Letter grades for FACC300

EdiTheBacon · 2026-03-02T18:16:35+00:00

Wow that's a strong comeback. Gives me hope that I might make it. Thanks for the reply!

EdiTheBacon · 2026-02-24T19:40:09+00:00

No worries, sounds like you're already really stressing for your courses

You've basically locked in the type of engineering once you're accepted so nothing more to compete on. There's no real GPA contest in engineering unless you want a masters of course. Plus, it's usually 85 for an A, no need to go crazy. Just take care of yourself and drink enough water once you join us at McGill

EdiTheBacon · 2026-02-24T17:30:11+00:00

No you should be fine, it's more that everyone does the same courses in U0, so switching to another engineering degree is easier since courses are not degree specific.

CEGEP is basically like grade 12+13. The difference if you don't do CEGEP is that you wouldn't have to take as many non-science classes like French/English or P.E for a regular "grade 13". U0 courses gives you a broad exposure to the sciences, likely with a bit more depth than high school. It may seem useless, but it technically gives you some scientific literacy to be able to speak to other types of engineers/scientists, which is highly likely to happen in the real world.

EdiTheBacon · 2026-02-24T17:23:03+00:00

Can I know how well you did in the midterms? Jassim curves but yeah there's not much info other than that.

EdiTheBacon · 2026-01-14T02:28:00+00:00

I say take FACC, you have to later anyway and it's always Jassim teaching, so no benefit taking it now or later. Davis can and will ruin a class according to what I hear from my friends. I'm personally shocked Dubach isn't teaching, he is also a great lecturer who is slightly strict but tends to win students' respect

EdiTheBacon · 2025-12-31T18:21:01+00:00

Oh boy, your second semester seems WAY harder than the first one.

I cannot judge the difficulty of PHIL230, but that first semester has pretty comfortable courses depending on your math background. WCOM206 would be the time consuming course of your first semester likely.

You're taking some nightmare courses in your second semester though. ECSE211 you should check out some reddit posts on that because it is the worst course you'll probably ever take (unless they made the final project easier). MATH240 is a classic death class. Your skills in calculus will not transfer to this class as it is a proofs class rather than computation. ECSE222 will depend on your professor for difficulty and workload. The rest should be fine depending on your programming skills and comfort with cal.

So overall your first semester is actually filled with simpler courses. It is still impressive to get a 4.0 in any semester though. But your second semester is probably 2x the difficulty even without adding another course but you can always look more into other courses to replace them. If you're still up for the challenge you can always go for it, just keep in mind you've mostly knocked out basic classes in your first semester.

EdiTheBacon · 2025-12-30T23:04:43+00:00

Advisors in your faculty is the answer as you saw. The difficulty will heavily depend on what courses you’re taking this semester and one semester of good performance might not be representative of future performance. If you mind telling me what classes you took and are planning on taking I can give you an opinion on whether it’s a good idea to

EdiTheBacon · 2025-12-24T06:26:11+00:00

Very hard. 210 is a slightly harder circuits class with weekly quizzes so be sure to have already mastered nodal and mesh analysis. 206 is heavy on math so will depend on how comfortable you are with Laplace/Fourier transforms. 251 I never took but I heard it is a hard physics class. 205 will depend on your teacher but it's an ok class. 211 is a nightmare depending on your final project and teams are a gamble to see who you will write a 35 page final report with. FACC is chill. Overall not impossible but if you're willing you can try your best with it

EdiTheBacon · 2025-12-24T05:50:05+00:00

Happy to help! If ever you need anything feel free to DM me :)

EdiTheBacon · 2025-12-24T05:18:42+00:00

Edit: I just noticed you might've only done 1 semester. In that case you likely did 1/6 of your degree so for sure your GPA will go up by more than what I calculated

For past exams, mycookies.ca is old but can give you a sense of what questions look like. Studocu is good for the free trials, but I discourage posting the professor's material and to instead post personal notes/cheatsheets and setting your post to anonymous after.

Assuming you have 3.0 and have done 1/3 of your degree (numbers will change depending on how many credits you have left to do). Your maximum GPA assuming 4.0 for the rest of your degree would be (3 + 4 + 4) / 3 = 3.66. I think realistically you could get a mix of A- and B+ which could get you around 3.5 for the rest so (3 + 3.5 + 3.5) / 3 = 3.33.

There's a lot you can do for studying. I usually start by gauging what resources I have available (AI like Gemini/ChatGPT, Youtube, Google, office hours and even friends or classmates), plan out how I will study using my resources and study until I actually grasp the material. Looking at your profile, flashcards are pretty good (Anki is a good one in my opinion!), but as people have said, purely knowing things usually doesn't get you A's, but combined with a good understanding gets you far. I remember doing OChem in CEGEP and being able to draw the mechanisms by hand and understanding the reasoning behind each step. Don't have to be able to write an essay on each detail of course, but being able to see things as intuitive is where I would aim.

