How very odd. In most of my finals at Exeter Uni. Physics department in the 1970s regurgitation of course notes got you nowhere because all the exams were open note so the examiners didn't bother asking questions of that kind. The Quantum Mechanics exam was an outstanding example, not only did it not ask for any regurgitation most of the questions required the student to provide answers to problems that had not been more than hinted at in the course.