of Verilog and synthesis. Other instructors receive mixed feedback, ranging from helpful to unorganized.
Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 2.96 GPA, 39.2% A/AB (n=79 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.31 GPA, 57.5% A/AB (n=106 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.31 GPA, 60.3% A/AB (n=78 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
Historical reviews of Anthony Gregerson, Mikko Lipasti, Younghyun Kim: The semester project requires significant effort and early planning. Workload varies widely, with some noting overwhelming weekly assignments or challenging midterm coding exams.
Historical reviews of Eric Hoffman, Parmesh Ramanathan: Students find Eric Hoffman's organized videos and helpfulness useful for learning digital design. Conversely, others report frustration with Parmesh Ramanathan's unhelpful lectures and unclear grading rubrics.
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 · 0.03 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
Digital System Design and Synthesis
Recorded 2026-09-07Raw records
[
{
"run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
"semester": "1272",
"observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
"offering_id": "1272:320:021682",
"course_id": "ECE 551",
"course_uid": "course_42330966f01392dae105b4e1",
"term_id": "1272",
"source_course_id": "021682",
"source_subject_id": "320",
"title": "Digital System Design and Synthesis",
"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
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": "b2b14bac57ad9c864e9fb8dea512cadc4642e3a76ea4681342333c1bdb6d09e1",
"requirements_status": "valid",
"dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
"observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}