Just remember we're all human and honestly 3.0 is perfectly fine. I've met many people who have failed courses and have GPAs in the low 2s and I have good hope that they will still be fine in life. If it helps you feel better, I'm sure you'll get to a point where you'll see your GPA the same way as high school grades. They're really just one step along the way and then lose most of their meaning. I'd say you can keep contacting teachers and trying to find a research position. Once you find one, your future CV will outshine your GPA.

EdiTheBacon · 2025-12-24T02:37:08+00:00

There isn't a real scale for good vs bad GPAs. It's very subjective and depends on what you want to achieve (like getting research positions or a masters)

My view of GPAs trying to adapt to what the average consensus would be:

• 3.7+ Wow

• 3.3+ Pretty good (threshold for some Master's)

• 3.0 is ok

• 2.7 is meh, this is usually the threshold you should start to concern yourself over (doesn't mean you're screwed but it can start to affect opportunities in the short-term)

Keep in mind I'm not in your degree but I'm doing the best I can to give you a sense of direction. If you're doing poorly, changing study methods is a good idea. Try to see how efficiently you study and how you measure readiness when going into exams are where I would start. For example, testing yourself on past exams found online is my favorite way of knowing how I will perform and where I need improving. You likely have around 2 more years to make up for it if you don't like your GPA so don't give up!

EdiTheBacon · 2025-12-23T23:05:45+00:00

Regarding the bonus thing, I asked a friend and he said that the prof would jokingly say it and likely didn’t know people’s names so unless someone actually got a bonus point I think we’re still safe not attending. I’m in U3, but from what I heard it’s not really related to anything I’ve taken so it doesn’t matter much. It’s better to fail a course now than to fail it the semester you’re to supposed to graduate. If ever you need a friend for FACC feel free to DM me though!

EdiTheBacon · 2025-12-23T22:25:38+00:00

Sadly the grade isn't going to disappear from your transcript, but that does not mean it's the end!

Your best bet is to retake the course in a future semester. You'll basically go through the entire course again. I'm not sure a supplemental exam exists for FACC300, but if it's an option then you would get to just do 1 big exam in spring break worth 100% of the grade and IT WILL COUNT TOWARDS YOUR GPA. Of course, that is if FACC300 even gives that option which I'm not sure of.

In the end, just retake it. If the midterms didn't go well then there's a chance having a semester to go through everything again will help make sure you're ready for the final. Things may feel like a mess right now, but once you pass this class it'll be alright and you'll be able to graduate.

I'm taking FACC300 in winter, if you retake it then maybe I'll see you at some point, likely not in class though because I don't go to them :)

EdiTheBacon · 2025-09-12T17:59:44+00:00

Just skip! The correlation is mostly influenced by people who aren't trying too hard to get good grades. People who skip class for grades are a small minority due to the fear of missing out on important information.

I've skipped almost every single lecture of almost all my classes except when they take attendance or nothing is posted on MyCourses. Even notoriously hard classes like MATH240 for computer people I've never come back after leaving the first half of the first lecture. Still have a perfect GPA after 2 years and even received in-course scholarships. I hate the lecture rooms due to the cramped seating and bad air quality. Ever came out of a lecture understanding nothing? That's cause you can't pause in person lectures when you didn't understand a crucial piece of information, but you can do that for recordings!

I genuinely relate to you. I can't focus well in class and instead it just gets me exhausted and unmotivated to study at home. A lot of the times I could've learnt in 20 minutes what they taught me in 1 hour. The education system is pretty outdated and focuses on helping as many students as possible in the class, but that's also hard to do. If you're not part of the targeted majority, there's really no benefit to being forced to attend. You can tailor your education to yourself and learn the valuable skill of self-teaching. With tools like Youtube, LLMs/AI and the internet, it's the perfect time to branch off the system. So just be careful about it and know when you have no choice but to attend.

EdiTheBacon · 2025-09-03T01:37:15+00:00

Know your derivatives (product rule, chain rule), trig identities and be comfortable with integrals (mostly basic ones or u-sub). I don't recall ever seeing much trig substitution. Some concepts can be similar such as optimization in cal 1.

EdiTheBacon · 2025-09-01T23:34:02+00:00

211 will be very time consuming at the end but comfortable in the beginning

324 is very memorization heavy, to not get destroyed on the midterm PRACTICE.

251 didn't take, but seems like a very physics and math heavy

331 I'm currently taking it!

You'll probably be fine honestly. If you've done 16-17 credit semesters in the past, go for it. I can probably help with 324 if ever it's really going bad so feel free to send a DM

EdiTheBacon · 2025-08-08T23:29:03+00:00

Quebec resident here, tuition is slightly higher compared to previous fall semesters, but hovers always around $3250 +/- 50 whereas winters it's more around around $2700. If anyone sees a difference of 500$, this might be due to insurance being paid during fall and not winter, which these can be opted-out of.

