Nope you didn't miss here, to get something down pat is to have internalized it... why i don't know!

i never use it with a say, a single poem, but rather with complicated, yet flexible patterns -- like school schedules.(monday is band for B, dance of E, tuesday is girl scouts, wednesday drop e off for piano, take B to Alergist, Jim will pick up E, after his work, and pick up take out for dinner...) well you get the idea..
or driving stick.. you could get shifting gears down pat! learn how to do it, so you do it with out thinking.. but its not something memorized, like a poem, or piece of music.. well not for me-- it is something flexible (when to shift gears is a perfect example!)