Teaching analog circuits courses in the current digital era is a significant challenge for instructors. The mathematics needed for the first course on electronics is basic and the analyses are not complicated either. However, it typically requires conceptual understanding and intuition that has to be conveyed in order to avoid frustration during the assembly and testing of amplifiers in the lab, especially when students design them from scratch. A number of excellent textbooks are available that cover the theory, but it is difficult to find compelling literature that extends this knowledge to practical applications. In this paper, basic amplifier theory is revisited and with attention to considerations related to non-idealities and variations. The concept of sensitivity and its use is emphasized as well as, using the benefits of source/emitter degeneration as an example. It is shown that this degeneration indeed corresponds to an effective negative feedback mechanism that improves linearity and accuracy in addition to increasing the amplifier input impedance, all at the expense of reduced voltage gain.