Have you actually looked at the test in question? For example, one question is basically knowing the definition of a trinomial, which is all about memorizing a

Have you actually looked at the test in question? For example, one question is basically knowing the definition of a trinomial, which is all about memorizing a definition, and has nothing to do with understanding the underlying mathematics. It's a problem of syntax and the meaning of a word, not semantics. Another requires calculating the area of a square by knowing to measure the lengths of the sides and multiplying them with each other. This is all about memorizing a set of procedures and applying them. Contrast that with this German question for 7th/8th graders: http://www.joerg-rudolf.lehrer.belwue.de/j3/images/mathe_sek/m8/Kongruenzbeweis6.pdf http://www.joerg-rudolf.lehrer.belwue.de/j3/images/mathe_sek... You're required to show that the quadrilateral IJKL is a square if the distances AE, BF, CG, and DH are of equal length, for which you have to show that all sides of IJKL are of equal length and that the angles of IJKL are all right angles. This requires a number of substeps, since you'll be reducing the problem to the question of congruences between triangles. More importantly, the point is not the difficulty of the question but that the question requires application of knowledge to a novel situation that the student hasn't encountered before (known as "transfer of learning" [1]), whereas US math problems tend to be carefully tailored to be straightforward applications for the memorized procedures. To the point that it is known that US math tests tend to eschew even word problems [2] to a great degree. Nobody says that "teaching to the test" doesn't teach students anything. The problem is that it teaches them procedures that require a minimum of independent thinking and are more about following down an established path. [1] http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Transfer_of_learning http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Transfer_of_learning [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_problem_(mathematics_education) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_problem_(mathematics_educa...