Yes they leave the room...no it's not a conspiracy. Our group silently did the exam individually then traded questions at the end on the ones we weren't sure about. Each exam is the same or similar questions, but in different orders, so you can't all put "b"for question #25 for example. it's about 30 questions and nothing at all to worry about.
The sim is a visual circuit to a landing followed by a V1 cut with a S/E MA and G/A. When i did the assessment we weren't allowed to use A/P..i heard a rumour that's changed now.