2.8
Quality4.3
Difficulty45%
Would Retake161
Reviews45%
Would Retake
161
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
32
4
29
3
24
2
29
1
47
What Students Say
“Chaterjee managed this class well at all”
CS429 - 1.0 rating“Chatterjee was probably the worst professor I've ever had at UT”
CS429 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
13%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
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Predicted Grade
B+
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+0.38 avg changeRatings by Course
CS350C
4.2
(6)CS429H
4.0
(3)CS429
2.7
(152)Difficulty by Course
CS429
4.3
CS350C
4.0
CS429H
4.0
Reviews (161)
Not Great
Amazing professor!! Explains the material thoroughly
Very easy going professor! Class was not the easiest but he explains well
Simply amazing!
Hes a legend
Solid professor! Gives away candy every class meeting!!
While the class is difficult for those without experience in low-level computer science, Professor Chatterjee does a good job of bringing new topics to light. If he doesnt clear something up, it can usually be found in the book. His labs can be a lot, but they help to develop a deeper understanding of the topics. Also, he gave out candy.
Make no mistake, this is a hard class, but it is very doable. Almost all the lectures are straight from the assigned reading he gives in advance and he assumes you will have done that reading. Labs are tough, sometimes the instructions are unclear., but he and the TA's are happy to answer questions.
While I like Cheterjee as a person, his lectures are useless, and he also has no powerpoints. I am often better off just reading the textbook. In addition, while often available to help, the help given is often useless and sometimes derogatory. Tests were extremely difficult and contained content hardly covered. Choose a dif. prof if possible
Lectures are engaging and helpful as long as you do the assigned reading before class so you know what's going on. Project instructions can be confusing for some assignments but he is happy to give good help/clarification in office hours. Some exam questions seemed to test further detail than given by lecture or problems in textbook.
Tests are hard and assignments can be heavy, but he is good teacher that cares about making sure you learn.
Dr. Chatterjee's lectures are tedious, his labs are definitely not polished and often frustrating, you might study alot and still see a test question about nothing discussed in class, but although it was hard, he accomplished his goal of preparing us for OS. I would definitely recommend Chatterjee. Just pray there isn't a corona v2.
Great guy, but very tough. He stays very close to the book (most test questions come from the book). You'll find yourself taking around 20 hours for each 2-week assignment. Lectures are very long and you will want to fall asleep. There are only 2 very hard tests, and they are worth 40% of your final grade. Programming assignments are worth 50%.
Chatterjee is a nice prof and great option if you are looking to be challenged. Labs difficult/time consuming, esp near end of sem. Only 2 really hard exams comprising 40% of final grade and no practice exams to help prepare. Quizzes every week w only 5 questions & only 2 drops but it keeps you accountable for material. Tough class, but good prep.
He's extremely smart and knows the material very well. His lectures tend to be very dense and fast-paced, however, so it is easy to fall behind. They are also based entirely off the book. However, he does answer questions well and encourages participation with candy! Exams are tough, but he is a fair grader.
I took Professor Sid's Advanced Comp-Arch class because I was interested in learning more since CS429 didn't seem adequate. His style of teaching is great, and is backed by years of industry experience. He convey's his own interest and design problems he ran into during his career, and gives you a good understanding of modern RISC-V processors.
Looking for an A or to learn? Yes you have to choose! If its the latter, take this class!
This class is a lot of work, but Professor Chatterjee is a solid professor. If you do the readings, it will make the lectures 10x easier to understand.
Really thought provoking and helpful material. I took this class because I wanted to learn more after taking CS429. This class met and exceeded my expectations, being one of the better and more interesting classes Ive taken at UT. Wish I could take it again!
The class is basically based on two exams. If you do not pass one of them, your final grade probably will not look so hot. Even though he really does not use the textbook in class much, it is where all the material is derived from.
I personally don't think that Prof. Chaterjee managed this class well at all. The contents of his lectures were often drawn out and unhelpful unless you were already familiar with the material, and the exams were largely based on memorizing ridiculously specific portions of the textbook. In addition, TAs were unhelpful when seeking help for labs.
I think he is a good lecturer, but at times the assignments can be very hard and the lectures super time-consuming. He really does care about his students, but this class is a lot of work. The exams are also difficult and heavily focused on the textbook. My TA for this class not super helpful so be prepared for that.
He confuses me a lot with fancy math and complicated diagrams. I feel like most people in the class are perpetually confused except for like 3 smart people. He's a nice guy though.
He's a caring and funny dude. The class is very well structured and if you keep up, you will come out as a much better engineer. The textbook is absolutely necessary if you want to understand concepts to a good amount of detail. His lecture quality is hit or miss, and he sometimes gets unnecessarily theoretical, but he does make good analogies.
