What I want to know is whether this is going to follow me around for the rest of my career - stop me getting interviews and generally piss me off for years to come?
Of course not! If you were an airline's chief pilot, would you send someone out because they dropped an exam? They're not looking for Supermen, they're looking for pilots. Everyone fails exams and 71% is hardly a fail anyway. For most other exams, that would be a pass.
Far more important to ensure a good first time pass in the flight tests (the fun bit). IMO
Forget it and keep working. Good luck.
0918