This whole argument really sums up the PPL exams. There is a whole lot of stuff in there which is
interesting, and would be
good to know, but is not really
essential.
Rather than remember 'high to low - watch out below', I tend to work on more practical stuff such as: 'set the proper QNH, plan your route (height) properly and you won't hit anything'. Point being, you don't REALLY need to understand the mechanics of it all at the PPL level, at least. Same is true of a lot of the other Meteorology stuff, although I admit it is interesting if you WANT to understand it. Buy's Ballot's law (tailwind = low pressure to your left) is another one that's interesting but completley useless for most PPL's in the UK.
Pass the exams, forget 50% of the content and you should find the stuff you
need to remember sticks automatically because you'll use it regularly.
When I get in the situation where I'm lost, flying over mountains, inadvertantly in IMC with a radio failure, I'll quite happily admit to being wrong.
