As Vilas said,
It is safe to fly between VLS and VMAX (VMO, VLE, VFE).
For checkride, he should've done something to stay in the safer side of airspeed. As far as I know, flap lever, PFD indications cannot guarantee it, especially in Airbus. That is airbus. You can have an ECAM warning for overspeed even when the lever is at 0, which calls mechanics.