The Hardest Exam I Ever Took at MIT in Physics

I wish more college courses had different evaluation options for people with different learning strengths and weaknesses.  Like if you have horrible test anxiety, you should be able to have your homework grades be worth more than your exams, or if you're like me and struggle with regularly having the energy to do weekly homeworks, you should be able to have the exams be worth more than the homeworks.  You're the one paying to go to college (at least here in the US), so you should get to decide how you are graded.

For example, in me senior year as a math undergraduate I took the complex analysis series.  The courses had homework assignments due each week but they weren't graded.  You were encouraged to do them, but obviously they wouldn't impact your grade if you didn't.  I did not do a single homework for those courses whatsoever.  And of course I got an A in those classes because I aced the midterm and final and didn't have any missing or hastily finished homework assignments weighing down my grade.  Fast forward to winter 2021, as a graduate math student I recently finished a functional analysis course where there were graded weekly homeworks that in total weighed almost as much as the final exam.  I turned in 5 out of the 8 homeworks, but I got an 88%, 108%, and 95% on the two midterms and final respectively, and I earned a B for the course.  It just demonstrates that you can learn everything you're supposed to learn for a course and still be shortchanged because the structure of the course prevents some learning and preparation styles from succeeding.

tldr: you shouldn't have to develop an elaborate studying scheme or cram an entire semester's worth of material the night before an exam to do well in a course if the exam freaks you out, and you shouldn't be forced to turn in assignments in a consistent manor if you're unable to develop that kind of incredibly robotic habit from the get go.  You should definitely be held accountable for the way you want to be evaluated to prove you've learned your stuff, but the way in which you are should be wholly your choice.