<p>I don’t know the answer to your question. Students in the quarter system usually take fewer classes per term–3 or 4 each trimester/quarter–but the hours each week might be the same as the hours per week per course taken by semester students, thus the assumption that less material was covered. Possibly trimester/quarter system students are assigned a heavier workload per hour of class time which results in the same amount of coursework covered as in a semester class; in which case, the trimester/quarter credits should be equal to semester hours. This may be why many trimester/quarter system schools award one course credit per course rather than hours of credit.</p>