at my university (Italy), exams were typically composed by one or more written session and a final oral exam. In the written one we were asked to solve exercise

at my university (Italy), exams were typically composed by one or more written session and a final oral exam. In the written one we were asked to solve exercises, no multiple-choices questions. They would last between 30m and 2 hours, depending on the size of the exam. In the oral one, we would also go over the solved exercises and discuss about mistakes and choices. Sometimes, mostly for laboratories, the written one was replaced by an assignment to be done at home, typically in form of a report of the activities.