At the end of the day, if a university gives out grades, there has to be some sort of objective way of handing out a grade. What I have seen for the good courses is it is a mixture of exams, projects, and homework.
Some students are very good at taking exams, others, not so much. This can be due to a learning disability, stress over test taking, etc (or it could even be that person just is having a bad day!). Having homework and projects allows for students to have a different way of showing that they understand the coursework, and are able to apply the material.
It also gives the professor and TAs insight into the student. Why is a student doing so well on homeworks, and not the exam or project?
Some courses have it where if youre final grade on the exam is an A, you get an A (since it is a comphrensive knowledge base test of what you are expected to know of the material). But, let's say you don't do as well on the exam, you can have the homeworks average out the exam grade. Or you have a project, that can help equalize out the grades, because the application of the knowledge is important as well.
Some students are very good at taking exams, others, not so much. This can be due to a learning disability, stress over test taking, etc (or it could even be that person just is having a bad day!). Having homework and projects allows for students to have a different way of showing that they understand the coursework, and are able to apply the material.
It also gives the professor and TAs insight into the student. Why is a student doing so well on homeworks, and not the exam or project?
Some courses have it where if youre final grade on the exam is an A, you get an A (since it is a comphrensive knowledge base test of what you are expected to know of the material). But, let's say you don't do as well on the exam, you can have the homeworks average out the exam grade. Or you have a project, that can help equalize out the grades, because the application of the knowledge is important as well.