← Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)

Easiest courses in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Looking for a gentler semester? Start with courses where students have earned higher grades.

Highest historical GPA first. At least 100 letter grades over the five years through the selected term. Grades reflect past outcomes, not workload or a guaranteed result.

Find your fit

47 courses

Historical grades cover up to five years through the selected term. Only courses with at least 100 letter grades are ranked.

A hands-on introduction to various sensor types, focusing on practical implementation concerns.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

Covers the principles and applications of light detection, generation, and transmission technologies.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Reviewers report that individual lab reports are disproportionately long and time-consuming for a one-credit course, often requiring five hours to complete.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

An introductory course covering electrical devices, circuits, systems, software, and hardware through a real-world project.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Reviewers characterize the course as an easy A based on attendance and participation. Some note it is easy for those with prior electronics exposure.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

Introductory Microprocessor Laboratory covers software and hardware experiments with a microcomputer system.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews of Michael Morrow: Students should expect to work quite a bit for an A, emphasizing the high workload relative to the credit value.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ECE 370 is an advanced laboratory course focusing on experiments related to core ECE material.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

The sensor lab is difficult to complete on time due to equipment failures and heavy reliance on oscilloscopes, with session 2 students facing issues caused by session 1.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

Teaches project management, teamwork, and disciplined development for mobile systems.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews of Xinyu Zhang: Reviewers note that the course expects students to maintain high standards and work hard, though grading is considered reasonable.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2023–Fall 2025

Covers hardware and software solutions for advanced computing in engineering, with hands-on parallel programming assignments.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews of Dan Negrut: Reviewers note the class involves significant work, particularly weekly programming assignments, but consider them doable with effort.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

ECE 399 is an independent study course where students engage in directed projects arranged with an instructor.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ECE 610 surveys foundational electrical and computer engineering topics and develops technical communication and project management skills.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2023–Fall 2025

ECE/MATH/STAT 888 covers advanced topics in the mathematical foundations of data science.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

COMPSCI/ECE 533 covers the mathematical representation of images, including degradation models, enhancement, restoration, segmentation, coding, pattern recognition, and tomography.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews indicate high difficulty, citing assignment errors and unclear problem explanations in class.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025

ECE 901 covers special advanced topics in Electrical and Computer Engineering that vary by semester and reflect state-of-the-art ideas and research.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews for Kangwook Lee describe the course as enjoyable and intellectually stimulating, with effective addressing of student concerns.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2023–Spring 2026

Covers hardware and software design for embedded systems, the design process, and a major team project.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

The course is hard but rewarding, requiring students to work early and often, and to order components immediately due to potential payment delays.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ECE 455 is a capstone course where students apply ECE knowledge to real-world design projects.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2025–Spring 2026

COMPSCI/ECE 760 covers computational approaches to learning, including inductive inference, explanation-based learning, and cognitive modeling.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

One reviewer rated the difficulty as 5/5 and noted that students were expected to read PowerPoint slides to prepare for class.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

CIRCUITS LABORATORY I covers experiments on Kirchhoff's laws, inductors, basic operational amplifier circuits, and frequency response.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

The workload is minimal, with labs described as take-home or optional. However, students note that lab instructions are often unclear, and the final bench exam may differ significantly from practice materials, requiring independent preparation.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

Software Engineering teaches techniques for designing, developing, and modifying large software systems, covering processes, architecture, and team management.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

The course focuses on agile team software projects and is considered easy if students participate, though logistics and reading quizzes add to the workload.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

Study of power electronic circuits, including semiconductor device characteristics and converter design fundamentals.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Fall 2025

Advanced Computer Architecture I covers processor design, pipelining, cache memories, and instruction set design.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Reviewers describe the class as having a heavy workload with significant reading and difficult exams, though one notes the instructor curves grades to historical averages.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Fall 2025

ECE 342 covers advanced modeling and design of semiconductor devices, analog amplifiers, and CMOS digital circuits.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews of Christopher Demarco, Giri Venkataramanan: Reviews describe high effort and difficult exams. Some note that success requires significant independent textbook reading, particularly under instructors like Christopher Demarco.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ECE 332 teaches feedback control systems, covering modeling, stability, and response analysis using root locus and state variable methods.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2023–Fall 2025

ECE 427 covers electric power systems, including load flow, fault calculations, and economic dispatch.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews of Steven Fredette: Students should complete textbook problems to prepare, as exams feature changed values from those examples.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025

Communication Systems I covers modulation, noise analysis, synchronization, and sampling techniques.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

The final project and required Java DSP software are frequently cited as confusing and difficult to navigate.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025

Introduction to Robotics provides a hands-on overview of key concepts and tools for understanding and developing robotic systems.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

One reviewer states that learning the topic requires significant effort outside of class because the classwork does not provide a good feel for the code.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2025

Introduction to computer architecture covering processor, memory, and I/O system design.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews of Matthew Sinclair, Mikko Lipasti, Parmesh Ramanathan: Reviewers characterize the workload as intense, citing long group projects, dense online lectures, and difficult exams that require significant outside effort and preparation.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ECE 203 introduces signals, information, and computational techniques in electrical engineering.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Learning relies heavily on completing exercises and attending labs, with a flipped classroom structure requiring students to watch lectures independently before engaging in in-class activities.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

Introduction to plasmas covering collective phenomena, waves, instabilities, and kinetic theory with applications to fusion and materials processing.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews of Oliver Schmitz: The course was rated as difficult, with a difficulty rating of 4, reflecting the challenges of the material and the online format during the pandemic.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

MATRIX METHODS IN MACHINE LEARNING covers linear algebraic foundations and matrix methods for machine learning applications like classification, clustering, and data analysis.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Reviewers describe the workload as excessive, with heavy weekly homework and four exams. The course is considered difficult, featuring hard proofs and exams that are hard to finish.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

Introduction to electric drive systems, emphasizing system analysis, machine control, and power electronics applications.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

The course requires six homeworks, three exams, and a final project, with exams noted as difficult but offering test corrections and extra credit.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025

Introduction to Computer Engineering covers logic components, Boolean algebra, logic design, computer organization, and assembly-language programming.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Sinclair enforces strict deadlines and requires diligent self-study. Wadle’s lectures are criticized as unhelpful or confusing, requiring heavy independent work.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026