Professor
Mani Srivastava
1 of 3
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2021 - The class wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either. The course was (mostly) well-organized, and the content is very comprehensive. The professor and TAs seem to genuinely care about the class. In particular, the professor was super active on Piazza, and he'd often reply to my questions in an hour or two. Needless to say, if you put in the effort, you'll learn a lot. But if you're a CS major who doesn't give two quacks about hardware like me, I would recommend against taking this class. Prof. Srivastava covered material rather rapidly during lectures, and I sometimes found them difficult to keep up with. He was often rude to students (especially over Piazza), and for the first half the quarter he only gave a single 3-minute break during the 2-hour lectures. Also, the assignments were super unforgiving. A small error in your circuit could be the difference between 100% and a failing grade for a design assignment (the 2nd DA wasn't easy to test properly either). The quizzes were multiple choice and often poorly worded, so I got a lot of points off for stupid reasons. Like others have said, the class doesn't have a whole lot of work until the last two weeks, when you get hit with a design assignment and a week-long final. To sum it up, if you're genuinely passionate about designing circuits, I think you'll be able to look past the flaws and enjoy this course. But if not, be prepared for frustration.
Spring 2021 - The class wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either. The course was (mostly) well-organized, and the content is very comprehensive. The professor and TAs seem to genuinely care about the class. In particular, the professor was super active on Piazza, and he'd often reply to my questions in an hour or two. Needless to say, if you put in the effort, you'll learn a lot. But if you're a CS major who doesn't give two quacks about hardware like me, I would recommend against taking this class. Prof. Srivastava covered material rather rapidly during lectures, and I sometimes found them difficult to keep up with. He was often rude to students (especially over Piazza), and for the first half the quarter he only gave a single 3-minute break during the 2-hour lectures. Also, the assignments were super unforgiving. A small error in your circuit could be the difference between 100% and a failing grade for a design assignment (the 2nd DA wasn't easy to test properly either). The quizzes were multiple choice and often poorly worded, so I got a lot of points off for stupid reasons. Like others have said, the class doesn't have a whole lot of work until the last two weeks, when you get hit with a design assignment and a week-long final. To sum it up, if you're genuinely passionate about designing circuits, I think you'll be able to look past the flaws and enjoy this course. But if not, be prepared for frustration.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2021 - I really don't understand how this professor has such good reviews. A lot of them say that he is a very 'nice' and 'helpful' guy, but in actuality he is anything but. I don't even believe we had a single thing to hand in until week 4, which may sound nice but really isn't, as this is a topic that you really can only begin to understand through actually doing it. We only had about 6 things total due this entire quarter, including 2 exams and the final. During our final exam (which we had all of finals week to complete), the professor kept on changing his mind on certain guidelines in a very unclear way, and students rightfully kept on asking him to clarify what was and wasn't allowed on Piazza. In response to students asking questions, the professor essentially shut down Piazza for the final exam, by forcing you to read through 50 messages of his before asking a question, none of these messages which seemed to really clarify the questions at hand. Also, good luck making friends in this class to help you out with understanding things, as the professor has the strictest collaboration policy of any that I have seen so far in my time at UCLA. If you are caught collaborating on even a homework in any way, you get an immediate 0 in the course followed by a report to administration. All in all, I would recommend taking this class with a different professor.
Spring 2021 - I really don't understand how this professor has such good reviews. A lot of them say that he is a very 'nice' and 'helpful' guy, but in actuality he is anything but. I don't even believe we had a single thing to hand in until week 4, which may sound nice but really isn't, as this is a topic that you really can only begin to understand through actually doing it. We only had about 6 things total due this entire quarter, including 2 exams and the final. During our final exam (which we had all of finals week to complete), the professor kept on changing his mind on certain guidelines in a very unclear way, and students rightfully kept on asking him to clarify what was and wasn't allowed on Piazza. In response to students asking questions, the professor essentially shut down Piazza for the final exam, by forcing you to read through 50 messages of his before asking a question, none of these messages which seemed to really clarify the questions at hand. Also, good luck making friends in this class to help you out with understanding things, as the professor has the strictest collaboration policy of any that I have seen so far in my time at UCLA. If you are caught collaborating on even a homework in any way, you get an immediate 0 in the course followed by a report to administration. All in all, I would recommend taking this class with a different professor.
AD
Most Helpful Review
One of the most difficult, badly designed and worse courses at UCLA EE for undergraduates to take. Take this class only if you have no life and plan to do nothing for 3 months other than to work on badly designed labs, code in Python and listen to bland lectures which have nothing to do with the course whatsoever. Be prepared to spend the nights in the lab while working like a slave to finish an impossible to finish project in a course of 2 weeks. The course description says that the class is held on two days, but in actuality you will be in the classroom four days out of seven. After taking this class I realized that I learned absolutely nothing about robotics. Totally worthless experience. The TA was nice though and genuinely wanted to help.
One of the most difficult, badly designed and worse courses at UCLA EE for undergraduates to take. Take this class only if you have no life and plan to do nothing for 3 months other than to work on badly designed labs, code in Python and listen to bland lectures which have nothing to do with the course whatsoever. Be prepared to spend the nights in the lab while working like a slave to finish an impossible to finish project in a course of 2 weeks. The course description says that the class is held on two days, but in actuality you will be in the classroom four days out of seven. After taking this class I realized that I learned absolutely nothing about robotics. Totally worthless experience. The TA was nice though and genuinely wanted to help.
AD
AD
1 of 3