Didn't vibe with the lectures (too theoretical/mathy), had to actually read the textbook (very useful for labs tho). Class was carried by TAs offering intuitive explanations, study groups, and a generous amount of bonus points. Spent way too much time on this class tbh. Smart cookies in this class; I was not one of them :(. Nice guy tho.
Chatterjee was probably the worst professor I've ever had at UT. Chatterjee's overall nature made this class very disappointing. Don't take it from me. In a class of 200+ students, only 16 students showed up to lecture halfway through the semester. He didn't even care. He doesn't care about how you do in the course. He makes videos and dips.
Total disaster. The assigned lecture videos were 3+ hrs in length every week on top of the 2 hr live lecture. His live lectures were extremely lifeless. He makes new concepts sound easy, when it's the exact opposite. Programs barely have any guidance. Exams are ridiculously hard and unforgiving, so you might have to finesse. Super time-consuming.
Chatterjee is a very caring professor and genuinely wants his students to learn. He definitely came through with the extra credit. At times he did seem condescending in lectures, and the workload is insane. There was just way too much material crammed into this semester. Hopefully things will change when the class is restructured next semester.
Prof. Chatterjee is a good professor but he made this class very hard. Tests were very tough. He assigns 2+ hours lecture vids + book reading/problems & a quiz per week. Assignments took up a lot of time with TA lines being ridiculously long and slow. Your best bet is to start as early as possible by reading the book then switching to his lectures.
Although the tests and assignments were pretty difficult, He is a solid teacher and gave enough extra credit to make the class manageable. While some of the concepts in video lecture can be very hard to grasp, I highly recommend going to the live lecture since he is much more understandable then. The textbook is your best friend for this class.
Professor Chatterjee is a nice person. However, there is so much to do every single week. Every week there are textbook readings and problems, then there are practice problems, then there is either a checkpoint or project due every week and then a quiz. The TA lines are long and you may not get help even after waiting 9 hours in line.
Vague instructions on difficult lab assignments. Dry 2 hr lectures w just ppt slides and a blackboard, no breaks in between. Much of lecture is unhelpful, since it didn't correspond to the exam/quiz material. A "learn by doing" class; they don't teach you how to do anything. Read the textbook instead. Nice prof, but excessive workload
The workload for this class is just too much, and it almost started degrading my mental health towards the end. Honestly, you will need to put in tons of effort and be on top of everything, 20 hours a week, and start assignments early which is a mistake I made. Tests are extremely hard but don't count for too much of the grade. Boring lecturer.
Class seemed to be all over the place with no clear structure. For the projects, your best bet is to read the textbook and use Piazza. They're really difficult, and we're barely prepared for them in lectures. The exams are very difficult too, but they don't count as much towards your grade. He doesn't curve, but he does give extra credit.
Dr. Chatterjee assigns a lot of work every week. Some of the lab checkpoint due dates overlap with the exams making it difficult to focus on both. There are quizzes every week that cover the topics from the previous week. The help hours had super long queues and didn't provide much help. Refer to Piazza and textbooks for the labs. Study with groups
Only CS prof I've had who couldn't explain content clearly; prepare to rewatch lectures several times. Programming assignments took very long had little evident connection to the material covered.
This class is the most mentally draining I have ever taken. Be prepared for an excessive and unbearable amount of work each week. His lectures are immensely dry, hard to understand, and full of equations that don't make sense. The book is much better if you want to understand the material. His exams and weekly quizzes are also unnecessarily hard.
Chatterjee is the worst ever. He doesnt care about his students at all and is unreasonable. His lectures are useless, I did better in the class when I skipped lectures and just focused on the book. Ive never had a worse experience at UT with a professor. I actually enjoyed the content of the class but he made the actual class miserable. Good luck
This class has caused me the most stress and anxiety I have ever felt for any class throughout all my schooling years. Even if you turn in every assignment you still feel like youre about to fail. I am so glad I never have to take this class again. Good luck to all those taking it youll need it.
Dr. Chatterjee has one of the biggest egos and will go out of his way to not apologize to his students. He does not know how to grade essays and will focus on small grammatical faults instead of the overlying structure and analysis. The lectures have nothing to do with the coding assignments that are very ill-explained.
Lectures and assignments are rarely ever related. Throws you into the deep end of projects without explaining much, expects you to know practically everything.
The best way to do well in this class is by reading the textbook and doing the practice problems that he recommends. Do as many practice problems as possible and do all of the practice exams before you take the exams. The exams are extremely difficult if you do not study early. Read before class or his lectures won't make any sense. Projects save u
A step up from 314, but not undoable. Easy to get lost in lecture if you don't prep for them. Less labs than 314 but they are more challenging. Fast-paced course w lots of info, success takes more effort than most other classes. Steep learning curve. Study groups are essential. Course undergoes revisions each semester, usually for the better.
