well they scarified much more than a new comer.
the thing is when you fail for the first time you need a lot of courage to appear again. Will you if u can kindly share there subjects because may be they learned from there mistakes , opt better subjects , they learned the tricks of the trade .
We shouldn't label them incompetent. incompetent is one who fail and not try again.
and the term novice aspirants is an answer in its self. we fail we learn and we try again that's how it is. and how it should be.