2024 SA: why did I got interview chances for upper IBs only.

Hello, I am an Asian (international w/o UK nationality) student, who are studying in target school in UK.

I have applied for many IBs including upper IBs (GS, MS, JPM, Citi, etc.) and some of the lower IBs (Nomura, Macquarie, etc.) for 2024 SA.

FYI, I have a perfect GPA (not a single B) with Deans list (but my major is chemistry), and have two work experiences, one in MBB consulting and one in KPMG (both done in my country).

After one month, I have successfully obtained an interview chance for all upper IBs only excluding GS, but have heard nothing from the lower IBs (which would mean, they are not proceeding my application anymore, considering the "usual application cycle", it's end of Oct. already!!), only except HSBC.

I am wondering why I am hearing nothing from them.

My guess is that, maybe upper IBs are more generous to the online test scores than lower IBs. I actually did not dreamed about being in IB until 2 weeks before the application started, so I were not prepared for the online tests. I'm sure that I have not aced on those tests.

My another guess is that I have been failed on the cultural or situational judgement tests. I almost got a perfect score on the online test of UBS (I know it since they release the test results for quantitative tests), getting only about 2 questions wrong out of almost 80-ish questions. However, once I have finished the cultural test, they just sent me an email that my application have been failed. So, my best guess is that I failed on those cultural tests.

What are your opinion on this situation? Since I am a MSCi student, my best bet is next year's SA cycle. (I do not have a spring week experience, since as just I said, I did not dreamed to be an IB junior). I do not want to repeat this mistake again next year. Also, I want to erase some possibility on failing to earn an interview chance for upper IBs next year.

In summary,

1) What would be the background for this situation that happened to me?

2) How could I ace on the cultural or firm culture-fit tests?

Any comments will really help!

Thank you!