When my kids were in 1st/2nd grades, they learned to visualize with circles and stars, and by using jacks, and dice. That way they could see you could draw 5 circles and put 3 stars inside each circle, or you could draw 3 circles and put 5 stars in each one. When you were done with one picture (say 3 circles - really ovals), you would then draw new circles in a different color to show that 3 groups of 5 are the same as 5 groups of 3.
This was public school. It seems that the concept of “approach is flexible” is the goal, even in this instance, and that the test was testing the ability to break that down along rules not placed on the test itself. It was testing the baby step of 3 X 5. It had to be interpreted in the context of the class. But it should have been presented in a way that did not require context.
In the overall context of the pedagogy, it may be fine; but the test does not stand well in isolation.