The Degrees & Orders of York Rite can be conferred in a couple different ways. You can attend a festival which is formatted over a one day or two day event with numerous candidates at the same time, similar to the AASR. YR can also be conferred on a one on one basis similar to when most of us took our BL degrees.
Usually you will take the Degrees associated with Chapter & Council (Cryptic) on one day, usually about 8 hours and then the Commandry Orders on another 6-8 hour day.
Just as in the AASR, there is no "required" memory work as in the BL degrees. However if one chooses to join the Line-up of either Chapter, Council, or Commandry you will have to do some studying...