Probably the worst CS professor at UT! Can not understand the concepts by listening to his lectures. Tried to make concepts sound easy but does not relate to the actual material honestly. I learned more material by watching online lectures by other professors.
The professor is not amazing, the class, however, is much easier than these ratings say. Potential for 3 points added to course grade, exams and quizzes only worth 35% of your grade and they're open book, open note, open internet. Assignments can be difficult but you know what grade you will get when you submit unlike 314, and no style checks.
He is not nearly as bad as other people make him seem. His lectures are pretty manageable to follow, although sometimes it is easy to get lost. His lectures were sufficient for me, so I did not need the textbook. Assignments are tough, much harder than CS314's, but they are completion. Exams can be tough, but if you study well, they will be doable.
There is a lot of work for this class. Weekly Quizzes that are pretty challenging, the weekly projects were not to hard but definitely time consuming toward the end of the semester. Prof. Chatterjee's lectures, although a it slow at the beginning of the semester, were vital toward the end. Not a bad class, but not a good one either.
Definitely better than 314's bs labs you have to deal with. Materials are challenging, but the textbook explains them very well. Tests are hard, but labs will save your grade with the help of TAs. Grading isn't clear bc he puts them really late, with weird grading on term papers. Quizzes are challenging, but discussions don't help.
Good: The exams are open note/internet. Lots of EC points. Book is great for learning and practice problems. TAs help a lot on projects. Bad: His explanations/analogies can be confusing. Equations can obfuscate content. Some important concepts are hand-waved through or left for you to figure out. Projects don't have the best documentation.
The class is notorious for being difficult, but the textbook covers everything said in lecture, if not in a better and more concise way. Assignments are not difficult, but rarely follow information provided in lecture; in cases that information is provided, it is in an abstract way that provides little help w/o context. Indecisive grading system.
This was a great class. Labs are great, if a little confusing. Quizzes and tests are hard. Grading system really helps you, nothing is worth too much. Chatterjee goes really fast for really hard material, so read the textbook. Do the worksheets/problem sets! They will help on the tests! Class is a lot of work and difficult, but very rewarding.
Labs aren't that difficult as long as you start early and take advantage of office hours/Piazza. Quizzes and tests were pretty hard, but they weren't weighted very heavily. I thought his lectures were good enough for me to do well enough in the class, but I know a lot of people highly recommended reading the book to better understand the material.
I rlly want to learn arch well. Hard to believe they let him teach such an important course. Lectures easy stuffs with 0.5x speed and hard stuffs with "figure it out yourself". I learn by reading B/O'H3e and watching CMU lectures. Even then, he makes the classes so hard to learn on yourselves, because he never completes the home page of Canvas!
One of the worst possible professors at UT. Is incredibly unkind to his students and uncaring towards those he is supposed to teach. Run as far as possible from this professor.
I liked Chatterjee. Grading criteria for the projects were very well defined. Projects are very enjoyable. Lectures can be really dense but if you keep up, you'll be fine.
Instapolls every day for a grade. Projects that make no sense. Our office hours queue was 70 people long every day, and if you don't stay in the OH room they'll take your name off the queue, which promotes everyone to stay in that room for 9 hours every week day. He's incredibly condescending and won't help when you need it. TERRIBLE PROFESSOR. RUN
TERRIBLE PROFESSOR. MADE ME WANT TO DROP CS. CRIED EVERY WEEK. Very condescending. He does not explain concepts well in lectures and expects us to do difficult quizzes every week. I felt like I was drowning even though I put all my effort into this class. The TA's kept the class afloat. The only upside is that the grade distribution is lenient.
This class made me hate cs.
Pro Tip: when making a piazza post select every TA instead of choosing instructor so that the prof doesn't see your question cause his responses are absolutely useless. He is extremely unhelpful outside of class and explains material in a convoluted way. Getting help from the TAs is the only way to get through this class.
Tough class mainly bc they switched to arm this semester. TA's carried especially in discussion section. Long queue for office hours, but funny guy. Would not take again since I have no interest in computer architectures or low level programming.
Professor Chatterjee is apathetic towards his students. The only way to succeed was with the help of the TAs. In Piazza posts, Chatterjee responds to students' genuine questions with "You should already know this" or "You should study to know these answers." Practically each lab released to us was faulty or contained bugs that required an update.
The only thing that got me through the class was TAs through office hours. The first assignment was absolutely abismal, with absolutely no direction on what to do, ended up having to go to TAs for direction, as the entire class was completely lost. Chatterjee knows his stuff, but he's tough and can be condescending, make use of office hours.
