The ATPL ground examinations have changed considerably over the years, most recently when we became part of the JAA system.
Originally, they were much more conventional examinations, where your knowlege was tested in depth and where multiple-choice answers had yet to be utilised. In those days penalty marking was used - any questions wrongly answered got you negative marks, yet the pass mark was the same 75%. Were they more difficult? Probably, but it's no good harking back to was used to be.
You have to deal with the system as it is, not how you'd like it to be. Whether you like it or not, the multiple-choice technique is here to stay, and the input of various JAA countries means that some questions may be of questionable relevance to UK students. It's also true that you will forget much of what you have learned in the months after the exams, only retaining that which you need for subsequent flying training courses.
Like most exam systems, the exams do not of themselves qualify you to be a professional pilot, they only give you the permission to begin the long and arduous process of becoming a professional pilot. If you like, they are like the 11+ that get you into the flying 'grammar school'. You still have to pass many more, and more difficult, exams in the following few years.
Scroggs