In the UK PPL, the circular slide rule used to be mandatory when I did the PPL in 2000/2001, and much time was wasted learning it which would have been put to much better use in the (otherwise non mandatory) ground school.
If they have done away with the slide rule, that is super, but I wonder how that will work in the nav exam, whose multiple choice options were rigged around the slide rule results and perhaps none of the answers will be right (or more than one may be equally off) if the result is worked out precisely.