Is it unreasonable to ask to be paid for a test, refundable upon failure[/quote]
Not a bad idea, but I think they should be paid, period.
Reason: I’ve heard tales of companies asking candidates to solve a problem. When the candidate turned in the solution, the company was never heard from again – they had their solution and used it…in other words, they used the “take a test” guise to get free work done.