Hi Bookworm'
Good comments but I think fairly easy to address.
For the first; I'd always argue that test standards are far more important than hours anyhow. So, let's change the hours to 5 / 5 / 5 / 10.
For the second, surely the benefit of such a system is that a pilot can choose for themselves from (1)+(2), (1)+(3) or (1)+(2)+(3) without anybody else dictating what they should want.
G