@Yamibi No, that wasn't the exam. They were made to form a team and a leader was chosen simply to make the exam possible. It was out of practical necessity. In the first place, if the team as such and its functionality was judged, it would be utterly unfair for the team leader (Rei in this case). Why would he need to bear a huge extra burden to clear his exam when the reward for passing the exam is exactly the same for all of them: the promotion to the next rank? The exam was simply to see if they can fight numerically superior bandits and kill humans. I suppose rescuing possible hostages would also be necessary if any happen to be present, like it happened in this case. Leadership wasn't a part of the task, otherwise every one of them would have had to serve in the role, though it's hard to imagine how. The team merely needed to function to the extent everyone individually got a chance to show their strength of body and mind.