Abra - if you don't know anything about the subject in hand, it is better not to interrupt and broadcast your ignorance, but to keep silent and let other people who have a useful contribution to make discuss the issue. Up to 6 failed exams first time is not exceptional at all (in any school). 12 failed first time is a different case.
I give a lot of private tuition, so have known students who have been in the positions described (even the "13 passed, second time around, last attempt on one") who have gone on to get good jobs. In fact the three people who spring most quickly to mind who have received job offers or started training recently have all been required to resit some or all of the exams.
The airlines are not looking for first-time passes in groundschool. They are looking for people they can happily fly with, live with down-route and who they can train (as you would know, if you listened to the answer given by the man sitting next to me at the Flyer exhibition). These people have one thing in common: they were 3 of the most likeable students we have taught.