Hardest courses in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Exams are poorly designed with high-stakes questions, and the course covers too many topics with insufficient depth, creating a stressful workload.[1]

Projects are lengthy and require early starts, while bi-weekly quizzes and dense course materials add to the workload and preparation demands.[1, 2, 3]

The course includes five graded homeworks, two midterms, and a final. While some find exams manageable with lecture notes, others report they are unexpectedly difficult or narrowly focused.[1, 2, 3]

The course is a flipped classroom requiring significant pre-class study and consistent attendance to prevent material from stacking up quickly.[1, 2, 3]

Historical reviews of Irena Knezevic, Nader Behdad: Irena Knezevic assigns long homework and challenging exams that are often too long for the time given. Nader Behdad’s class is not a pushover, requiring significant time on homework to understand concepts for exams.[1, 2, 3]

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.[1, 2, 3]

The course is extremely difficult with long, challenging homework assignments that can take up to 20 hours, requiring substantial independent study time.[1, 2, 3]

Historical reviews of Bernard Lesieutre: The class starts hard but clarifies before midterms. Tests are reasonably difficult but feature a generous curve, and exams closely mirror practice problems.[1, 2]

The class is considered easy, though one review notes irregular homework, unpredictable prelab quizzes, and delayed grading.[1]

Some reviewers characterize the course as one of the most unnecessarily difficult they have taken, citing dense lectures, illegible handwriting, and exams that are heavily weighted and unrealistic compared to teaching.[1, 2, 3]

Homework is challenging and time-consuming, but attending discussion sessions and collaborating with groups makes the class much easier to manage.[1, 2]

Homework and projects are described as easy but time-consuming, with one reviewer noting significant hours required for the project component.[1, 2]

The course involves significant coding and project work, with some reviews noting a heavy reliance on self-learning from datasheets. Exams can be tough, and the workload demands consistent effort and attention to detail.[1, 2, +3]

Historical reviews of Kangwook Lee, Pedro Morgado, Yu Hen Hu: The course is consistently described as difficult with a heavy workload, including extensive homework, group projects, and dense theoretical content requiring strong math backgrounds.[1, 2, +2]

Historical reviews of Irena Knezevic: Grading relies on three exams, but homework is important for understanding; one review notes excessive late assignments and difficult textbook readings as a burden.[1, 2]

The workload involves showing up and building circuits, with minimal expectations for deep comprehension, though tests are created by TAs and vary each semester.[1]

Sinclair enforces strict deadlines and requires diligent self-study. Wadle’s lectures are criticized as unhelpful or confusing, requiring heavy independent work.[1, 2, +8]

The course requires six homeworks, three exams, and a final project, with exams noted as difficult but offering test corrections and extra credit.[1, 2]

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.[1, 2, 3]

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.[1]

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.[1, 2]

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.[1, 2, 3]

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.[1]

The final project and required Java DSP software are frequently cited as confusing and difficult to navigate.[1, 2, 3]

Historical reviews of Steven Fredette: Students should complete textbook problems to prepare, as exams feature changed values from those examples.[1]

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.[1, 2, 3]

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.[1, 2]