Third Year Courses + Tips
I receive a lot of DMs asking me to give feedback on upper-year ECE courses, so here I've provided the class average of each course and my best piece of advice for success in the course.
Fall Semester
ECE331: Analog Electronics (B-)
- Use the textbook and any other online resources religiously because I can guarantee the lectures and tutorials will not be enough to gain a sufficient understanding of the course.
ECE334: Digital Electronics (B)
- Make use of the labs! As legacy as the software is, they introduce you to key concepts in digital design that will come handy in PEY and new grad interviews.
ECE344: Operating Systems (B+)
- There are lots of resources online (mainly the Three Easy Pieces textbook) that can be very helpful in understanding course content, since all you're really provided is the lectures.
ECE552: Computer Architecture (B)
- Start early on the labs and chip away at them over the full two weeks instead of waiting till the last few days. Also, spend a lot of time formatting and editing your reports because they WILL deduct marks.
ECO101: Principles of Microeconomics (C+)
- Practice makes perfect! And if you can't answer any questions ask AI because it is really good at explaining the solutions.
Winter Semester
APS360: Applied Fundamentals of Deep Learning (B+)
- Pick a good, technically difficult project that you can slap on your resume and use in your interviews.
APS420: Technology, Engineering, and Global Development (B+)
- Pay attention in lectures and don't make AI summaries of the readings, since you will be grilled for details on assessments.
ECE302: Probability and Applications (B-)
- Practice makes perfect! For assessments, just spam textbook problems and past midterms/finals.
ECE342: Computer Hardware (B+)
- NOTE: This course will become ECE390 starting the 2026-2027 school year. ECE342 will go back to being a proper computer hardware course with Verilog labs and microprocessor design.
- Do not take this course (or rather, ECE390). There is nothing taught about embedded systems you cannot learn yourself from joining a design team or doing self-motivated projects.
ECE472: Engineering Economic Analysis and Entrepreneurship (B+)
- Practice makes perfect! To add on, the content is this course is important. As a young professional, having a good idea of both engineering and perdonal finance will take you a long long way.