Chatterjee is a very tough professor but great if you participate in class. He offers some extra credit if you participate. The exams are tough but doable. Took this Spring 2022 before he switched curriculum.
Gave 4 bc he does try his best to help you outside of class. Even though the assignments were disorganized and did give me a LOT of mental stress, he did give extra time/revisions after seeing the issues. Not a super difficult class content wise, but the lack of directions on hw and general disorganization made it stressful. TAs carried the class.
His class ramps up the difficulty from 314 to prepare students for OS. As a student that had to drop his class and take it again, I did better after learning to keep up with lectures and manage my time for assignments. Use your resources (Piazza, office hours, TAs) for help on labs and regularly review content to prepare for quizzes and exams.
Harder to fail than it is to pass if you put in effort. However, he is very pretentious and acts like the stuff he teaches is trivial and makes students feel stupid. On difficult projects he will respond with "we've covered enough for you to know how to do this". For me, OS has been easier than this class which shouldn't be the case.
Projects aren't too bad. Each one takes around 15 hours for 2 weeks with SE lab taking 30 hours for 4 weeks. Professor is very passionate and helpful in office hours, willing to respond actively on Ed. Exams are very doable if you do all practice exams and do worksheets/psets. Quizzes are harder but drops built in. Not that hard of a class.
Lectures are poorly explained and rushed through, which makes the labs incredibly frustrating when they rely on what was taught in lecture. Ed posts will either be unanswered or Chatterjee will respond with a vague answer or just completely dodge the question. The final lab is horrendous because of this, with many crucial info not covered in class.
Dr. Chatterjee is a very knowledgable professor, however, he lacks ability to convey several complex topics to the students via his lectures. I would recommend, reviewing the material from the textbook before class to make his lectures easier to understand. Luckily the class is very homework heavy, so lacking performance on the exam is not too bad.
Labs are graded automatically with unlimited attempts and no points for code style, which is nice. Lectures are unbearably slow and fail to keep students engaged. Hard quizzes every week. The final lab was insanely frustrating. The starter code had to be patched multiple times and the documentation was abysmal. Least favorite class at UT so far.
Poor teaching style combined with difficult course. Labs are hard. Non standard grading scale. Overall, he is not a good professor for this important course.
Very hard class but doable if you put the work in. His lectures are pretty good and old exam questions can help you study. Only thing is some test and quiz questions can be very tricky, felt like I could never prepare for those. Most labs were doable except the last one, which was pretty hard. TAs saved us. Overall learned a lot in one semester
It's a hard class; if you put the work in you'll do well and learn a lot. Chatterjee is a great lecturer; if you pay attention in class you'll be prepared for 11 weekly quizzes (4 drops) and 3 exams. Labs are hard but you can submit until you get 100%. Previous exams/quizzes available are great study resources. Overall Chatterjee is hard but fair.
Compared to 314H, this class was VERY fair. Lectures are interesting & clear w/ slides, but you have to work to get an A. 3 exams & weekly quizzes (all online & MC/fill in blank). Labs very fair EXCEPT last one, where the TAs carried & helped debug our code for hours. Not the most approachable/nice prof, but class is structured and respectable.
Explains easy subjects for far too long, then rushes or handwaves through complex topics. Class feels like I learned nothing. Exams are difficult but fair. Autograder labs make the class comparably easier.
He was asympathetic towards students and seemed to gravitate towards the quicker learners in class, keeping up w/ their pace. Last lab was a nightmare and I spent literally 4 days each week barely eating/sleeping, just coding/stressing. Tests are killer even though I studied hours and course material was very dense/hard to understand from lectures.
Projects ramp in difficulty, with one week in particular requiring significant cramming (despite starting essentially when it came out). Lectures are easy to follow, but the crowd interaction style can be somewhat oppressive. Expect to learn on exams, as they are open choice but go far beyond theoretical topics discussed in class (or examples).
Dr. Chatterjee has quality lessons but falls short when it comes to teaching on a level where most students are able to properly understand. Projects exponentially get harder as do quizzes but it is manageable if you get help from the professor or TAs when needed. There is a good support network, you just need to use it very well to get by.
Lectures with Dr. Chatterjee started strong, but took a downward turn in audience participation and quality through the year. Even with that, the course was survivable until the 1-month lab. The sleepless nights were expected, even enjoyable sometimes. What was not was horrible handling of the lab's issues/instructions. The other 4 labs were fine.
Grading is more lenient than CS 314 with Mike. The topics selected are really interesting, but lectures are a little dry. More documentation is needed for the final lab, but if you put in the work to understand the material before doing projects, everything is good. Exams sometimes boil down to doing finicky algebra, but overall, pretty good
This was one of my least favorite classes at UT. Chatterjee did cover the material, and did try and lighten the load of the course with occasional jokes, but overall was pretty dry. The 2 hour course format made me want to play in traffic. There was one day where we went through SEVEN slide decks in a row and I just gave up on taking notes.
