3.3
Quality3.9
Difficulty62%
Would Retake126
Reviews62%
Would Retake
126
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
46
4
27
3
6
2
14
1
33
What Students Say
“The first 5 labs were okay but the ones after that were just horrible and debilitating, especially during the weeks you have midterms for other courses”
CPEN211 - 1.0 rating“20-30 hour labs weekly”
CPEN211 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
28%
Textbook Required
40%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
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Rating Trend
Stable
+0.10 avg changeRatings by Course
ENG104
5.0
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5.0
(1)EECE476
4.5
(4)CPEN211
3.4
(93)EECE353
3.3
(9)Difficulty by Course
259
5.0
ENG104
5.0
EECE101
5.0
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4.4
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Reviews (126)
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Very enthusiastic, but doesn't know how to teach.
Although his labs and exams are hard, he is definitely the prof who is most committed to teaching I have ever seen. He even helps students out in the midnight to complete labs.
Very knowledgeable but doesn't know how to convey the ideas clearly. Labs and exams are very difficult and initial helps were minimal. Provides actual essential information only when you seek his help during office hours. Usually late for class. Tends to rush through materials near the end of class. Marking and website updating is slow.
I am not gonna argue what he should have done or what he should not have done; however, I have one advice: DO NOT TAKE ANY COURSES WITH HIM. He will make you suffer badly. I really liked hardware design but after this course and a bad experince with Guy Lemuix I hate this field and whoever teaches it. By the way, I did not learn anything from him.
His labs are great, I mean we are electrical, if you do not like them change to arts...Hes aoviously new, but you know, you can get a very good grade without streesing you that much, and still learning a LOT. Thats the way engineering should be....I highly recomend him. If u are not meant to be an EE or EC you are you surely wont enjoy his labs.
He is solid. Some people think he is hard but that is just cause they panic too much. He is actually pretty fair and puts in a lot of effort.
Pretty good, but needs refining
very good.... easy final, learn a lot, nicely worked labs that meet professional needs....but he was always a bit late for class :(.
No Comments
Tor is an excellent professor. He has very thorough lectures and puts a lot of effort into teaching his students. Some students did find him too tough, especially his assignments which are hard. But half way through the term a lot of people complain about the assignments and he made them more suitable to our level of understanding. Great Prof.
CRAZY Proff
Completely useless. Can't teach. No sympathy for students. And talks with an arrogant attitude.
Hmmm, I found myself extremely bored in his class. The material was easy, but he certainly made the effort to teach those who failed (and failed and failed again) to get the concepts. He has a lot more patience than I would have had, under the circumstances.
Tor's a good professor. He's friendly and likes to joke around a little bit which helps the students stay awake. The workload for his courses can be quite heavy but he provides a lot of help and resources to students.
It's to describe. He's a bad teacher, but he's nice, so you feel bad giving him a had score. Unless you track him down he won't help, even if it's a one sentence response to an e-mail, you'll never get an answer.
Very good instructor. His notes/slides are very clear, provides good examples. Very helpful assignments. Sometimes he may assume you know more than you actually do, but he is helpful when you ask questions. He posts everything you need to Vista, and on time.
Good professor, liked his slides. And he's good looking so that's a plus!
Brilliant Prof, has a huge wealth of knowledge and stuffs your head full of ideas. His class is VERY demanding. The complaints are coming from people who wanted an easy A, which he won't give but marking is fair. He uses his own slides but get the textbooks. He is super busy and feedback is very limited, sure, but he makes the lectures worthwhile.
His class is incredibly fast paced, He WILL assume that you know a large portion of the the information he's explaining beforehand although you have never encountered it in your past studies. Other than that he seems like a decent prof.
I dont liiiiike
Great prof, disgusting course. Be prepared to pull several all-nighters in the lab.
Loathsome prof, loathsome course - forget other courses you'll be skipping those just to complete the labs for 259 - expect to put in 10-20 hours per week of your OWN time on this sucker. Should have gone to CS
Labs are difficult; beyond human abilities. Useless Lecture. Helpful if reached. Expect to learn a lot on your own.
Tor Knows his stuff but doesn't know how to convey them! Labs ask out to demonstrate stuff out of this universe!!!
Tor is an expert and can get students interested in the material. His class covers a lot of material but it is invaluable. I now know a lot about how computers are designed and how they work.
