we were supposed to be confused and write that we couldn’t do it.

Is this a US specific thing? In our schools, they taught us stuff, then took a test to see how much of it got inside our head. I can’t imagine a test having a question about a topic which is not taught yet. It feels like straight up bullying by the system. We send kids to school to learn things, not to get bullied for not knowing things they haven’t even been taught yet.