In essays or examinations, you are never asked just to repeat information 'parrot-fashion', but to use your knowledge to answer a question. This means working out what the question means and what it relates to, so you need more than just a good memory for information. Even if you have a brilliant memory, you cannot anticipate everything. If you understand the implications of questions, you can reconstruct and draw on knowledge to fit the situation. This skill comes from talking and discussing and evaluating.
Education is also about learning about life and acquiring life skills.
Click here for more information about theories of learning A lot of the ' facts' you learn, you may forget, but if you learn skills, you will be able to reconstruct ideas and information by using them or know where or how to find information again if you need to. Sometimes we say 'Education is what you have left when you've forgotten everything you have learned'. Web version by Matthew Platts .