I’ll tell this story. I worked in DC in 2010-2013 era. Co-worker had a daughter wrapping up a Maryland high school situation, and angling for a prestigious Virginia public university. Accepted, but the school demanded she take two tests (English and math).
She has straight A’s for three years....fails both English/math tests for the college. Father is there with the counselor....’what the hell is going on’ is the drama playing out.
Girl admits that for the final two years...she took no math whatsoever, and anything related to English was some faked-up class on romantic literature for the two year period.
What the college offers? Entry, but she has to attend a non-college level English/math course deal (refresher)...something in the range of $300 for each. At the end of the courses...she has to retake the test, and pass...or repeat the no-value course again.
I paused the guy and asked, so these are mostly worthless? Yeah, and just wasting more time.
I guess that explains why they have redone the SATs over the years. To correct a downward trend in results they changed the tests. Similar, some jurisdictions have changed how laws are catalogued to promote a better image by recasting some violations that were felonies and making them misdemeanors. (One state had so many cars stolen they made simple car theft a misdemeanor. It was not Cal btw.