Something tells me that Fern will have captured her bird just by putting down a little seed trap or something.
Basically every mage will be overthinking the exam with their magic skills only to overlook a basic real-life solution.
They said in a past chapter that killing someone disqualified a mage from passing, so it wouldn't surprise me if that rule applies here. You can steal, capture, trap, etc. but killing is probably off the table if you want to pass.
This manga progresses fast. It wouldn't surprise me to see the exam and such wrapped up in 5 chapters.
New violent girl's design looks a little out of place compared to the other characters introduced so far.