Or does it test for someone who in the hope of passing these tests will spend hundreds of hours dedicated to pointless exercises that produce no real value? If

Or does it test for someone who in the hope of passing these tests will spend hundreds of hours dedicated to pointless exercises that produce no real value? If by harder, you mean sitting down and having a real conversation, then yes, I suppose it's harder. Edit: Value is a poor word here, now that I think about it. Let's say mostly pointless activities that generally don't apply to work they'll be doing with that skill. It's like playing baseball to practice for tennis.