The testing part of math education in Russia is anything but excellent in my own experience. You have to do EVERYTHING from memory. So it tests your memory first, your actual understanding second. I've always had serious problems with this stupid memorization part.
And it's not just math. Most of the education is reading the book and then reciting the book at an exam. Nothing else. No original thinking required. Just dumb information retrieval. It's humiliating, really.
But maybe the actual teaching is better than in other countries. I don't know. It's the testing that traumatized me.
I've got an education in Russia and I don't recall such practice. Maybe some of professor do that, but that's more like an exception.
Most others test your way of thinking. They even allow you to use text books when preparing the answer, though usually they allows only books they bring to the exam.
I don't know specifically about Russian education system, but I have impression that critics of rote memorization and pencil-and-paper testing are rarely from less successful countries or are themselves low achievers. I think it's just sausage making. Sausage is fine.
And it's not just math. Most of the education is reading the book and then reciting the book at an exam. Nothing else. No original thinking required. Just dumb information retrieval. It's humiliating, really.
But maybe the actual teaching is better than in other countries. I don't know. It's the testing that traumatized me.