Lectures were generally boring (not really his fault), but he spent too long on easy concepts and brushed over harder ones. Exams were just trick questions and algebra at some point, class mean was usually around 60/100. The lectures don't prepare you for the exam questions, but his released old quizzes/tests do. Also SE lab is horribly designed.
Very difficult projects that can take over 20 hours a week easily. Tests have almost half the class fail each time and often the help given when debugging or doing assignments is meaningless and unhelpful. Lectures are very confusing and he seems to never focus enough on the difficult topics.
At some point I realized that TA help hours were actually infinitely more helpful than Chatterjee's actual lectures. I stopped taking notes and started skipping class for TA help hours around the second month. Exam average is around 40 percent, projects will consume every single second of your free time plus the weekends.
Projects take an immense amount of time per week, and the instructions are not clear. The professor is also rude and offers very little support. The tests are extremely hard and the lectures/lecture slides are not very helpful, so once you fall behind, it is almost impossible to catch up. The only redeemable part of the class is the TAs.
He does not show consideration for his students nor his TAs. The projects are based on architecture that doesn't have much in terms of documented resources. As a result, a lot of the projects felt like a huge time-suck that never went anywhere. His lectures were useless. The projects were filled with bugs that the TAs spent countless hours fixing.
this class is so boring bro ah yes i am so interested in seeing him walk in circles in demonstration
lectures were boring and unintuitive. assignments were not that bad, last lab might be an exception. wish he planned things out more and thought things through (one lab overloaded lab machines leading to even TAs being frustrated). exams were hard! :(
Beginning of semester was a lot better, as he used more diagrams to help explain material, over time he uses less pictures and primarily hand motions to explain much more complex material. Also expect very difficult exams that go beyond what you learn in class and previous exams. Grade distribution is extremely low, but he still upholds no curve
The class was hard mainly because of the content, which is unlike anything we've seen. The lectures were helpful, but some topics were quite boring. He is sometimes rude during lecture. The assignments weren't bad, except for SE Lab. I spent less than 3 days of lax work for most assignments. Exams were very hard and sometimes felt unfair.
Labs very pretty difficult after the first few but the TA's are super helpful so it should be doable. Tests are pretty difficult make sure you do the free response for partial credit but class is pre curved.
The labs are all doable and it is easy to get all points if you put in the effort (which is sometimes a ridiculous number of hours). However, quizzes and exams are overcomplicated and extremely difficult for no reason. Chatterjee is a boring lecturer. He can also be rude to students asking questions on Ed.
Optional textbooks, but often necessary to fully understand concepts. Problem Sets can be useful but often exaggerate problem difficulty, thus becoming pointless. Lectures were boring with diminishing problem examples later on. Professor often condescending during Office Hours and sometimes useless in answering questions. TAs good, but long lines.
The content is interesting and the lectures are enjoyable. They can get hard to follow sometimes. The TAs honestly carry the class (shoutout to Kavya, Jay, Akhil, Pranay, Nathan, Jenny, and Kiran.) The exams are absurdly hard and not representative of the content he is teaching. Go with the mindset of learning, not getting an A in the class.
Lectures are a lot to take in, especially with his math oriented explanations. Also asking questions isn't for the faint of heart, he can be condescending, but others will thank you for taking the hit and asking. Previous exams undersell difficulty of current exams, lots of trick questions and slight of hands!
Was extremely condescending and no curving, even though the class did HORRIBLE on exams. The exams were orders of magnitude worse than the last semester, but yet not curve. Only would take again because he's the only comp arch prof
Biggest issue for his class is the fact that tests are not at all related to what your assignements are and the previous tests are greatly different from the tests of this semester. He is als overy patronizing when you ask a question so not a friendly env. The test mean for the final was a 44 and the first test was also a 40 something and no curve.
Best professor at UT! He cares for his students so much. He gives you so many practice exams that are just like the real exam. He is very good at answering in class questions and encourages it. His assignments are very easy and take very little time because the instructions are very clear. He genuinely cares for his students. Take for an easy A.
Dr. Chatterjee definitely knows what he's talking about and I think is always available to help outside of class. The lectures are pretty fast-paced and theory-based imo, so don't expect to understand everything after lecture. Labs aren't that bad, but exams were hard. Try to ace the quizzes and get all the lab points (65ish percent of ur grade).
