Honestly, I think a lot of it is down to the individual examiner you get. I sat my test four times before I finally passed (although there was a gap of several years between the first and second attempts). I definitely drove worst on the one that I passed, but I got through.
The first test, for example, I failed for undue hesitation for an incident on the approach to a huge roundabout (it is now controlled by traffic lights, but wasn't at the time): there were cars approaching from my right that kept on turning off the junction before they reached me, but without indicating. I was second and third guessing what to do. I knew that if I had been driving in real life on my own, I would absolutely have pulled out knowing that they were turning off, but I wondered whether in the test I should act as though they might be coming past me, because they weren't indicating. And I was in the right hand lane of the approach, so I needed all four lanes of the roundabout to be clear enough to pull out. I was there for ages. I'm not saying I shouldn't have failed the test, but it was annoying to fail on something that only happened because it was a test situation and wasn't how I would ordinarily have driven. I still hate that roundabout now, I don't often have to drive on it (that was another issue, the test was in a place I wasn't familiar with) but I still resent it!
By contrast, in the test that I passed I actually was about to pull out from a lay-by into an oncoming HGV. I hadn;t checked my mirrors at all. The examiner told me to pull out when I was ready, and for some reason I took that to mean that he had checked it was safe. He had to use the dual controls to do an emergency stop. And I passed that test. I don't know how, I 100% thought I'd failed after that so I barely made any effort on any of the manouevres. I even asked the examiner about it incredulously when he said I'd passed. He said he could see that I wouldn't ordinarily do that, it was just nerves.
I'm a decent driver now, mainly due to years of practice after passing the test. I wasn't great when I first passed. But I maintain that a huge factor in passing the test is just the examiner you happen to get.
Good luck!