Need help refining my exam/competition idea

Im working on this competition/exam portion in my campaign, but im having troubles coming up with an idea that'll be fun, but challenging, yet not repetitive for my players. Its a Mage Exam, a semi competition where people enter in order to gain a license that allows them to use magic freely in the realm. There would be the player party and two other npc rival groups.

​

I was thinking of making it a 3 trial sort of thing. The first is a classic dungeon crawl with encounters and choices the examiners will be testing them on. Next would be like a chamber of Courage thing. There is a statue in the middle of the room and nothing else. No words, nothing. If a character interacts with the statue, then they are stricken and down while enemies draw near. A door will open and it looks like a chance to leave. If characters wish to leave their friend, they may. Or they can defend their friend. However they must survive 4 rounds and at the end of the turn, a scroll is revealed and the mirror appears.

​

In the mirror gate it is dangerous to use magic. It is the last trial of the test. They must face their biggest flaw, then their greatest fear. This test is the only one that is faced alone. Each of them enter the mirror, but they wind up in different spots tailored specifically for them.

​

Since the examiners are trying to judge specific character traits as well as how they can handle themselves and their abilities. But im stuck because im not entirely sure if Im set on the last idea (or if all are bad), and ive never set up a "competition" before like this one. So Im sort of want to get other peoples thoughts/ideas to hone in on it so I can deliever to my players.

​