Reply #8: I'm very poor at rote memorization..

[Fumesucker]

On the other hand if I *understand* something I remember it very well and even if I forget it is often possible to figure out what it is I have forgotten just by going back to my understanding of first principles.

There is considerable difference between memorizing things and understanding them.

It is understanding which allows for critical thinking, not memorization.

Knowledge and critical thinking go hand in hand, you can't have one without the other but if you do not understand that which you supposedly "know" you really can't relate it to other knowledge.

The "why" of things is at least as important as the "what".