Rebuscado

[irmamar]

¿Cómo se podría traducir "un examen rebuscado"? Where questions are not obvios, but difficult to find or with second information (well, I'm not sure how could I explain it). Thanks.

[JPablo]

Examen rebuscado...
Mmm...

I dont’t know what I’d say, but probably something like “a too obscure test” or “very obscure”, or even a “far-fetched test” could have the connotations that the Spanish “rebuscado” may have here.

Maybe “recherché”, as in “very rare, arcane, obscure”, but of course I bet the natives will have a most common way to say this...

Probably a “very over-elaborate test”...?

There are a number of modifiers that can be closer, like, arcane, recondite, stilted, far-fetched [farfetched], or convoluted, twisted, contrived... even pedantic.

The point is that the professor, or whoever chooses the questions for the test, tries to find the most difficult, obscure and arcane questions that even if you have a working understanding of the subject, you are going to flunk because the data requested is either actually irrelevant or so pedantic and useless that it’s not even funny...

Something like the tests for psychiatrists, where they ask the guys the titles and dates of publication for the complete works of Sigmund Freud...

At any rate, you may notice that my answer is an emphatic maybe...

(Let’s see what the English natives have to say!)

[pjt33]

A stupidly/ridiculously hard exam.

Lo siento, no creo que haya una traducción muy exacta.


Editado: bueno, JPablo quizás encuentre una con «obscure».

[Rusty]

In this thread, with the same title, I wrote 'complicated' or 'complex' as the translation.
Along the same vein as 'obscure' and 'ridiculously hard', I could say 'very complicated' or 'very complex'.
The dictionaries I consulted say 'round-about', 'elaborate' or 'over-elaborate'.

[JPablo]

Would it be a bit too much "a ridiculously over-elaborate test"?

[pjt33]

Originally Posted by JPablo

Would it be a bit too much "a ridiculously over-elaborate test"?

I don't think that's too much, but «elaborate» isn't really a word I associate with tests. «Ridiculously over-complex», perhaps.

Si sirve una palabra estadounidense que no entendería casi nadie más, creo que se podría decir «That exam was a doozy».