I was anti-memorization until I went back to graduate school for mathematics. I had forgotten (or never learned) a lot of things needed to pass qualifying exams. At some point I ran across the spaced repetition idea (maybe from the Wired SuperMemo article [0]) and I gave it a try. I ended up using it to memorize large portions of baby Rudin and Munkres' Topology, as well as some algebra and a bunch of qualifying exam questions.
The qualifying exams were difficult until I reached some "critical mass" of knowledge. Then I could regurgitate proofs and even attack novel problems easily.
There's an analogy here somewhere to the "leetcode" style of software engineer interview. On one hand qualifying exams and leetcode questions are a stupid gatekeeping mechanism, but on the other hand the best researchers/engineers I know have a huge number of facts and examples memorized and ready at their fingertips. I didn't think I needed to do so, but perhaps there is something to suffering through the rote memorization phase to make what comes next that much easier.
The qualifying exams were difficult until I reached some "critical mass" of knowledge. Then I could regurgitate proofs and even attack novel problems easily.
There's an analogy here somewhere to the "leetcode" style of software engineer interview. On one hand qualifying exams and leetcode questions are a stupid gatekeeping mechanism, but on the other hand the best researchers/engineers I know have a huge number of facts and examples memorized and ready at their fingertips. I didn't think I needed to do so, but perhaps there is something to suffering through the rote memorization phase to make what comes next that much easier.
[0] https://www.wired.com/2008/04/ff-wozniak/