In all cases you must maintain current altitude +-100 feet, or you fail the test.
Then he failed the test spectacularly, because he gained a lot of altitude in excess of 100 feet before the aircraft eventually stalled as the pusher activated.
I agree with others who feel the standard imminent stall training recovery may have a lot to do with it. I see a lot of sim partners at recurrent that are afraid of the stalls and unusual attitude recovery drills because they have little or no experience of actual stalls or anything approaching an aerobatic maneuver and certainly none in the class of aircraft they are being evaluated on. I believe there is an irrational fear of stalls and unusual attitudes among many in the professional pilot community and if we are to significantly improve safety in this area, then we must grab the bull by the horns and require training programs that incorporate efforts to identify and eradicate such irrational fears from the ranks of professional crews.