Having taken 107 a year prior, I was initially apprehensive about what to expect for this class, in particular the mathematical rigour. However, let me assuage your fears if you’re also in my shoes entering the course - most of the difficult math is past. Definitely have a rudimentary knowledge of complex numbers and complex analysis, but the intense calculus requirement for 107 is notably absent. This is not to say 171A is by any means easy. I would argue in some ways it is more difficult than 107 because it is more conceptual.
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The grading scheme was 15% HW, 40% midterm, and 45% final, and up to 5% extra credit. The extra credit was awarded through in-class quizzes (which definitely incentivised me to get out of bed at 8 AM). Essentially, you would get full credit for answering correctly, half credit for answering incorrectly, and no credit if no attempt was made. I highly recommend going to lecture for this reason, as a 5% boost at the end of the quarter will do wonders to your final grade. The quiz questions for the most part were not particularly difficult, either.
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The first bit of the class was a review of the modelling aspects of 107 as well as Laplace transforms and transfer functions. Then we moved onto frequency domain representations of systems. Get really proficient at sketching Bode, Nyquist, and root locus plots as they’ll be used extensively in the middle part of the class. And don’t rely on computer software like MATLAB or WolframAlpha either because those are forbidden on exams. At the end, we learned about some canonical controllers like PID and lead/lag compensators.
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We had 8 homeworks in total, and they were all fairly time consuming, although informative, and not unnecessarily difficult. I felt that seriously treating the homework assignments and diligently attending office hours was sufficient in doing well on the exams. The exams were of similar difficulty to the homework, and Franco provided her old practice exams so you could get a feel for what to expect. The midterm had around a 78 average, but the final was only a 52. Personally, I felt confident walking out of the final exam, but after checking the feedback it turns out they graded much more harshly. But again, if you attended a majority of the lectures and completed those extra credit quizzes it was more than enough to offset a poor performance.
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Overall, the class is definitely one of the harder MAE upper divs, but it’s more than manageable, especially compared to 107. From what I’ve heard, you can’t really go wrong with any of the other 171A professors too, but if Franco is teaching again in the future, I will definitely recommend her class!