Grade-point averages at Berkeley

[sakky]

<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>I doubt that this makes much of a difference. I think this mostly has to do with the culture of the school itself rather than any inherent trait of the quarter vs. semester system. For example, Caltech is on the quarter system. But that doesn’t mean that they have “easier” exams. Far from it, actually. In fact, I would say that the Caltech quarterly exams require you to know more than the Berkeley semesterly exams do in order to pass. </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>

<p>I don’t see that the semester system or the quarter system is itself inherently good or bad. Many, probably most, of the elite LAC’s like Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, and Wellesley are on the semester system, yet are renowned for good teaching and a strong undergraduate experience. The entire Ivy League sans Dartmouth are on the semester system, yet that doesn’t seem to have hurt them. So is MIT. I highly highly doubt that a lot of students at MIT think that classes are too slow. </p>

<p>I think it’s really about about how well a school runs its semester or quarterly system, rather than anything inherent about the quarterly/semesterly system itself.</p>