Adobe Illustrator: Technical Skills Test

Before my Grade 8 students continue with their own designs, I set my students a technical skills test using Adobe Illustrator. They had already completed a range of tutorials, (shown here).
In the lesson before their test, I was off at a conference, so gave them a practice exercise. In this they had a video tutorial, along with a list of stock footage to pick from.
Here is their pre-test practice lesson.

In this session, I purposefully selected silly images, as I thought this would give them a giggle while I was away.
At this point, I had already shown them the test document, talked them through it, including letting them know that it is 'open book' so they can look online for any technical support, and can also go back to their tutorials document and practice work. However, I did not show them the images they would manipulate during the test.
Here is some of their work from their practice session:

During the test, students half around 80 minutes to work on their image. Students were allowed to listen to music, watch tutorials, or look online for further help, but they were to work independently.   They were also told they did not have to complete the image, but should aim to show a range of technical skills. I also made sure I had a range of images, including landscapes and images of people, so that they could choose the image which could best show their skills.

Here is the task sheet.

Here is some of the beautiful work they completed!

I've tried to put a technical skills test at the start of a few units, especially when they are learning something completely new. Feedback from the students is that they feel this makes them prepared and helps them focus on skill development. Does anyone else do a separate skills test with their students?