Studying a waste of time or a helpful tool?

So today i was sitting on my bed trying to study for an upcoming history test. As i was reading the packets making flash cards and memorizing key words, i started to think... was this really necessary? Was all the hours of labor and eye muscles worth a 20 minute test. I mean come on, couldn't we have open test. Then it would be like preparing not memorizing and all that other stuff. I would rather show what i have learned, then show what I have memorized.