I actually disagree with this too. It may be just a perception thing, but points do play a role sometimes in how players subconsciously approach the puzzle. If I do a 7 pointer, I'm expecting an easy path. That could derail my run of solving if it turns out to be hard, I get frustrated, and decide either its not worth the points or just put up with it. Whether I finish the test eventually or not, it does cause a slight change in my progress over the test.

I'll give an example - I finished TVC XV. After the previous two, I was expecting to be around that level where if I have a good day I finish, else I'll come up just short. One of the puzzles that really got me stuck was a Double Back Tapa. It was 63 points, which was still a good enough sum for that test to be patient and have a look at it. So I stayed at it without ruining my thought process and needing to change strategy. If it was worth say 30 points, it definitely would not have been worth the waiting, and I now have a choice on whether to stay on it or break my progress and go to a new one. And at least for me, that has resulted in a mistake or two later, in the past.

Maybe some people aren't like that, and just stay the course no matter what, in which case your argument holds true. But that can't be everyone's way. Whether a person finishes or not, they could be affected by points distribution, which could in turn affect the rankings.

In the Tents puzzle I assumed that neither of the top 2 patterns could be a square as this would mean a non-unique solution with respect to which tree was connected to which tent.

I can't see where the password is the booklet this contest, which happened while I was on holiday. I'd like to do the puzzles... am I missing something?

I meant to get the password removed from the pdf file, but missed to do it.
The password is now available in the (archived) page - http://logicmastersindia.com/lmitests/?test=M201310P3.

Thank you!