Originally Posted by
985X
For my undergrad, it was quarter based, which last for 10 weeks. Most finals were 2hr long. Berkeley is semester based, which last for around 18 weeks, most finals are 3hr long to cover all the course material. To avoid scheduling conflict for different class times, it goes longer till the end of the day.
It's changed over the years too. Long ago, there used to be more exams scheduled at the same time, but it led to more conflicts and a lack of space, and with fewer exam slots students had more final exams in one day. (9 hours of exams in a day is definitely no fun!)
My experience is that Berkeley's 10pm is later than many schools, but it's not a complete anomaly. We also tend of have evening out of class midterms in some programs. All just due to practical reasons of booking rooms.