ECE 340Electronic Circuits 2
- Units
- 0.50
- Faculty
- Engineering
When it runs
- F24
- W25
- S25
- F25
- W26
- S26
- F26
- W27
- S27
Ran in 5 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: not on the schedule. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.
Electronic circuits and their limitations including, metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) and bipolar junction transistor (BJT) differential pairs, biasing, the cascode configuration and active loads. Differential and multistage amplifiers. Feedback, stability, and compensation.
Prerequisites
- Complete all of the following
- Students must be in level 3A or higher
- Enrolled in H-Computer Engineering, or H-Electrical Engineering
Antirequisites
Leads to
Reviewed on UW Flow
80% liked it0% easy88% useful
From 15 ratings and 4 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.
There was absolutely no reason for our professor to make the exams as difficult as he did. Even if you put in the effort and work through the practice problems, he still manages to make the actual exam unbearably hard. I genuinely believe he takes some pleasure in seeing students struggle. It takes the fun out of learning, because it feels like you're fighting to survive. My desire to call it quits was fueled solely by this man. One of our classmates even found a nearly identical question from the exam in the textbook, which stated, “Because it is quite complex for manual analysis, its use is limited to computer simulation using SPICE or similar software.” Who does that? Godspeed.
May 2025 · didn’t like it · 2 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
the final may have been the worst thing i've ever written in my life
Mar 2025 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this
To be honest, this course demands alot from you. There's alot of Pset questions each week and for some reason they decided to make the labs singular this term, but didn't adjust the amount of work, so we all had to do double the work with the same amount of lab time for the first lab.
Make sure you do and understand all the psets and their main concepts as well as any """intuitive""" shortcuts that the prof brings up in class (they WILL show up on the exam and you won't have enough time to finish if you don't know them).
I feel like the midterm was fair. It covered what we learned in class and it was honestly ok. The final was absolutely brutal though. We ended up working through things…Feb 2025 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this
Very hard course but very necessary to do anything related to low level circuitry. Requires very in depth knowledge of ECE 240 and lots of time dedicated to practice.
Aug 2022 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this
Discussed on r/uwaterloo
9 posts and comments in 9 threads mention ECE 340, February 2017 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.
Fall 2024
Who was your favourite prof/lecturer this semester? 24 points, 28 comments
“:)”
u/marmbars: “David nairn for ece 240, goated prof, goated office hours, goated commentary + links content to real world really well :) will take ece 340 as a ce bc of how much i found out i enjoy circuits”
Winter 2022
What its like to take ECE 240 with Levine 54 points, 11 comments
u/microwavemasterrace: “Wait until EZE 242 next term. If you don't understand your fundamentals from EZE 240, you will have a rough time.”
u/Xierumeng: “It's also got a new course code: ECE 340.”
Spring 2021
ECE 240 with Peter Levine 15 points, 19 comments
“Has anyone here had Peter Levine for ECE 240? What topics does he usually put more emphasis on during the course? Is there anything specific from ECE 140 I should review? (ie op amps)”
u/pzezson: “Prepare the lube. And I hope you're CE because I have him for ECE 340 as an EE student and believe me, it only gets worse.”
ECE 340 with Levine 3 points, 0 comments
u/pzezson: “How doomed am I?”
Fall 2020
Was there a class in UW that you took and you were sad that it was over? 11 points, 35 comments
u/solder_code_drink: “ECE 340 actually. I really loved listening to John Long.”
how was ece 340? 2 points, 1 comment
Spring 2020
ECE331 overlaps with other semiconductor courses? 3 points, 5 comments
u/prospectiveNTU: “… If I take: \- ECE340 (circuits 2), \- ECE209 (devices 1), \- ECE432 (integrated RF), \- ECE445 (integrated digital), \- ECE463 (power including power semiconductors), and \- ECE444 (integrated analog), all of which seem to talk about semiconductor physics to some degree, then is …”
Winter 2019
Transfer out from ECE? 6 points, 11 comments
“I am in 1B ECE, all of the courses are pretty hard. I am thinking to transfer out of the program. Any suggestions? Thanks!”
u/Cainhelm: “pick the program you want, don't go for ease”
u/Frozen-Penis: “Looking at your curriculum it doesn't seem to get any easier after 1b until maybe 3b when start picking your courses, or 3a if CE since no ECE 340 (formerly 242). …”
Winter 2017
New ECE curriculum has been posted 17 points, 31 comments
“What do you current ECE students/grads think of the new ECE structure and courses?”
u/Tree_Boar: “They killed 242?”
u/AL31N: “They renamed it to ECE 340. It's no longer taught in second year cuz sedra thinks we're all circuit scrubs. It's also not mandatory for CEs but it can be taken as a TE.”
Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026
- Undergraduate Calendar, 2026–27The official entry
- Requirements for Fall 2026Waterloo’s requisite checker
- Schedule of Classes, Fall 2026Instructors, rooms, live seats
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- Course outlinesSyllabi from past terms (UW login)
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