I have been interviewing a lot of developers recently, and one of the best questions I've found is to ask them _why_ they have used MVC pattern in the test assignment (most do). Most of developers misunderstand the question at first and either start to explain how MVC works or explain how they would've implemented it without MVC (when you ask people why they did something, they often take it as "you shouldn't have done it"). But even when I clarify the question, a surprising number just can't even begin to answer it — instead they stumble and at best just tell that that's how they have always been taught to do it.
I noticed the same thing when interviewing people. Answering why a decision was made would always trip people up, but it's far more revealing than any demo project can be. It doesn't matter, to me, whether the solution was right or wrong, but more the "why" that got you there and how it will get you to where you need to go. You can't problem solve effectively without understanding the reasons you're making the decisions you are.
The same follows for patterns, I think. If you haven't thought about it critically and really done the work to understand the "why" (being told the "why" is not enough) you're going to struggle and mostly fail to implement it properly are in the appropriate situations.
That you haven't been up-voted more affirms my belief that you are on the right track. If they can't explain why they don't know the value of it. If they don't know the value of it, they can't weigh that value against any others.
