An ocean apart

The university education system in Spain is literally and figuratively an ocean apart from the one in the United States. For starters, mid-terms? What is a mid-term?

Usually in Spain you have two types of courses: one-semester courses, and one-year courses. School year starts at the end of September and, although you may have papers and presentations during some courses, normally classes consist only on lectures given by the professor. Nine months of long talks during which students take notes, that is pretty much it. Then, if you had a one-semester course, you will take an exam on all those notes in December or January, and for one-year courses you'll take also just one exam in May or June. That's right:

Aaaaall of the notes you took, they will be all tested in a sole huge exam for each course. Usually you take five or six courses a semester, and all their five or six exams will be packed in a couple of weeks.

You have two opportunities to take those exams, and if you fail, you have to retake the course. And it is easy to fail. First, because it is too much information, and it can be in any of the test formats: multiple-choice (where they take points out if you have answers wrong), short answers, long essay questions... anything. Secondly, because without quizzes, smaller tests and mid-terms, it is really easy to procrastinate. You think you have time until finals, and then...

We have international students from Japan, Vietnam, South Korea, Brazil, etc. How is the college educational system in your countries? I think it is really interesting to figure out all the differences :)