Is the Unified State Exam (USE) a good or bad thing?

I don't know... when I took the USE 5 years ago, everything was quite difficult. And knowledge was actually tested. Plus, they didn't have time to drill us for the tests—in our region, we were "pioneers"—they're always testing things on us! In any case, I didn't take exams for all subjects in the USE format—but Russian and Math, yes. It wasn't the easiest thing... for math, I only scored 72 points out of 100. At the same time, an 'A' starts from 71. Russian was higher. Literature, however, was taken in the traditional form—meaning an essay.
Overall, at that time, the procedure wasn't fully refined and the tests themselves weren't perfect—but I can't say they didn't test real knowledge! Yes, it was done in a rather specific way. For example, take Russian... well, how am I supposed to know which rule applies here??? I never actually studied them... I just KNOW that you have to write it this way and not another... I feel it... and why—doesn't matter!