This will be my fourth time through the first book, so it's not that I normally think that way, but something about the way you phrased the "testing" summary made something go "click!" in my head.

I'm still not sure whether I think it really was staged or not. If it was, it's a little odd that no one ever admits it and Bren never realizes it, but then again, he was so sleep-deprived that he probably doesn't remember a lot of details from that night!