Semester system at Cal

failure622
Fri, 31 May 2013 16:59:54 +0000

Some of my classes have had one midterm, some have had 2 midterms, some had 3. In a way it’s nice to have more than one… it means each exam counts a little bit less, and generally means less material is covered on each one. I’m not sure what the standard for psychology is, I’d imagine it depends on the professor and the course.

I’ve been on both systems, and I’ve always liked semesters more. You have more classes at a time, classes/lectures are shorter, and you have more time to do work. For things that go in a series (like calculus or physics) there are also fewer courses to take if you’re on a semester system (for the comparable amount of material on quarters). Also, when I was on quarters, midterms/papers were the same way… some teachers would give a couple exams, some had a midterm and final, some only had a final. It really just varies a lot.