I actually really liked the class. Others are saying that the labs are beyond human ability, but if you just take things one step at a time, the big picture will come to you as you go. Definitely don't try to understand the whole manual right from the beginning. Can be a really easy class to get a good mark in, but does require tons of time.
Those labs though... Seriously, this course expects too much from students just starting Electrical Engineering. Have to take time out from other courses to complete.
Labs are hard if you don't like it. Materials are disorganized. textbooks are poorly written especially for starters. sometimes your partner really matters.. Overall, This course should worth more than 10 credits than just 5 considering the time you put in.
Labs are not fair. Exams are fair.
Labs are hard and always beyond the materials covered in class. Some of his labs are like mini design project and therefore really time consuming. Need to pay a lot of effects if you are hunting for good grades. Fair exams though. He spent a lot of time help students on piazza. Overall an okay prof.
Tor is a smart prof and he really knows his stuff, but he expects way too much from his students. The labs I found to be insanely hard and you would have to spend ridiculous amounts of time just completing them. The midterm and final were fair. Also, Tor expects you to become a really good programmer in VHDL within a week .
He doesn't teach. AT ALL.
bad prof. very bad prof.
Ugh, worst class yet. I'd recommend just skipping the lectures and just reading the textbook. Make sure you know the verilog and how it relates to circuit diagrams.
His labs and lectures aren't consistent, his slides are hard to follow. Its impossible to take notes during class. The textbook is helpful. He makes fun of students who ask questions in class. Fills lectures with a lot of useless facts instead of going over examples. In general he can't teach at all.
stupid hard labs and final
TORNADO
Arrogant, demeaning, unhelpful even in office hours. Likes convicting students for trivial academic dishonesty charges. Collaboration strictly restricted. Labs are a time drain. Lecture slides poorly done. Typo-laden texts don't include solutions at back; don't cover entire course material. Only partial final answer homework solutions provided.
Tor was extremely unhelpful and also rude to students. His labs can take up to 25 hours of work (done outside of class) per week, with little to no help provided. Exams were way too long - no one finished them. Avoid at all costs!
Doesn't care about students at all. Seemed like he enjoyed watching us struggle and was rarely helpful. Labs took over 25 hours some weeks and he showed no sympathy. You are not allowed to collaborate AT ALL. Can't even ask other students questions about labs because he considers basically ANYTHING to be "cheating". Avoid at all costs.
Really tough course, but Tor himself wasn't bad, I found that he explained most concepts well. It did start falling apart at the end once we got onto caches and virtual memory.
20-30 hour labs weekly. 3 of those labs were questions on the 2.5 hour final, plus 5 other difficult ones. If you talk about them with your peers and he finds out, he will try his hardest to kick you out of UBC. Avoid at ALL COSTS
People need to quit whining. It is a 5 credit course. If labs take you 30 hours to complete you shouldn't be in engineering or should pay attention during classes and pre-read lectures. Labs are tough yes, but if you do put in some effort the class is EXTREMELY rewarding. Tor is a decent lecturer if you do care about the course he will care too.
Terrible prof, super hard labs
-His class is insanely hard, a lot of material, short time. This forces him to teach really quickly and may across as a bad lecturer. (BUT)He makes videos of every lecture available for you to go at it at your own pace. If you watch the videos, you will realize he's amazing. -Insanely hard (but fair) weekly labs -TORtilla TORnado TORture TORpedo
Labs take an ungodly amount of time, given that they are every week. The first 5 labs took around 8-10 hours per lab, but a few of the labs after that took 20+ hours to complete. He's also pretty rude and unapproachable outside of class (not to mention that his office hours are during a span where 90% of the students have another class).
Excellent and well respected prof who is willing to help you outside of office hours with appointment. Helpful TAs as well, though they are overly nice when it comes to marking labs and hand out marks like candy. Its a hard course, but Tor does his best.
just plain Bad - Labs take over your life 10-20 hours per lab per week is no exaggeration.
Labs are every bit as hard as heard (prepare to spend 20+ hours by the middle of semester on each lab) and his exams aren't a walk in the park. However, he shows great interest in his students' learning. Especially helpful during office hours (although, he might spend 30 min on one student, get there early). Hard course, but a really caring prof.
This professor is extremely misunderstood, teaching verilog is no easy task and the same goes for ARM. His teachings were good, labs were death itself but still helped me learn a tremendous amount. He is very passionate about verilog and VHDL, and you can see that in his work. He needs to improve in ARM however and make it a bit more interesting.
