I only attended lecture twice, and I doubt I would have learned much more if I did. Her lectures were fairly lengthy, and the pace was inconsistent. Not to mention that they were at 8 am. However, the slides include everything you need to know, and I found it better to review them on my own time. They have lots of examples which are crucial for the homeworks and exams, aside from the discussion worksheets. I appreciated that we were allowed to use one page of notes for the midterm and two pages of notes for the final. There is no need to memorize; instead, make sure you practice enough.

I didn't find her exams to be unfair as the problems on them were quite similar to the examples we had seen throughout the course. Plus, the final isn’t cumulative and only covers topics post midterm! This quarter's TA, Vishwas, was fantastic and was a great source in helping us get past some of the tricky homework problems.

Overall, a really straightforward class. She isn't the most engaging prof, but she does give you all of the tools you need to succeed.

So sloppy. Typos on homework and tests, quizzes getting added and removed last-minute. The final said "no calculators," but half the people taking it were using one. Put some effort into your class.

If you're considering taking this class with Alwan, I wouldn't be discouraged by the negative bruinwalk rating. She isn't the most engaging lecturer, but will take time explain difficult concepts, and will stop lecture to clear up any misunderstanding that you may have. The pacing of the class is a bit odd, where the first half of class that covers material similar to 102 drags on a bit too much, and the latter half feels a little fast. However, I felt like there was still enough time to grasp the material.

The homework assignments seem simple at first glance (usually three to four problems per week), but the problems are usually pretty thorough with multiple parts, so they will end up taking a good portion of time. I had Jinhan as my TA, and every week he would post discussion notes consisting of the answers of similar problems, which were especially helpful with difficult homework questions. This class is not very heavy on homework, and additional review of the textbook practice problems were helpful for exams.

In terms of the exams, they were pretty fair. There was one midterm and one final. A good portion of the questions on there were related to the homework questions, but there were some parts that required some additional thinking. Paying attention to the examples she spends time going over on the lecture definitely helps. We were also allowed a sheet of written notes, which helped with all the different formulas. The exams definitely weren't easy, they weren't unreasonably difficult either.

Overall, I'd recommend not being discouraged in taking this class with Alwan. There likely are better professors for 113, but there's no need to restructure your schedule to make that happen. You'll learn the concepts well, just that the overall curve might not be as generous as you would wish.

This class is the easiest upper div I've taken yet. Her midterm and final were decent. They had a couple challenging questions on them but as a whole were pretty doable. In class she makes it VERY clear what will be on the tests because she makes her questions very similar to hw problems and class examples.

Her lecturing is very tedious - this means its complete and exhaustive, but boring. She spends the first hour reviewing what we already know, so it probably would be doable to just read the reader, but you would miss out on what she emphasizes (which is what makes her tests so easy).

Like someone else said, shes a decent/easy professor so don't be scared off by the difficulty rating.

She might be good but she's not a generous grader as top 25% = B+.

Her lectures were pretty clear and definitely worth going to. Midterm and final were definitely manageable and didn't have killer curveballs that destroy the average. Midterm average was about 76 and final average was about 73. Overall quite decent as a professor and not worth avoiding because of her high difficulty rating.

What you would get out of Alwan's class is DSP! Really!
She's very effective as a teacher. Her tests are fair but could
get a little tricky. If you understand her lectures, you'll have
no problem figuring out those tricky questions.
Take 113 with her if you can.