Well obviously, but I imagine that would be being tested throughout the almost decade it takes to become a Warder. Remember, this is just the "final exam;" there would have been other tests in their development, and plenty of opportunities to test their wits, battle efficacy and judgement making skills. With the "will you sacrifice your life for them," there's only really one time you can test that and have it be a complete surprise, so you would obviously do that as the "final test" rather than the first test. This isn't the first exam or test they've taken, it's just the last one, and the one that is the most tricky to test twice. I mean, you spend years in intensive training, sure, but that's NO substitute for actual "live combat." There are stories of trained soldiers cacking themselves in their first real taste of actual combat, and raw recruits being unexpectedly willing to throw themselves on top of incoming grenades to save their mates, since no amount of simulated training prepares you for that sort of situation. So as a final exam, putting them into a position that they may well face in the "real world" both teaches them that danger can come from ANYWHERE at ANY time, but also tests to see if they can think on their feet and put the Aes Sedai's life ahead of their own in the heat of the moment. In that regard, I think it's a perfectly sensible, logical test to conduct. And the fact that they never test it the same way twice just makes it that much harder to predict when it's coming, which is the point of the test in a way. :P