Professor
Hooman Darabi
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2018 - EE 10 really is more complicated than it needs to be. The lectures are boring albeit clear. However the professor is scattered and doesn’t really make a clear distinction between topics. The homework’s are way too long for the amount they contribute to the grade. Also the exams are graded way to harshly. The lazy TAs only give credit for a few key points for each question so if you miss those “milestones” you get essentially zero points. They also do if you miss A you miss B-D too even if the methodology is right. The utter lack of effort by the TAs shows fundanmetal flaws and they will make abysmal professors and further degrade the reputation of Ucla Engineering. Overall this class has eroded any sense of liking circuits which is a real shame. Take this class because it’s required. Oh and if you’re CSE take this as a warning to switch to CS. The extra E in your degree isn’t worth the suffering of this class. Only pro is the curve is good.
Winter 2018 - EE 10 really is more complicated than it needs to be. The lectures are boring albeit clear. However the professor is scattered and doesn’t really make a clear distinction between topics. The homework’s are way too long for the amount they contribute to the grade. Also the exams are graded way to harshly. The lazy TAs only give credit for a few key points for each question so if you miss those “milestones” you get essentially zero points. They also do if you miss A you miss B-D too even if the methodology is right. The utter lack of effort by the TAs shows fundanmetal flaws and they will make abysmal professors and further degrade the reputation of Ucla Engineering. Overall this class has eroded any sense of liking circuits which is a real shame. Take this class because it’s required. Oh and if you’re CSE take this as a warning to switch to CS. The extra E in your degree isn’t worth the suffering of this class. Only pro is the curve is good.
AD
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2022 - Depending on the time sequence of your circuit-related physics/engineering courses, many concepts may appear elsewhere before (physics 1 series, ECE 3...). In general, this course is a good review and elevation to circuit theory fundamentals. Professor Darabi has a well-structured lecture with examples, but it is still worthwhile to do practice problems from other sources before the exams besides the given examples and homework problems (don't forget to review transformer equations). The textbook is probably the only thing to be improved for this course, as I personally think it is a little bit old (from half a century ago), but as long as you follow the lectures, you do not need it.
Fall 2022 - Depending on the time sequence of your circuit-related physics/engineering courses, many concepts may appear elsewhere before (physics 1 series, ECE 3...). In general, this course is a good review and elevation to circuit theory fundamentals. Professor Darabi has a well-structured lecture with examples, but it is still worthwhile to do practice problems from other sources before the exams besides the given examples and homework problems (don't forget to review transformer equations). The textbook is probably the only thing to be improved for this course, as I personally think it is a little bit old (from half a century ago), but as long as you follow the lectures, you do not need it.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2022 - If you liked using the AD2 from ECE 3 well you're in luck because this class uses the AD2 for the entire quarter. You learn about basic circuits (matching the pace with ECE 10/ECE 10H), from voltage dividers, up to multi-order RLC circuits. 4 labs, 4 reports (roughly 8 pages long), assigned every two weeks, with the lab specs for the entire quarter published at the start of the quarter. The labs and reports are expected to be completed by each individual. Lots of people cram doing the lab and the report 48 hours before it's due. You will likely also do that too. If you decide to do the labs early and do the report later, you'll likely have to repeat doing the lab as well. Lab sections are not mandatory, EXCEPT for the days your reports are due, as for my quarter there was a "quiz" and practical demo required for checkoffs. For the checkoffs, I partnered up with a friend, but that policy is up to your TA.
Fall 2022 - If you liked using the AD2 from ECE 3 well you're in luck because this class uses the AD2 for the entire quarter. You learn about basic circuits (matching the pace with ECE 10/ECE 10H), from voltage dividers, up to multi-order RLC circuits. 4 labs, 4 reports (roughly 8 pages long), assigned every two weeks, with the lab specs for the entire quarter published at the start of the quarter. The labs and reports are expected to be completed by each individual. Lots of people cram doing the lab and the report 48 hours before it's due. You will likely also do that too. If you decide to do the labs early and do the report later, you'll likely have to repeat doing the lab as well. Lab sections are not mandatory, EXCEPT for the days your reports are due, as for my quarter there was a "quiz" and practical demo required for checkoffs. For the checkoffs, I partnered up with a friend, but that policy is up to your TA.
AD
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2023 - Darabi is a very kind professor and made the best out of our Friday 8 am lectures, but the class was still difficult to follow despite going to every lecture. I did not feel confident with most of the material until a few days before the midterm and final, and walked out of both tests feeling like I had done poorly. So, I do think the grading was pretty lenient. There are not many resources provided in terms of practice tests/past exams so while the tests were fair, studying for them was difficult. Overall I definitely learned a lot though. Some advice: make sure to set aside plenty of time for the homeworks, they started getting pretty difficult after the first one. Also make sure you understand the examples Darabi goes over in class and look in the textbook for more examples. Working with others on homework and studying makes it a lot more manageable.
Fall 2023 - Darabi is a very kind professor and made the best out of our Friday 8 am lectures, but the class was still difficult to follow despite going to every lecture. I did not feel confident with most of the material until a few days before the midterm and final, and walked out of both tests feeling like I had done poorly. So, I do think the grading was pretty lenient. There are not many resources provided in terms of practice tests/past exams so while the tests were fair, studying for them was difficult. Overall I definitely learned a lot though. Some advice: make sure to set aside plenty of time for the homeworks, they started getting pretty difficult after the first one. Also make sure you understand the examples Darabi goes over in class and look in the textbook for more examples. Working with others on homework and studying makes it a lot more manageable.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2024 - This class really isn't what it says on the tin, not to the fault of the professor, Darabi is great. The class ends up being much more on using microsensors in machine learning, while interesting, doesn't teach much on IoT, but next year the class is being changed to E1IT so I'm not sure how much this review will stay true. As for the work, the labs are pretty easy with very little code writing, most of which is in the final project. The class is a nice GPA booster and an interesting introduction to machine learning.
Spring 2024 - This class really isn't what it says on the tin, not to the fault of the professor, Darabi is great. The class ends up being much more on using microsensors in machine learning, while interesting, doesn't teach much on IoT, but next year the class is being changed to E1IT so I'm not sure how much this review will stay true. As for the work, the labs are pretty easy with very little code writing, most of which is in the final project. The class is a nice GPA booster and an interesting introduction to machine learning.