i live in western europe and it's not normal to my knowledge. in Ireland nothing means shit in high school basically until the one big set of exams at the end which is all that determines what college you can get into. no exam or assignment you do in the 6 years leading up to that matters at all except for certain subjects which might have some projects and stuff in your final year that contribute partially. which obviously is a system with its own severe downsides lol but I'll take it over having to care about grades when I'm like 15 fuck that. we also don't have to write letters and shit or care about extracurriculars to get into college, it's a purely mathematical process based on how you do in your final set of exams.