The reason this class is so hard is because it is a huge step up from 314 in difficulty. The lectures are conducted in a totally different manner and projects are fewer but much more time consuming. Come in with good study skills and stay on top of lecture material and you'll be okay. Don't stress too much about your test grades.
other reviews are too harsh, he's a good lecturer, friendly guy, and you'll learn a lot about how computers truly work. pretty difficult, but if you are passionate and put in the time, you are set.
I took this class in Spring 2023 and I enjoyed his mathematical lectures. I think to succeed in his classes you should do all the practice exams and also read the textbook and look in it for practice problems. Try to max out pts on the projects and introduce yourself in OH. Asking questions in class is scary so introduce yourself before
Everyone from Fall 2023 has a good reason to be strongly displeased with Dr. Chatterjee. All three exams were significantly harder/more convoluted than other semesters, and averages showed it (40-50%). On top of this, he applied no curve, tanking everyone's GPA. Even the best students in the class got Bs or A minuses. Most barely passed with a C-
Lectures are tiring and every day of the week. Our main source of education was help hours with him and the TAs, and recorded lectures. First four labs are okay, interesting to learn even, but the last lab (pipelining) was bad and has been a month of no sleep for many semesters in the past. This course is important but it is difficult to learn.
Class was absolutely horrific because of outrageous exams. He would always have a habit of answering people's supposed "low-level" questions with "that's trivial". Rather than explaining things with basic building blocks, he assumes that the class already understands everything, making him cater to a select few students' complicated questions.
Dr. Chatterjee's lecture style does not complement his class structure. Theoretical lecturing and less practice work as class progresses. Exams are open note and internet but are still incredibly difficult. Some TAs are overworked while others do very little. He can be helpful but often feels dismissive when it comes to teaching basic concepts.
The first hard course in the UTCS department. You will learn ALOT (Linux, C, how computers work) and you will be expected to do ALOT! Projects use auto-graders and are doable apart from the last lab which takes up an egregious amount of time. TAs carry the class. Forget about getting an A and just try to enjoy the content. Exams are obscenely hard.
It was overall a good class but I never ended up getting a chocolate for answering questions. I would recommend that if you do want candy make sure you sit in the first three rows. Though I did get candy in the test.
+ explains concepts well. + assignments are clear and fairly graded. - tests are not clear or well designed. Respect is mutual and earned. What other students are calling favoritism is simply natural feedback. Demonstrate genuine effort and attentiveness and you will receive help and lenience; demonstrate apathy and entitlement and you will not.
there are such a thing as dumb questions in this class. best thing to come out of this class was the use of gradescope for testcase. harder than norman's cs439. OS is not the weed-out class at UT. this is.
he's kinda monotone during lecture so it's easy to not pay attention in class. also, even if the tests are open internet, they're still super hard and you do have to prepare.
don't get the hate tbh. He was fine and the lectures were engaging.
You'll do well if you understand the concepts which he goes over in class. However you have to study the lectures online after to make sure you understand everything. Chatterjee does not like dumb people and he does not like helping them. Don't ask him clarifying questions and find smart students and you'll be fine because that's what I did.
This is the worst class I have ever taken. If you do poorly on the exams, you can not bring your grade back up. It is almost impossible to learn with Chatterjee's teaching style. The TAs are incredibly inaccessible and unhelpful and usually tend to give up when you have an issue. Prepare to spend many horrible nights coding and cramming for exams.
This is the worst class I've ever taken. The projects(especially SE lab) require a ridiculous amount of time each week, and the instructions are anything but clear. On top of that, the professor is rude and hardly supportive. I saw a post on Ed where a student was struggling with debugging, and the professor just dismissed it as a "skill issue."
Dr. Chatterjee runs a difficult but fair class. His lectures accurately convey the material, but he expects you to put in the time outside of lecture to reinforce concepts and ensure you understand everything. Assignments are a lot of work but very doable if you do exactly what is asked of you. Exams are difficult but reflective of course content.
I did not like the teaching style. Something might be simple to grasp, but it is made hard to understand and complicated, and only when you grasp the concept you realize how useless and unnecessary much of the surrounding information is. The tests are also pretty difficult....don't go into them thinking that the questions will be familiar
I expected a lot worse from ChatterGOAT. In all honesty, the content was tough but
Chatterjee is a good lecturer if you are willing to put in the effort to understand the material. The labs aren't bad, except for SE Lab, which consumed my entire month of April. I mistakenly chose to do it by myself and sunk >80 hours into that lab alone. Hardest class I have taken, but I feel I learned a lot from it.
This is likely the hardest class you will take at UT. His lecture style is slow and is 95% yap with the rest being actually useful information. The tests are also super difficult even with open internet. Tests also focus more on the stuff you didn't use on the labs. The prof is not lenient and extremely strict with rules. Good luck, soldier.
sid_chat is a man of many colors. His lectures are decent if you really lock in during class and pay attention, since he uses complicated language and abstract notation. Easily the hardest class you will be taking so far. Tests are insanely difficult and a far cry from the more basic things from lecture and quizzes. Labs are also infuriating.
