It is not as common these days but 20-30 years ago many courses had 100% of the mark depend on the Final exam. It was very common for students to do nothing for most of the year and then madly cram in the last few weeks.
All this does is make the "teaching" pary of the course optional.
> 20-30 years ago many courses had 100% of the mark depend on the Final exam. It was very common for students to do nothing for most of the year and then madly cram in the last few weeks.
This was how it was in my 4 comp sci classes when I did a semester abroad in Australia in 2003. Attendance was also completely optional, so lots of beach time was put in. Then when it was time for the exam, they put us all in a room together with no supervision. Surprisingly, everyone did very well. It was quite a joke.
I can't decide whether I should googleably post the name of the Uni, partly because, despite the negativity in my comment, I had a blast there. The campus was beautiful and staff and professors were very knowledgeable and helpful. I learned a lot, but unfortunately you didn't need to if you didn't want to. In fact, I seem to recall my classes were only a pass/fail basis as well, so a D was the same as an A.
It was in Cairns, which actually narrows it down quite a bit if you want to google it.
What, you've never left the United States? Continental European universities are often organized like this. Or have been recently; I can't speak for right now.
All this does is make the "teaching" pary of the course optional.