Hardest course I've taken in undergrad so far but one of the most interesting course taken . Extremely hard labs but there are lots to learn from them and feels really good if you actually get things to work.
His Labs are super hard !
Good prof. Beware of a very difficult and time consuming lab component of the course.
I love him like a brother.
Tor literally thinks the only course you're taking is CPEN211. I have never experienced a prof who was so heartless and eager to make his students suffer, giving us 1 insanely hard lab per week. The first 5 labs were okay but the ones after that were just horrible and debilitating, especially during the weeks you have midterms for other courses.
Best Prof ever
All those things you read about him on this site are true. His course is VERY challenging. His tests are VERY difficult. and his labs take about 15 HOURS a week for an average student to complete. That being said, once you pass the course you will come back and thank him for pushing you so hard so you can be a better student afterwards
TORrible prof. WAY too much material so you are basically cramming before the test. The labs should be bi-weekly since they are VERY challenging and time-consuming. I wish the course covered less material or was split into two which would allow for a better understanding of the material. Overall, the material is extremely useful and interesting.
Probably the toughest prof I have ever seen and I literally had no life taking the course. However, I have never learnt in any course as much as I did in this 1.
Tor is a great professor. Unfortunately, this class is tough as nails. If you take it with him, expect to spend somewhere around 5-15 hours on the labs each week. He gives plenty of practice material, and if you do it all, it isnt terribly difficult to attain a high mark. Very tough to fit into your schedule when you have 5 other classes though.
This class is notoriously hard and with that you're going to get a lot of people who whine about how Tor is a bad prof - the class is VERY dense and difficult, and the same goes for the labs. That being said, if you really work hard, you will walk away having learnt so much and with a decent grade as well. Labs 6-8 are the worst tho.
Tor is very underrated. He does a decent job lecturing and all the labs are well designed. If you carefully finish all his labs you can get a solid understanding of the material. Still, his tests and LPTs are VERY HARD and he is not very accessible outside the classroom. He is not very patient when explaining simple concepts and questions.
Very underrated. His lectures and syllabus are very clear from the start, and he delivers what needs to be delivered. During my time, class lectures are even uploaded, so missing classes don't mean the end of your life. His labs are truly very hard, and he is very strict about plagiarism, so keep this in mind and put a LOT of time into the labs.
Very monotone and does not explain content clearly.
Perfect instructor. Don't study and you will regret your decision. Extremely time consuming and demanding. Doable.
poor, way too much material, 6-7 weeks of digital plus 6-7 weeks of microcomputers. Too advanced for introductory course
CPEN 211 is an amazing course and it teaches you essential material. The course appears to move fast but is completely doable with regular effort. Is it a lot of work? Yes. Will you learn a lot? Yes. And Tor does a good job explaining concepts. His grasp of the material is fantastic.
Tor is the best professor ever. Just like a terminator, torminator is a focused and diligent machine in achieving his goals, terminating your sanity. Like Sarah/John Connor, you have to work really hard to ensure your own survival. Labs take a lot of time, midterms and finals need a lot of prep and don't get me started on the LPTS.
Very knowledgeable but suck at teaching. Also don't expect a response if you email him.
Apart from the fact that he is terrible at teaching, he has absolutely no empathy for his students. No response to questions on piazza or those sent through email. He's lazy use of autograder means no part marks. You can spend 20+ hours on an assignment and still get a 0. Only prof I know of who forced students to take tests at 4am during COVID.
He and his course made me lose every intuition and hope for my dream of electronics and computers
Well, his labs and LPTs are doable, however, he won't be marking any of your works. He has a program called autograder that works just like a compiler with unit tests. So, you made a typo? Well, here a 0 for you. Hope you'll like it. Regrade? Nonexistent. My personal favorite: "It's funny how many people did badly on the labs/tests." Good luck!
Too much. This final was so out of pocket, unreasonable and unapologetic. Tor has it out for every student who walks into his class. There's a requirement that you get 5/20 lpt marks for the class, which isn't unreasonable but shouldn't be required. Tor is so intent on catching cheaters, he ends up steamrolling the entire class with his nonsense.
The course is a tragedy. Spending 20+ hours per week a lab and still get some low marks, debugging definitely makes you cranky. His lecture is fast-paced, trying to sequeeze huge amount of contents in with little explanation on each concepts. not avoidable if you are in ELEC or CPEN, best thing could do is keeping survive.
