We can’t and it will never change. The people who can memorize exactly what the teacher wants will always get the good grades (be it essay style or multiple choice), and those of us who work hard to understand the material will get the lower grades. The people who get the good grades will pass the class with flying colors, but will not really know anything (at least, they won’t be able to explain it to you if you ask them for help), and we will understand a few important topics, but won’t get a “good” grade because we didn’t learn (read: memorize) the right thing. Then these people who memorized, didn’t learn and got good grades will coast through grad school because no one really cares at that point and will get the good jobs because they obviously know the material very well (sic) in order to get such a high mark in those classes. Meanwhile, we (the “underachievers”) suffer through the rest of grad school because our grades don’t reflect what we actually know, but the professors won’t see it that way. They see it as we just didn’t get the material, therefore they must push us and quiz us whenever they get the chance throughout the rest of our grad careers. Then, because our grades don’t match our knowledge, we don’t get as good jobs as the “others”, and we suffer still. At least that’s what school taught me. Wow. That felt good. Thanks nikipedia.