I'd be able to write HTTP request by hand, I've done that quite often, however I would not expect that to be a common skill. Looking at something, even often does not in any capacity mean that you would be able to reproduce that from memory.
Exactly. These are memory tests, not ability tests. Beyond a very basic level, memory tests are too random to be useful.
I once aced a geography exam because I happened to read up on the economics of Nigeria just before I took it. By sheer luck, there was a question about Nigeria in the paper.
If I'd read about Zimbabwe instead I'd have been screwed.
Neither possibility provided much insight into my competence as a geographer.
Even if a job spec needs specific knowledge of key facts, you can't generalise from pass/fail memory questions to broad spectrum competence, or lack of it.
If a candidate has no idea what an HTML request is, that's one thing. If they know damn well what a request is but can't list all the elements in a stressful interview while you're staring at them, - because in fact they spent the last year working on database code, and the API stuff was the year before that - that's something else entirely.
