What an entrance exam is for

An entrance exam is a sorting device. There are more applicants than seats, and the exam produces an order so the seats can be allocated. That is its function. It is not designed to measure how good you will be at the subject, how much you want it, or what you are worth — and it does not claim to.

Understanding this changes how a result should be read. A rank tells you where you came in one ordering, on one day, against that year’s cohort and that year’s paper. It is a real and consequential fact about your application. It is not a fact about you.