One subtle problem with standardized tests is that they need sufficiently "hard" questions to produce results on a bell curve, and chasing this tail may cause a descent into pure trivia. This is how "emollient" & "adumbrate" end up on the SAT, where they can make & break futures.
Much of the time, they're identifying students whose parents will do whatever it takes to *make* their kids win — a former dean of admissions at Stanford wrote a great book on the growing numbers of these groomed applicants & how they flounder in adulthoodhttps://www.amazon.com/How-Raise-Adult-Overparenting-Prepare-ebook/dp/B00OO2LJS2 …
