Ok, time to defend the trainers.
ruserious: if you don't rote learn some stuff, so you can recall it at will, you should never pass any course, anywhere. Grow up.
Being asked a question in training is not checking: questioning is a valid technique to determine where the trainee's knowledge level is: why work through stuff he/she knows?
There have been many trainees very used to being spoon-fed the whole course. I won't name where from, but they are quite a big group and sometimes initially struggle to get to terms with the concept of turning up prepared.
The return to instilling (I'm not sure that it's something can can actually be trained) airmanship has been a focus on the training dept for some time...a drift away from the old 'if it's not in a book, it doesn't happen' methodology.
Basically, anyone who turns up with a modicum of skill, common sense and diligence will pass the course. There is no checking conspiracy.