What you are experiencing now is pretty normal, I would think. That sort of thing is the way it's done where I practice, too.
The key is to keep on practicing, as often and as regularly as you can. Once you keep getting exposed to the same techniques over and over again, despite variations in the attack, you will recognize it for what it is.
In my first few months of practice I was also confused as to what technique was what, but it helped when I bought a book (written by Saotome-sensei) that showed picture descriptions of a couple of techniques and their names. Unfortunately I don't recall the name of the book because I lent it to a friend, who unfortunately turns out has a knack for misplacing items.
The book "Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere" also shows illustrations of several techniques and their names.
But I'm sure you have access to the choice of books and videos available over the Web.
And don't worry too much about ranking versus what you know in so and so amount of time. The way classes go, all students (from 6th kyu to shodan) are shown the same technique, and everyone does the technique. There are no "secret techniques only shodans know." Of course, if it was really secret then I wouldn't know about it anyway.
But seriously, ranking is more of an indication of how well you can execute the technique or understand the technique, rather than just knowing about the technique.