Fall 2026

Digital Circuits and Components

ECE 555 covers principles, characterization, and design of digital logic circuits and components.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Akhilesh Jaiswal3.7/5

Summary

1 / 7

Homework and projects are described as easy but time-consuming, with one reviewer noting significant hours required for the project component.

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
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Prerequisites

Course map

(E C E/​COMP SCI 352 and E C E 340), graduate/professional standing, or member of Engineering Guest Students

ECE 555

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

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Fall 2026
/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.00/5 from 3 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.

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

Akhilesh Jaiswal provides thorough lectures linking topics to VLSI design, though some find them unengaging. Reviewers note messy notes, scheduling issues that skip syllabus content, and occasional misunderstandings of student questions.

Historical reviews from ECE 252 describe Jaiswal as a very good lecturer who simplifies abstract ideas. Students found his office hours helpful, though one disliked the course layout, which they noted was not determined by him.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.34 GPA, 55.3% A/AB (n=76 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.37 GPA, 61.4% A/AB (n=70 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Historical reviews of Azadeh Davoodi: Azadeh Davoodi knew the material well, though reviewers disagreed on her clarity; one found her answers unclear and rambling, while another found her explanations good. Her exams were fairly easy with practice, but the course required significant time investment.

AKHILESH JAISWAL is recorded teaching in Fall 2023, Fall 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

AZADEH DAVOODI is recorded teaching in Fall 2014, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JING LI is recorded teaching in Fall 2015, Fall 2017. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

UMIT OGRAS is recorded teaching in Fall 2021, Fall 2022, 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

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction87 / 950
DIS 301Classroom Instruction38 / 390

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

Akhilesh Jaiswal is a thorough lecturer who connects topics to real-world VLSI design, though his engagement and scheduling have drawn mixed feedback.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.34 GPA, 55.3% A/AB (n=76 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.37 GPA, 61.4% A/AB (n=70 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.25 GPA, 51.9% A/AB (n=79 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Homework and projects are described as easy but time-consuming, with one reviewer noting significant hours required for the project component.

Students find lecture notes messy and report that Jaiswal sometimes misses questions, while another reviewer praises his helpful office hours and ability to simplify abstract concepts.

Topics

  • Transmission lines in digital applications
  • Logic circuit families and characteristics

Skills

  • Design and analysis of applied logic circuits
  • Characterization of logic circuits

Grades

Historical instructor

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.

4 earlier forecasts · 0.08 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 · 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

1320 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.

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Selected offering source records
ECE 555 · Fall 2026

Digital Circuits and Components

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records
[
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:320:006435",
    "course_id": "ECE 555",
    "course_uid": "course_61894e29f1afa672860da66b",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "006435",
    "source_subject_id": "320",
    "title": "Digital Circuits and Components",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Occasionally"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-09-07

Download the original dataset
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "2a7872ce0b11d9129e77febdd57905b4d2019891042f3385e767d4871a4d90eb",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}