> The typical approach, apparently, is to acquire a "dump," which is the bank of actual questions, and then repeatedly take "practice exams" so that they've already seen (and memorized) all of the questions that they might encounter during the actual exam. So, blatant cheating.
Children I know in UK high schools (12-18) are being "educated" solely in this manner that you describe as cheating.
I don't think you're wrong.
Basically, the "teacher" gives them past exam questions to do right from the very start of a 5 year course. They never get any reference books (nor online equivalents), they're not taught the subject matter, only taught how to answer the exam questions. It's diabolical but what passes for state education at the moment.
To clarify, I have no problem with practising on past exam questions but you need to actually educate people before you ask them to answer questions on the material.