I have never needed to do that sort of memorisation in the past but have done recently. When I was a student my memory was good enough that I could skate throug

I have never needed to do that sort of memorisation in the past but have done recently. When I was a student my memory was good enough that I could skate through based on what I remembered from lessons/lectures/basic revision. In my professional life I've never needed it. Recently though I've been learning to fly (in the UK). You have to take some theory exams. The "How the aircraft flies" exam works in the way it has in the past - read through the material a couple of times and because it's a coherent set of knowledge that fits in a framework I already understand (Engineering) I can remember everything. Air Law does not work like that though. There's lots of minutiae to learn (how much visibility do I need for VFR at 5000 feet as supposed to 1000 feet, what does the white ball above the T mean on a signal square). Anki let me learn all of that stuff over a few weeks for 15 mins a day (plus deck creation time - a couple of hours) and pass the exam with no mistakes.