Students appreciated the professor’s teaching style, the useful subject material, and learning MATLAB skills. They noted that the final project was difficult, but helped them learn the material well. The downside of the course was the heavy workload, which included very time-consuming homework. Students suggested spending more class time covering MATLAB and that the professor should stick to the course schedule better. Students taking this course should have some background in programming, especially with MATLAB. Students said that the course is a lot of work, but it gives you a good understanding of structural analysis.

The best aspects of this course included giving students useful programming experience as well as increasing their familiarity with MATLAB. Some students found the assignments time consuming. Suggestions for improvement included a desire that the course be slowed down or students be provided additional lectures or other opportunities to work on mastering the material. Prospective students should know that students found the course was difficult and found that some knowledge of software such as MATLAB was helpful.

Students praised this course for having an instructor who gave clear in-class explanations of key concepts. Perceived issues with the course included a belief that homework and problem sets in the course could be unnecessarily time consuming and eat up time. Suggestions for improvement of the course similarly focused on the amount of homework as students felt the course could be improved by cutting down the number of assignments. Prospective students should know that students found the course chal enging and the homework time consuming. Students also believed that students needed to have a solid background in MATLab and in solid mechanics in order to be successful in the course.