This discussion brings to my mind the fact that when I did my IMC flight test the examiner had me take off under the hood. I put the hood on at the departure hold and he did the taxi on to the threshold, at which point he handed over to me. It was a bit of a shock at the time because I'd never tried it with my instructor.
Is this a normal procedure for an IMC skills test? Any examiners care to comment on it?