I hear they never give bonus marks
This is an issue I have. My coach has basically told me I won't be able to pass Silver moves because I can't expect to make up the difference of a bad move with my good moves (I have a labral tear in my hip- I'm not getting surgery just so I can do spirals. That is pretty much the only thing in my life the tear affects).
He took his pre-bronze dances tests and was marked -just- over the passing average. He has his senior tests in 3 other disciplines. Since he thinks
I am skating at passing standard for the pre-bronze test I know, I can guarantee he is full points above me, not a tenth or two. But the judges basically see "oh, that's passing" and write down whatever the passing score is. If it is phenomenal, they'll give it a tenth. But there is no "oh that was very good" to get bonus points. As far as I'm concerned, by the way they are judged, all the tests are pass/retry. Though I have heard that some people get to pass with one move marked down and the strength of another move, but it seems to be rare.
But seriously, I don't think it is just your area.
I found that out by - gasp! - talking to them in general terms after test sessions I ran.
But you could only do that because you were test chair. Skaters are discouraged from talking directly to judges at test sessions (because they would be mobbed). We don't have local judges so we can't ask for feedback on non-test days.