Yes I understood the point of the singing part of the exams and tried my best (which wasn’t that good). Like you say, a broad base with specialities. I was empathising with how the cheaters must have felt - but I took another direction when faced with the feeling.

The chip design analogy was clumsy but the point was similar - not every student has the motivation to learn enough about the broad base and it’s value for ultimately improving your specialism.