"From Quora: "John Linneball's answer to Why are final exams worth more in college than in high school?"

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Because most college/grad school/professional school grades are based upon midterm and final exams, with perhaps a few research papers and problem sets (for math and science), and lab reports (for science). So there aren’t as many grades for the instructor (college professor or teaching assistant) to give in a college course as there are grades obtained for in a high school course, where a teacher probably assigns homework and has tests, quizzes, etc. in addition to lab reports, research papers, and midterms/finals.
For example, college course might even have just one final exam that is 100% of the course grade, whereas a high school course might have 1 test per quarter, a final, and say, 40 quizzes and 40 homework assignments, where each test/homework/quiz is worth much less than 100% of the course, since there are 85 grades. Since there are fewer tests, etc., in a college course than in a high school course of the same length, each college test must be worth more. Hope this helps!