MTE 120Circuits
- Units
- 0.75
- Faculty
- Engineering
- Subject
- Mechatronics Engineering
When it runs
- F24
- W25
- S25
- F25
- W26
- S26
- F26
- W27
- S27
Ran in 4 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: scheduled, 2 lecture sections. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.
Basic electromagnetic theory; magnetic circuits; electric circuit elements; DC circuit analysis; first-order transient response; AC circuit analysis.
Prerequisites
- Complete all of the following
- Students must be in level 1B or higher
- Enrolled in H-Mechatronics Engineering
Antirequisites
Leads to
Winter 2027 sections
| Section | Class | Enrolled | Meets |
|---|---|---|---|
| LEC 001 | 4663 | 0 / 130 | MW 13:00–14:20 F 12:30–13:20 MW 13:00–14:20 F 12:30–13:20 Feb 2 12:30–13:20 Mar 2 12:30–13:20 Mar 16 12:30–13:20 Feb 23 10:30–12:20 |
| LEC 701 | 1877 | 0 / 9999 | Online or by arrangement |
| LAB 101 | 4664 | 0 / 130 | M 08:30–11:20 M 08:30–11:20 |
| TUT 201 | 4665 | 0 / 130 | F 13:30–14:20 F 13:30–14:20 |
Reviewed on UW Flow
76% liked it27% easy92% useful
From 164 ratings and 23 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.
Nassar is the BEST prof ever! He genuinely cares about his students and wants to make sure you do well. This course has many fundamental concepts that are useful in industry, however I can't sugar coat it - you will need to put in the work. Nassar does a great job teaching in that if you 1) show up to his courses and take notes 2) do the practice he posts, then you can easily achieve a good grade in the course. Don't put in the work, and you'll complain this course is hard. Nassar also has SO many help sessions and if you ask him a question he'll take so much time to help you. This course you can easily follow along with the logic but you need to be accountable for yourself.
Only critique…Jul 2022 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
Professor did not time the course well and tried to cram an additional week of lectures into the last couple weeks.
Jul 2015 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
If you're not scared, you should be. This course is hard. If you don't study, you will probably fail. There isn't that much material, but it's all very useful. Spend a lot of time doing practicing doing the questions, because the theory seems straightforward until you have to use it.
Nov 2014 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
The course was well structured, but some concepts were kind of hard to grasp, especially after the midterm. Definitely give yourself more time than you think you need to learn and practice the content. Overall, I think you can definitely get a decent grade in the course since the exams are really fair, just make sure you study enough. Allyson was very knowledgeable, but she kind of teaches like she thinks you already know everything and she just needs to review (she doesn't go in depth at all), and unfortunately she's not willing to take feedback and change her approach.
Jul 2026 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this
This course is genuinely so interesting and pulls on topics from math and physics to deliver the content. It is hard and a lot to wrap your head around if it's your first time learning circuits, so try to stay on top of it.
Apr 2025 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this
Discussed on r/uwaterloo
33 posts and comments in 22 threads mention MTE 120, April 2013 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.
Spring 2023
STOP DANCING AT E7 230 points, 37 comments
“Every night there are dance crews blasting music at E7 and it is soooo annoying. I'm sure every engineering student can relate to this. …”
u/Determinedstudent101: “W take. I can't study peacefully for my fricking MTE 120 midterm”
Winter 2023
Which electromag course should I take? ECE106, MTE120, or SYDE283? 2 points, 3 comments
u/QuestionTuesdayFTW: “Probably not MTE120. It's weighted 0.75 for us, so you'd have to do more work compared to a normal class with more lectures.”
