Going through the boring stuff was worth it to me to get into research. The stars can align and you might meet a professor with interests that are exactly the same as yours. I'm really fortunate to have that, and I never expected it to happen. I thought I was going to have to suck it up and learn to love something.

What you're describing with being tested and memorization sounds mostly like the first 2 years of college to me. What lies at the end of the road is literally the total sum of human knowledge and the advancement of it. I think 2 years of drudgery is a small price to pay for that.