You learn a lot in his class and he's a good lecturer, but adding the 5/20 LPT requirement (along with harder LPTs) and >50 on final to pass the course during a pandemic year is unforgivable. Most other profs lightened the load a bit but Tor decides to make the course harder instead. This was not the year to test new course policies.
Tor Aamodt is a loving prof, he makes sure to accommodate for every students needs. He is very knowledgeable and makes the course very content heavy.
Amazing class. I find myself using the things I learned in CPEN 211 with Tor in multiple other classes. The workload is extremely high and you should choose your course-load accordingly when taking this course. If you are into embedded systems / HDLs, this class is amazing. If you don't like that stuff, this may be the hardest class you'll ever do.
The course is intense and extremely fast paced with so many concepts being taught in a very short amount of time. The autograder is the only thing checking your code and a typo leaves you with a 0. LPT requirements can cause you to withdraw. He is unempathetic and doesn't reply to emails. 4AM autograded LPT tests during a pandemic - yikes.
CPEN 211 was substantially improved this year. Tor cut down on the amount of labs and removed some topics from the syllabus. Even so, there is still an insane amount of content to cover. That being said, the midterm was surprisingly fair, and he scaled the final through the roof. LPTs are scary, but there are room for partial marks to secure 3/15.
The amount of work for CPEN 211 feels overwhelming at times, but Tor has definitely made the course a lot more manageable compared to previous years. Although the 3/15 requirement for the LPTs is intimidating, if you've done your labs it's certainly achievable. The midterm was very fair. The final was challenging, but he scales accordingly.
The course is better than previous years. The first and second LPT may be important as you need at least 3/15 while the third LPT was too time consuming The midterm is ok The final though was impossible but he scaled by much so that is ok
prof is very mean and doesnt care. if ur sick for the midterm/final, enjoy a big fat 0%. 3/15 LPT requirement is very scary, but is attainable if u pay attention to the labs. tor doesnt go over enough exam like questions in class, but when he does, it's very helpful. get ready to spend al ur time studying for the exams
Tough grader and does not give the best feedback when asked questions. However, lectures are very useful. Although attendance is not mandatory, skipping them is unwise. Get a partner for the Labs.
A prof who genuinely cares about people learning and doing it the fair way. Put some effort in class, and you'll learn a lot. Don't fall behind, keep up with lectures and labs.
The lectures are clear and he goes over examples necessary to answer questions on the exam. He will walk you through content that is needed to succeed in exams and midterms. However, there is a lot of work in terms of labs (he says 20 hrs/wk is typical), but keep in mind this course is 5 credits. Exams are consistent across years in difficulty.
Tor is a terrible teacher, he is inconsiderate and arrogant. Nevertheless he is good at what he does and that's why he hasn't been kicked out yet.
Way better than liz, at least he knows how to teach and what he teaches is related to exams and hmk, liz is true nightmare
Its a very difficult class, but its doable when you pay attention to the lectures and understand the concepts well. Labs are hard, and require at least 10 hours of work per week so its better to start early. And Tor usually scales the course so don't panic about passing as long as your grade is close to the average. I think he scaled 10% this year
Man, the things I could say about this course. It's terribly structured; it's rushed and time-consuming. The first 2 labs are easy, the others are absolutely crazy. Expect to spend around 30 hours completing labs, and don't get discouraged with bad grades, the final is curved heavily. As for LPTs, focus on passing the first one to pass the course.
Trust me Tor is a great prof compared to some profs for future courses. If you are in CPEN and complaining about how "bad" Tor was, good luck taking CPEN 212 next term, then CPEN 331, and more! Be ready to read entire manuals on assembly online, and have hw and tests completely different from any lecture you ever had. Then, you'll appreciate Tor.
Awesome professor with incredible clear course structure and top level lectures. 10/10 will take agian
Incredible professor that I will make sure that if any of my future classes have him as my prof, i will choose that course. The course content is easy, by the way, probably due to the professor's teaching. A caring professor that will always answer our email, Piazza, and questions immediately.
Amazing!
Incredible amazing prof. Even though he never replied to any questions in the piazza, no solutions were provided for practice exam, teaching by reading the PPT, finishing the important topics within 3 mins and providing almost no examples in the PPT, he is still THE BEST prof.
10/10 best course ever taken
He is a friendly professor, always patiently answering students' questions and explaining the content of the slide in detail.
