In artificial exams there is only one way to succeed and one way to fail. You succeed by giving the pre-determined correct answer and you fail by not being able to give enough of these answers.
If you fail, all you have to do in artificial exams is learn more of the correct answers and you’ll pass.
But in the real world things are much more complex.
In the real world you can fail in an unlimited number of ways.
If you fail in real life, then retaking the test will simply mean that you make a different mistake which will result in failure in the future.
For example would you ever date a person who has had a failed marriage, but says that they “learned” from their previous mistake? I would say that you should very cautious. Human relationships are incredibly complex and they can go wrong in an unthinkably large number of ways.
Just because the person in question has learned from their previous mistakes, doesn’t mean that they won’t make the 1000+ mistakes just around the corner.
Equally in business, failing hardly teaches you anything, because there are an unlimited number of ways you can fail in the future.
In complex systems the real teacher is success:
You don’t learn how to succeed by failing.
You learn how to succeed by not failing.
Keeb's Blog 