Spring 2022
CS students, what courses have you taken each term 9 points, 21 comments
“Inspired by https://www.reddit.com/r/uwaterloo/comments/v3b8nj/can\any\current\mathcs\students\let\me\know\their/ but recognizing that one term is a very narrow view, What courses have you taken each …”
u/2kofawsome: “1A: math 135, math 136, cs 145, phil 145, engl 109 1B: math 136, math 137, stat 230, cs 146, spcom 100, sci 238 2A: math 239, cs 245, cs 246, geog 181, mte 120 2B: stat 231, cs 240, cs 241, cs 251, geog 281 coop 2: phil 384 3A: I will be taking pmath 340, cs 341, cs 350, cs 348”
Fall 2021
GENE 123 vs MTE 120 0 points, 3 comments
u/Nk001337: “Hey, I'm a CS student Which one would be easier GENE 123 or MTE 120 for DH specialization and what is the workload/ difficulty compared to Math 135 or CS 135”
u/QuestionTuesdayFTW: “Can't speak for your second question, but I'd argue GENE123 is easier. MTE120 goes over a lot of electrical theory and the physics behind it. It's also a 0.75 weight course in Tron.”
u/1000Ditto: “gene 123 is just standard circuits1, me123 = gene 123 = cive 123 = ece140 mte120 is tron circuits the midterm for tron circuits is almost all of the circuits1 content”
Spring 2021
Courseload CS 2A 4 points, 10 comments
u/ffrosteh: “… Did you take MTE 120 or GENE 123 last term? One of those should have been your DHW course for 2A. …”
Winter 2020
[Serious] What should I expect from TRON? 36 points, 34 comments
“Hi all, I recently accepted my offer for Mechatronics Engineering at Waterloo (yay). However, as I keep reading about people's experiences with the program on this subreddit, I'm not really sure what …”
u/RewardingGoblin: “… also for what it's worth i thought i liked circuits too until the MTE 120 final absolutely wrecked me and then i proceeded to never look at a circuit again”
u/ApatheticPost: “… ECE: - MTE 120 - Circuits: Everyone takes this. It was fine but a pretty typical 1st year intro course. - MTE 262 - Digital Logic: Easy course. Immediately applicable to controls in industrial automation. …”
Spring 2019
ece108: unfair or nah? 13 points, 21 comments
“for this course, we were assessed by 5 assignments and 1 midterm. on average, assignment grades were in the low 80s to mid 90s range for the class. …”
u/RewardingGoblin: “back in mte120 (circuits), trons were similarly averaging really high on assignments and \75 midterm. we were absolutely wrecked on the final but no one bitched about their grades plunging.”
Winter 2018
MTE120 CDT4 Crying Thread 2 points, 3 comments
u/tronBB: “Worked too hard and beefed too much just to get slaughtered.”
Spring 2017
Is cs245, 246, math 239 , stat 230 and mte 120 doable in 2a or that's too heavy? 0 points, 7 comments
u/sdfjkllkjfds1: “I don't know about mte 120, but the four other courses are pretty standard in 2A”
u/AlphaCSxx20: “mte120 is pretty tough. How are you taking it if you aren't tron? That class has 23 hour tutorials in some afternoons.”
why do tron ppl dont take any electricity and magnetism course like ece 106 or phys 124? 0 points, 6 comments
u/regularhouselover: “half of mte 120 is electricity and magnetism”
Mte 120 vs Gene 123 vs ece140 0 points, 3 comments
u/redditer_2: “What's the difference?”
u/JTDawgster: “mte 120 is 2 courses packed into 1 (electromagnetism and circuits). Pray you don't get Allyson for this one lol. Gene123 is just circuits and maybe a bit easier? ece140 might be similar to mte120 dunno too much about that one tho.”
u/Frozen-Placenta: “… Source: took ECE 140 and tutored MTE 120 and GENE 123.”
[serious] How doable are these in 2A? 0 points, 11 comments
u/koolguy_i: “OPTIONS: 1: CS 245, CS 246, Stat 230, MTE 120 or GENE 123, Math 239. 2: CS 245, CS 246, Stat 230, MTE 120 or GENE 123, physics 123 or 111. 3: CS 245, CS 246, Stat 230, CS 251, CS 241. …”
u/CreateANewAccount001: “… CS 245, CS 246, Stat 230, MTE 120 or GENE 123, Math 239. 1. CS 245, CS 246, Stat 230, MTE 120 or GENE 123, physics 123 or 111. 1. CS 245, CS 246, Stat 230, CS 251, CS 241. 1. CS 245, CS 246, Stat 230, MTE 120 or GENE 123, ECE 124 1. …”
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