Chatergee's lectures and teaching itself honestly isn't too bad, his lecture style is engaging but feels incredibly content-dense where it's hard to follow all the new content in the moment. Labs and quizzes are fine, but tests are multiple choice open-internet and still absurdly difficult, an 80+ across all 3 exams should be fine for an A though
Though the class can be difficult at times, it is definitely manageable. Lectures can sometimes be monotonous and use abstract notation, making things more confusing, but I found them pretty interesting overall. The class was managed well, and Chatterjee is always willing to go more in-depth about certain concepts if you're curious.
Lectures are not engaging, it's just him talking all the time. Goes too fast but still can't cover all the material. Tells you to go over the hardest examples on your own bc there's no time in class. Exams are hard, averages are in the 60-70's, final was in the 50s even though it's all open note & internet. Hardest class I've ever taken
Sidchat is a great professor. He's tough on grading, but the material is genuinely just difficult. Don't go into the class thinking its an easy class. He turns hard concepts into smaller problems and connects them all to be cohesiv. One thing is that he is very heavy on his own math notation, so beware. Spend time on the content and you'll be fine.
Just scape when you see his name
Honestly not as bad as I thought he would be based on past reviews. If you can get past his snarky remarks he's honestly pretty chill. While the class is very information-dense, it's hard to fail given the lenient grading scheme. Focus on truly learning the material and getting 100s on the programming assignments and you should be fine.
Dr. Chatterjee is approachable and offers office hours for questions. The class is lecture-heavy, with four lectures, one discussion, and a 5-question Canvas quiz weekly. Lectures move quickly, and it's very easy to fall behind. Labs start solo but become group projects. TAs are helpful, and exams are tough—attend the review sessions!
The classes were not the most engaging, but at the least the projects were pretty straightforward. The TAs are goated and extremely helpful in debugging (can't say that for OS though). Exams were pretty difficult, but I genuinely enjoyed the challenge of studying and practicing for them. Grading for class is straightforward (unlike OS).
Good lectures. He has a lot of experience in both academia and industry, and it's clear from how he teaches. Ask questions and try to get involved. Projects are pretty easy, except for the last one. Testcases are provided. The most difficult part of the course is exams. Getting an A is hard, but passing is not. Grading is lenient in that regard.
HARD AF IM TWEAKING
This class was very difficult for no reason. The exams were very hard, I studied for 1-2 weeks for each exam and still do not do well. Content is very fast paced so you need to keep up or you will be very behind. It is difficult to study for the test.
While he is very knowledgeable about the content, I often found his lectures to be hard to understand; the concepts were much easier to grasp when the TAs explained them. The exams were so difficult that studying could only help so much. Also, I recommend learning how to use gdb before you begin the class because debugging is a pain without it.
He is extremely knowledgeable in what he does but it does not translate well into teaching. I would say the Fridays discussion is where most students actually got to learn the material. He was hard to follow along with lectures and the exams are more difficult than needed. At the end of the day, passing isn't too hard but this class is a stinker
Thank you to the TAs, is what I'll say. The exams were highly time-consuming to study for, and the averages were a sad but common sight. Focus on the assignments and make sure you get full points on them. The exams are...
Chatterjee's class is challenging, but engaging if you put in the effort. Lectures can be dense, but worth attending. Exams are tough, but unstuck study helped me ace the course.
I enjoyed his teaching style and thought he was thorough with the material. He was also incredibly helpful in clarifying content questions during office hours. The class is fairly difficult, but I thought the exams were very much doable. The assignments were very time-intensive but very rewarding to complete. The TAs were amazing as always!
This class broke my mental health. Dr. Chatterjee is knowledgeable, but exams are harsh. One mistake on weekly assignments can put you on the verge of failing the class. Midterms allow partial credit, but the final is all or nothing. Majority FRQ. Lectures are fast & dense so rely on TAs/discussion/OH. Doable class, but expect tears and breakdowns.
Unpopular opinion: Chatterjee's lecturing style works better for me than Mike Scott's. He genuinely wants us to understand, whether in class, OH, or with TAs. But you have to show up and put in the effort. The TAs are AMAZING and honestly the reason I passed this class. Make GOOD USE of OH and for CRYING OUT LOUD start SE Lab early!!!
Although this class is tough, I think Dr Chatterjee should be respected as an instructor who knows what he speaks. Yes you may not get an A or any grade you want, but its more about the content that should matter and in this case, it is fundamental. It is a hard class but nothing you can't accomplish if you want to do great things.
