Parsifal, a word of advice from a long-timer lol: when in doubt, pick the home project. Several reasons:
1) stuff like what happened with your test is known to happen with alarming frequency, especially with more inexperienced teachers in charge of creating the test. Basically, it goes something like this: they misjudge the class' level of achievement, the class tanks, they feel guilty (if we're giving them the benefit of the doubt) or simply get scared the poor performance reflects badly on their teaching (which it sort of does, lol)), either way they then backtrack and scrap the lot *eyeroll* Ah well - at least they did that instead of getting stubborn and calling the fail-graded ones a bunch of 'vegetables' (yep, I've seen it - not for a test but for reading). Of course, it still sucks for anyone who DIDN'T tank the test - doubly so for those, however rare, who did well. Whichever - a waste of effort.
2) Especially for classes where you're not feeling confident, you're much more likely to be at your best with something that you have time to prepare, and without the inevitable added stress of a sit-down, in-class test.
3) Of all forms of academic assessment, tests are the least relatable to real-world applications of what you're learning - and any potential employer or future academic assessor worth their salt knows that. As such, while tests may still count for a lot of your grade, projects are much more reliable in terms of presenting who you are and what you can do than a test (in which your performance could be affected by something as simple and unpredictable as the neighbor's party giving you a crappy night's sleep). Equally, showing an eager interest in home projects gets you noticed by your CURRENT teachers, too - and make no mistake, it's ALL about the teachers, because a good 90% of the value in most of higher ed nowadays is about networking, not so much about the actual learning.
4) also (perhaps most important): preparing for tests is review work - you just go over what you've already learned (in the classroom or by doing the day-to-day reading). Projects, by contrast, are *new* material - meaning you learn something new by preparing one. Which is kind of the point of going to school - to learn as much as possible.
In short, projects are pretty good academic 'value for money' if you will; you get the most academic returns for your effort.
Also, a project like an essay or presentation/lecture is something that CAN be done little by little, which means it ends up feeling like less work even if in absolute terms you've spent, say, 20 hours on the project and only a couple of afternoons on the test. By contrast, you can't begin studying for a test in earnest more than about 93-95"% of the way into the course in question (partly because of it being review work like I said - can't REview something you haven't viewed yet in the first place - but mostly because the kind of detailed and speedy recall required for good performance in sit-down test conditions needs to be acquired in a compressed timeline that is close to the event. In other words, cramming is pretty much the only way you do well at tests).
good luck! and don't forget to enjoy it - if you don't, it's kind of a waste of money and years :-)
