<p>More testing, more often means less stuff can be covered on each midterm which makes it easier to study for IMO. I looked over some friends of mine who go to UCLA and Stanford and their tests seem a lot “easier” than mine in that you have to know less stuff overall. </p>
<p>And having a semester system in no way helps you IMO. Some professors only have one midterm and one final with problem sets 10% of the grade despite a semester system. This is lazy teaching in my opinion because you don’t have any idea of how well you’re doing (problem sets can often be unrepresentative of the midterm and finals themselves). Professors often cram a bunch of stuff not on the problem sets on the midterm also which is unfair since you don’t get to practice problems and see how you’re doing. Yeah, everyone takes the same test, but for people who are tackling on several things at once and need to optimize their time, it can be very difficult.</p>
<p>If you have a crap teacher like this and have to drop your class you waste a lot more time and money than on a quarter system where you can retake the class later or know where you are sooner. </p>
<p>I would have to say the quarter system is far superior.</p>