Dry lecturer that made it very hard to pay attention during class. Would often watch recorded lectures to teach myself the content. Overall not too difficult except for the final project, which did not teach me much and also took too many hours out of my weeks.
Honestly not as bad as I thought, it's just if you don't have any interest in systems this might be boring. For me everything prior to week 10 was easy and enjoyable. Even the first two tests I used the same study methods as I did for 314 and did well. However hell breaks lose during SE lab and that exam 3, it's a whole different class from there.
Pretty chill guy
This guy is unsympathetic, boring and dense lectures, just wants to see you suffer. If he sees you suffering he will make your life harder by destroying you in exam 3. TAs we're godsend and the only reason this class was passable. He only teaches in ways he understands.
Chatterjee is the absolute worst professor please don't take this guy take Joshi. He literally explains nothing and expects you to know all these random terms without explaining. Do not take this guy if you aren't already a comp arch genius.
Don't believe the 4s and 5s. This is a hard class content-wise, but Chatterjee literally goes out of his way to make it more difficult through insane exams and unclear (sometimes even buggy) projects. Not sure if he is trying to earn tenure by failing half the class each semester, but regardless you should avoid if at all possible.
Difficult class with difficult content/projects/exams. Only teaches in ways that he understands and is rather unsympathetic. It is indeed a hard class made harder by the instructor. Bravo to the TA's as they were very patient and helpful.
Fantastic class, learned a lot. Arguably the most engaging upper div I have taken so far.
Awesome professor, awesome class. I learned a lot, the assignments are challenging but very rewarding. We designed a CPU for our last project. Even though I didn't get an A in normal comp arch, this class was still very doable for me. Would highly recommend taking this class if you are interested in systems. Lots of EC, so dont worry abt grade.
Some weeks were very stressful, others had basically no work, but overall it was a lot of work. I learned a TON though, so it was worth it. The lectures were pretty good and he's good at explaining things, and the projects also helped as a crash course into real world computer architecture. Allocate a lot of time to it, treat it like a grad class.
He's a good prof and very accessible outside of class. I would go to his OH and can tell he genuinely wants the students to learn. His lectures can be boring and slow but the content is also hard to first grasp (esp if this is your first introduction to systems). I found the class to be pretty interesting. GOAT TAs! literally the best and smartest
Great professor, tries to make sure everyone understands a topic before moving on. The course is pretty difficult, but you didn't get into this school to have easy classes; you came here to learn, and that doesn't come easily, and this course ensures you come out a better computer scientist. TAs are great as well.
He's like a caring dad, this is a weed out class so be prepare.
Great professor who is very knowledgable. Lectures are very dense and can be confusing. Go to office hours and review lectures, notes, worksheets, textbook after class. TAs are great, and really helpful. Exams are extremely difficult. Previous exams and quizzes are released - review them. Submit projects until 100% and do all extra credit.
HE AND DR. JOSHI ARE MAKING COMP ARCH HARDER AND HARDER. THEY ARE TRYING THEIR BEST TO FAIL MORE AND MORE STUDENTS. I'M ON TRACK TO GET AN A BUT I MIGHT FAIL THE COURSE BECAUSE OF A GDB PROFICIENCY EXAM OVER STUFF THEY BARELY TAUGHT, AND THEY'RE MAKING THAT EXAM HARDER AND HARDER. NOBODY IN MY TESTING ROOM COMPLETED THE PROFICIENCY EXAM.
Very knowledgeable and professor. But, this is a really difficult and content-heavy class. Exam 1 was a real curveball. Also, to pass the class, we must complete a gdb proficiency test, and it feels like we hardly learned the skills needed to pass. :(
Dr. Chatterjee is an amazing professor. He teaches the class really well and slows down when he needs to - pace is never an issue. He is super caring & calm. If there's one class in your schedule you need to go to, it's this. There is some extra credit. About GDB test, it isn't bad if you do at least some of the labs without AI (which is allowed).
Sidchat is the goat. Exams are brutal, assignments are easy. Anyone who complains is an AI warrior.
Lectures are dense and boring. Just need some time & effort to connect the dots (usually through labs or previous exam/quiz questions). Labs are all doable and free points as long as you weren't born yesterday and keep up with course material. Exams are hard, but we're given past exams. Half the TA's usefulness and competence should be questioned.
This class is brutal, I don't think I even passed…. but he's a nice guy. Out of all the CS professors him and Joshi are genuinely the sweetest.
Doctor Chatterjee gives excellent lectures and cares about his students' success. The class covers a great deal of material and is quite a step up in difficulty from Data Structures, making it difficult to properly study for tests. The assignments are also difficult, but hard to fail unless you start late. Be prepared to put in a lot of effort.
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