Policies
Through HOPE, you will learn effective printed circuit board (PCB) design and develop the skills to build custom electronics for classes, personal projects, student teams, and more. You will learn effective system, schematic, and layout design for PCBs through hands-on labs and experience basic PCB assembly and bringup. You will also be exposed to some advanced PCB design topics such as DFx, signal and power integrity, grounding, and thermals. At the end of the semester, you will combine all of your skills in a student design project.
Prerequisites
HOPE is not a class about circuits. We expect students to have a basic understanding of circuits. We heavily recommend students satisfy our pre-reqs of EECS 16B (EE 64) or ME 100, or otherwise have a similar level of knowledge in circuits (e.g. BIOE 105).
Enrolling in HOPE
Students who are interested in signing up for HOPE in Fall 2026 should fill out THIS (https://berkie.ee/hope-fa26-apply) enrollment form to receive a permission code (they will be distributed in batches, first come first serve). The enrollment form will open on Saturday (2026/08/29) at noon.
Please email us if you are a concurrent enrollment student - University policy requires us to prioritize matriculated UC Berkeley students. Space permitting, however, concurrent enrollment students are welcome to take HOPE.
We offer HOPE as an in-person class this semester. We plan to hold two identical sections of class each week (Wed and Thurs), and you can choose which section to enroll in.
Classes begin the week of 2026/08/31. The first class will be on Wednesday, 2026/09/02.
Steps to Enroll in HOPE
- Fill out the enrollment form linked above.
- Wait until you receive an automated email confirming that we received your submission of the Google form:
- Wait until you receive one of the following emails:
- An email with an enrollment code that you can use in CalCentral. If you received this email, proceed to step 4.
- An email saying that you’ve been placed on the waitlist. If you received this email, proceed to step 6.
- Search up the HOPE section you wish to enroll in. WARNING: all HOPE sections are offered as EE 198, but other non-HOPE courses also use this course code. Make sure to select one of the options below. If these sections do not show up in the enrollment center, wait. Enrolling in a different EE 198 that is not group 002 or group 004 will NOT enroll you in HOPE.
- Group #2 (EE198-002): this is the Wednesday section
- Group #4 (EE198-004): this is the Thursday section
- As an example, below both sections are shown. This image is from Spring 2026, but it has the correct Group numbers.
- Below is an example of an incorrect EE 198 course to add from this semester. Note that it shows Group 24, which is NOT either of the HOPE sections.
- Proceed to enroll in the course as you would usually do for step 1 of 4. When you reach step 2 of 4, make sure to provide the enrollment code you were given in your email. NOTE: enrollment codes are section-specific; a Wednesday enrollment code will not work to enroll in the Thursday section (and vice versa). Do NOT share your enrollment code with others, as you may lose your spot to enroll. See below
- Make sure to attend the first two weeks of class and fill out attendance! Enrolled students who do not attend the first two weeks of the semester will be dropped in order to open up space for students on the waitlist that did attend.
Grading
Your grade is primarily based on completion of labs and assignments. The final project is graded both on completion and demonstration of concepts taught in the course. Students need 70% to pass.
See bCourses for detailed LINK TBD. We will keep track of grade-related things in bCourses. Other course content will be found here on the website.
Office Hours
For students that need extra support time, we will hold staff office hours at the Supernode (Cory 246). Check HERE for availability.
Contact
Please email us at hope@ieee.berkeley.edu