My Organic Chemistry Professor lamented that American courses were “long and thin” while the courses that he had back at Oxford were “short and thick”. In addition, he indicated that often they would not have a single exam until about four weeks after the semester was over. Is this common in the UK and elsewhere? If so when did American Universities deviate from this practice? What are the relative advantages and disadvantages to each approach?
In Psychology we learned that - your terms here - “short and thick” would teach you faster (obviously) but “long and thin” would stick with you longer. Of course, this is a generalization as every individual is different and learns differently.
I must admit that I see no purpose in taking an exam 4 weeks after a class was over 
Ya know, from reading the original question, I naver realised how Dirty my mind was 