I'm quite impressed with the Hungarian system, for 18-19 year old school leavers, where every subject is split 50/50 between:

  - Írásbeli (written) - standardised written exam, centrally set and marked
  - Szóbeli (oral) - the panel interview

The oral (szóbeli) has:

  - A committee of 2-3 teachers sits as a panel
  - The student draws a topic at random from a list
  - They get prep time (usually 15-20 mins)
  - They present their answer to the panel
  - The panel asks follow-up questions and probes understanding