OTOH, I will submit that oral exams can really test familiarity of a subject well.
I found this in my own high school and university orals - I prepared much better for those and probably remember to this day many things I would have otherwise forgotten. I also found the exams absolutely terrifying, there's just no easy way to bullshit your way out. My examiners weren't mean at all.
Lem (of course!) expands on that in his Pilot Pirx stories esp. [1]. He agrees with you ;)
I found this in my own high school and university orals - I prepared much better for those and probably remember to this day many things I would have otherwise forgotten. I also found the exams absolutely terrifying, there's just no easy way to bullshit your way out. My examiners weren't mean at all.
Lem (of course!) expands on that in his Pilot Pirx stories esp. [1]. He agrees with you ;)
[1] https://royallib.com/read/Lem_Stanislaw/The_Conditioned_Refl...