Unless your are at University and write a thesis, all exams are a form of rote learning.
Look how the Government are trying to get students to learn the times table.
I personally would like to see exams in which you need 100% pass mark.
The questions would not be hard but 100% relevant, like collision avoidance rules.
I remember doing such a CAA exam around 1989 amongst the ATPL exams.
Isn't the US system a data bank of 1000 questions and 100 random on day of test?
Good luck if you can remember all those answers without some understanding of the subject. Why should questions be convoluted, most things are black or white.