[SkiFire13]

This doesn't reflect my experience.

You still pay for university depending on your income (technically what's called ISEE), although this is usually capped at around ~3k€/year

There are still tests for enrolling in STEM degrees, most notably the TOLC-I test, especially for those degrees with limited numbers.

I have also never seen beer or wine taps in my university.

It is true however that some exams are generally hard and a lot of people fail them. Some are for good reasons, others because the professor is a dickhead. As always there is a lot of variability.