GOOD GOOD GOOD!
A good prof.
Enjoy!
Professor Tor, your expertise and enthusiasm for teaching transform every lecture into a captivating journey of learning. Your dedication to student success is inspiring, and your guidance has profoundly impacted my academic growth. Thank you for being an exceptional mentor and a true pillar of knowledge and support
He is the BEST PROF IN THE WORLD. I even dropped the class to attend his class again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Absolutely amazing. Course materials were comprehensively covered with sufficient details and abundant examples. Everything in this course was made crystally clear while the exams were straightforward. Definitely would take again!
GOOOOOOOD!
Attend it agin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You know what? I was kicked out by the UBC. But now I am BACK. WHY? You may ask....BECAUSE I WANT TO BE HIS STUDENT AGAIN, IN CPEN211. The best-organized course in my whole life. Its beauty cannot be described by words. I cannot live without this course.
1 point for not providing answers to practice finals. 1 point for useless office hours. 1 point for not replying any piazza. 1 point for low readability PPTs. 1 point for reading PPTs in the lecture. OMG IT IS 5/5
The professor is highly regarded for delivering engaging lectures that effectively convey complex material with clarity. Their student-centered approach and caring attitude foster a positive learning environment, while prompt and constructive feedback on labs contributes to student success.
If you put in the work, you will still fail CPEN-211
The course content is awesome but Tor makes me hate it. Textbook isnt helpful when u need to jump around so much. I'd rather watch his lecture recordings at 2x speed than attend lectures, also labs take way too much time for something thats worth only 14%. Idk if anyone else could teach this better but the course structure is bad imo.
Challenging course and teacher.
I failed 211 once with Mieszko, and retaking the class with Tor was so much better. Tor is such an amazing prof and actually explains shit, unlike Mieszko who spends more time bullying students than actual teaching course material. Tor was such a great prof and all the people complaining about him have never met Mieszko, and honestly good for them.
after taking CPEN212 with Lis, I believe Tor deserves a five-star rating and sincerely hope that one day I can take CPEN212 taught by Tor
Tor has the ability to take complex subject matter and explain it in a very clear and understandable way. A rare ability in ECE profs. If you go to lecture and do the labs, you will do fine in the course. That being said, this course is hard, and it is a tonnn of work. I personally think that's a course coordination issue and not a professor issue.
I think I speak for everyone when i said we need Tor to teach CPEN212 as well
I mean..... Good Luck....
After seeing his professional behaviour towards students, it is pretty obvious he was bullied as a child and is now projecting it onto his students...
The class itself is really badly organized. It should really be split up into two courses. Tor doesn't have a whole lot of empathy for any students most of the time. He sometimes glosses over complicated topics with a quick “I hope that makes sense.” Which tells me he knows the topic wasn't explained deeply enough.
There are many professors who are easily approachable, willing to help students, and want to see their students succeed. Tor is not one of those professors.
Professor Tor was a good professor for 211. He went through the content at a moderate pace and if you didn't understand, you could go up to him after class or office hours and he would try to explain it in a different way. He was accommodating and understanding. I'd take a class with him again!
Waaaaaay better then Mieszko
Tor makes the tough content digestible. Go to class, do the work, and you'll do well. Unstuck study was a game-changer for prep - way better than just the textbook. Overall, challenging but rewarding course.
I think um the best way to um describe professor Tor, would be to um, use an analogy. So imagine um you walk into a library and you're looking for a book um. You ask the Librarian um, (Tor in this case) um but he doesn't respond um (he never does). Sorry, its a silly analogy. I'll stick to harry potter ones next time.
I used to cross streets without looking while taking this class. If you are reading this Tor, I hope you chuckled.
Professor Tor is fine—the real challenge is the design of CPEN211 itself. Work intensive, labs can take anywhere from 5 to 20 hours a week depending on your background. At most universities, this content is split across three or more courses. If you can master CPEN 211, you'll have good understanding for fundamentals of computer systems
Is really nice and helpful if you meet him in person
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
28%
Textbook Required
40%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
+0.10 avg changeRatings by Course
ENG104
5.0
(1)EECE527
5.0
(1)EECE476
4.5
(4)CPEN211
3.4
(93)EECE353
3.3
(9)Difficulty by Course
259
5.0
ENG104
5.0
EECE101
5.0
EECE259
4.4
EECE527
4.0