History Main / UltimateFinalExam

* In ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'', the [[ProudWarriorRace Clans]] have all trainees (well, all trainees who [[TheSpartanWay made it to graduation]]) undergo a Trial of Position for warriorhood. This involves being given a Battlemech (or [[PowerArmor Battle Armor suit]], or Aerospace fighter) loaded with live ammunition and being sent against ''three'' opponents who are experienced warriors and also packing live rounds. Defeat one and you're officially a warrior. Defeat two and you're automatically promoted to Star Commander. Manage to defeat all three and you're promoted straight to Star Captain and will likely be given assignment in a prestigious unit. Fail, and if you're still alive you're scrubbed out of the warrior caste and will likely spend the rest of your days as a technician or laborer.

* In the ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' {{Fanfic}} ''Fanfic/OneDayAtATimeFanfic'', Jason Todd designed three in the previous timeline, each tailored to the taker's level, and used to test what the Bat-Family felt were the most-needed skills to make a successful vigilante. One was for trainees seeking to become Robins, the second was for Robins seeking to 'leave the nest' and become solo crimefighters in their own right, and the last was for his potential successors as Batman. The last exam was actually the first one designed, for his younger brother Damian Wayne to complete as proof to the rest of the Bat-Family that he was ready to take up the mantle. Damian died in a completely unrelated incident before he could finish the last portion of the exam (defeating Jason in an all-out fight), but his younger biological half-brother and Jason's adoptive son, Terry [=McGinnis=], managed to complete it two decades later, earning him the right to become the fourth Batman. Jason later created the other two exams based on this one at his sister Cassandra Cain's suggestion after taking in his first Robin, Terry's older adoptive sister Carrie Kelley, making them essentially watered-down versions of it. They (and the training used to complete them) were later used as templates for the Justice League's own training system, and it's implied that the Bat-Family intends to use them as their standard from now on, even after Jason's death.

Contrast IncomprehensibleEntranceExam and SurprisinglyMundaneExam.

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' of Creator/AAPessimal expands on the Final Run of the Assassins' School and adds new variations and twists; proving nothing really changes, candidate Jocasta Wiggs is forced to negotiate the city sewers as part of her Run and is given an extended swim in an even larger cess pit (she survives and graduates); whilst a proportion of students, those assessed as best placed to learn from the experience, are vectored through the grounds of Ramkin Manor (with the active consent of Sir Samuel Vimes, who wants to see how good his defences are against sustained multiple intrusion); and a new option is trialled, the Extended Year. This involves ''borderline'' students being abducted and dumped in faraway remote places around the Disc with the task of getting safely back to the Guild to report in, no later than a given date. Hazards here include jungles, deserts, fierce native tribes with a zero-tolerance policy to strangers, and being captured and sold into slavery of various sorts. It is possible [[AmoralAfrikaner students sent on the Extended Run]] have ''really'' annoyed somebody.

->''You all had a fun romp in the snow, yes? Good. Because now it is time to talk about the final exam. The exam is very simple. You walk from here to the South Pole. Five hundred miles, give or take. There is a catch - you get no food, no map, no clothing, nothing. You protect and sustain yourself with ''magic only!''''
-->--'''Professor Mayakovsky,''' ''Literature/TheMagicians: [[ComicBookAdaptation Alice's Story]]''

Contrast IncomprehensibleEntranceExam.

* In the ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' series, the most elite bodyguards in the world are enrolled at Madame Ko's Personal Protection Academy, where they undergo TrainingFromHell in martial arts, advanced weaponry, and other protection-related skills. The final exam usually involves escorting one of the academy's teachers through a busy public area, but it is never as simple as it first seems, and Butler mentions that when one of his colleagues did the final exam in Calcutta, Madame Ko caused an elephant stampede just to see how the student would react.

* In ''Series/SlowHorses'', River Cartwright's [=MI5=] training concludes this way, with a hunt for a terrorist with a bomb in a major airport. The "bomber" is actually another agent and the bomb is fake, but the airport is full of real civilians and staff. It goes horribly wrong for River.