Back then, if you chose to, you could fill out a small questionnaire when taking the SAT that listed your self-reported GPA and your intended program of study. This info was sent to a bazillion colleges and universities for recruiting purposes.
I bet someone looked into the records at a couple of schools Obama would consider and found them pretty easily, given Obama’s unusual name.
Also, I am 99% confidant that his high school would force its students to take the PSAT in 10th grade. These tests were used in determining National Merit Scholar candidates. If Obama scored over 1300 (old scale) on the PSAT, his name would be in the local paper as a Semi-Finalist. If not, then he scored below this level.
Someone in Hawaii needs to look up the old newspapers CA 1978.
Back then, a 1300 was a bare minimum to get into an Ivy, unless one was a minority.
Actually, the PSAT range would be 1976-1978