It's not so much an assumption on their part as a realization thats what we've turned the education system into, at least in America.

In primary, secondary and even advanced schooling, there is a heavy focus on the students doing well on the (section/chapter/book) test just so they can drop it all and cram for the next one.

Sure, there is some incremental build up of knowledge or they wouldn't be getting anywhere. However, there is little focus on cumulative review and testing.

Indeed. This is why I aced at Imperial but sucked at Cambridge. If your goal is to learn proficiency in a skill or a set of knowledge that is presented to you, then test, test, test. But my test-acing skills didn't help when the goal was to go out and find all the information I needed and then draw conclusions.