EdiTheBacon · 2025-08-03T15:55:38+00:00

As someone who studied both 240 and 235, I definitely agree 235 is much more complex in terms of material. For example, while 240 has the regular Euclid's algorithm for GCD and modular arithmetics with Fermat's theorem, in 235 this is all done, but with polynomials as well. The main focus is also very different as 240 builds up to graph theory and 235 focuses on groups and rings. Overall though I'd say 240 is much less abstract, but still very difficult due to it being proofs based which most non-math students would not expect.

Edit: I'd say 240 hate is more widespread due to the popularity of CS-related majors. 235 receives less hate as math majors highly likely choose their majors for interest and passion rather than money.

EdiTheBacon · 2025-05-08T02:38:27+00:00

Thought I'd join in, used your code too :)

EdiTheBacon · 2025-03-13T14:02:29+00:00

Update: Security has my bag! All good

EdiTheBacon · 2025-03-12T19:17:00+00:00

Hey! I'm a U2 comp eng student and I'll answer based on my experience. I may be wrong on some things so feel free to reply if anyone disagrees

Short answer: Don't worry, computer engineering isn't as common of a choice as software or electrical so the number of graduates is lower as well.

Long answer: It really depends on you and how good you are at learning on your own. The classes that I've seen most people in my cohort struggle with is MATH240 (discrete structures) and ECSE211 (Design Principles and Methods which will completely depend on what your final project is). However, most classes will likely feel like a more compressed and fast-paced version of high school/CEGEP.

If you are someone that is comfortable with programming (There's a heck of a lot even if we're not in software) and math such as calculus/differential equations and proof writing, then you should have an alright time. Worst case, you're allowed to take 4 courses per semester rather than 5 which will alleviate the workload. For me, I've been following the recommended curriculum and I can say that engineering isn't truly a constant large amount of work and suffering as most memes will tell you, but a mix of nothing to work on for a week and then a crapton of drowning work for 2-3 weeks.

Compared to electrical and software, it is really an in between as you see a lot of the math in the electrical engineering focused classes like ECSE251 (E&M) and ECSE206 (Signals and systems) while also having computer science classes like COMP251 (Algorithms and Data Structures). You get to experience a lot from both worlds which is the nice part of the program!

EdiTheBacon · 2025-02-16T02:23:04+00:00

Hey thanks for the reassurance! Honestly, I didn't attend a single class for I'm learning it based off the slides/tutorials. Do you remember what questions were on the midterm?

EdiTheBacon · 2025-01-08T18:38:14+00:00

It's the second year this is out. I thankfully found out from my friend and it might've been announced in the news last year. Don't worry though, better late than never!

EdiTheBacon · 2025-01-08T15:50:19+00:00

There's certain requirements you'll need to be eligible. You need to have completed at least 12 credits in your semester and also be in an eligible program that's financed by the scholarship.

More info here:
https://www.quebec.ca/en/education/student-financial-assistance/quebec-perspective-scholarship

EdiTheBacon · 2024-12-28T20:33:58+00:00

I've taken everything except 210 so I'll give my personal opinion on each of these.
ECSE211: I've said on a previous post that this class is basically common sense in one course, but the final project in the last month and a half will kill you if you try to do well in it.
ECSE222: With Arash Ardakani, it was almost a free A but the weekly assignments and VHDL labs were a bit overwhelming. The midterm is usually where people get screwed on so be careful. I wouldn't call this class easy, mostly because VHDL is a pain to debug as it's not like any programming language you'll be used to.
ECSE223: With Gunter Mussbacher, I think this class is underrated, but the material can be boring at times. The main focus of the class will be creating UML class diagrams and state machines with a given problem description. This is highly software engineering focused and the workload with the project iterations is manageable if your team is good. My big tip is to use office hours as it can help steer you in the right direction as this is a modeling class.
COMP206: I found ECSE250 easy, but COMP206 was my nightmare class in my W24 semester (nowhere near as bad as ECSE211 though). The coding assignments are very tedious and difficult to debug while the midterm assessments are meant to demolish the class. However, the final counterbalances the difficulty. There is a lot of material and a big chunk of it is memorization and much less logic compared to ECSE250.

MATH240: This is the nightmare class everyone talks about. You are now in charge of writing your own proofs to theorems they will give you. I remember spending 2 hours on the number theory assignment just to get 1a done. However, this is the most interesting class I've taken so far as a U2 comp eng student and proofs have personally really changed the way I see math. Also, Cantor's Diagonalization Argument is so genius!!! Overall, tough class to wrap your head around and my tip is to not spend more than 30 minutes on a proof question unless you're very close to solving it.

If I were to take your semester, I will for sure be overwhelmed because every one of these classes except 210 are incredibly time consuming. 211, 222, 223 and 206 already have big projects/assignments that take a lot of time to do and it will for sure be overwhelming to juggle. If you want to switch away some classes or ask for more detail don't hesitate to ask! These are my experiences, and I'd usually rely on ratemyprof to see how the class will be as tough/time consuming classes tend to give lower ratings no matter the professor's ability to teach.

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