On this note: My team and I at Analytical Flavor Systems[1] wrote a blog post on how we go about hiring data science interns[2]. It's heavier on the technical details, and suffers from less... romanticism....
There is definitely more technical detail and statistical process in that post, although I strongly question the use of a hiring test that intricate and time consuming for an internship.
That is very true. However, I'm all for these kinds of tests in general. I read the assignment (and after lol'ing at the specification of methods), found it reasonably interesting. I reckon it would take me an hour or two to complete (as long as I didn't get sucked in to exploring the data) :).