I agree with your comments about the exam system. Multi-choice exams are not the right examining tool, on their own, for professional knowledge at this level. I actually don't think the CAA or JAA are looking for anything more than exam passes, such is the shortsightedness of government bodies and quangos. Airlines look for a bit more, which is the difficulty. Airline pilots do tend to say 'of course, none of it is relevant' but on closer inspection they usually mean only some of it is relevant to their particular job. Other areas are often relevant in other, possibly less glamorous, jobs like bush flying, flying instruction and air charter. Supersonic flight isn't actually in the syllabus, only transonic aerodynamics is. Oddly, this is actually relevant to subsonic air transports, i.e. most modern jets.