Are you only referring to the mathematics section? Most of the things in other sections were either recollection, or knowing Latin and Greek. In the mathematics section, most of it was simply performing computation, which is still just knowing a simple algorithm that hasn't been very relevant since calculators became commonplace.

Still, I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing, since it's fair to make a test that selects for students that have been well-educated in that time period. I just don't think it's necessarily more difficult than a modern equivalent test would be.