I took oral math exams in Germany 15 years back when studying there for a year. In many ways I actually preferred it to written. A nice thing about oral exams i

I took oral math exams in Germany 15 years back when studying there for a year. In many ways I actually preferred it to written. A nice thing about oral exams is that it allows the professor to quite effectively determine your skills very quickly. If you're stuck at small parts, they can give you a hint. If you then just start rolling, you clearly knew the subject matter. Or if you don't understand an area very well, the professor can switch to another area. Maybe you happen to know other parts of the course very well, but the first thing the professor asks is in one of your weak areas. The professor can also drill down into specific subjects you understand well and give you more and more difficult and detailed questions that you've maybe never even thought about at all and help you through them. I think the system is great. The main downside is that one-on-one tests just don't scale. But other than that, I wish they would be more common in undergraduate studies in the US.