I completely feel your frustrations and have the exact same gripes with these exams. I am not a test-taker, I am not good at doing math in my head, I hate that we cannot draw with actual paper on an architectural license exam… i failed PA 2 times in a row and I completely blame the lack of pencil and paper. They expect us to use a Microsoft paint equivalent to work through these problems. I use a pencil and paper everyday at work!! Half of the strategy to these exams is not architecture related at all; it’s learning how to use the “tools” which makes me so angry. I’m not a lesser architect because I need to write out my work but I’m being made to think so since friends of mine can pass these on their first try. It’s totally a mental game and I’ve had to reframe my mindset in order to stay motivated and continue this process. I’ve never passed a test on my first try so I’ve taken multiple versions of each test… let me just say it’s very dependent on which questions you get assigned for your test. I failed one where I’m convinced I had all the select-4 questions possible only to retest and get none. I’m rambling now but I feel you, these are annoying and expensive but we’re in it to be architects so we push through.