Shouldn't really be surprising anyone. When you place so much importance on scoring high on tests you train students that do well on tests. Does an ability to prepare and test well translate into general education? The point of a test is supposed to be a monitor of how well your education is coming along, but now the system is geared to have the cart in front of the horse.

China has been having this problem in a much more advanced stage with so much importance placed on national exams. Aside from being a poor way to organize education for education's sake, it's probably not unrelated to the cheating epidemic in the exams.

The test itself also ends up being the commanding factor in curriculum, I went to a highschool that used the IB system instead of AP, and we were advised not to take SAT subject exams in some subjects because the IB curriculum covered different topics, leaving us unprepared to take SAT tests.

I wonder if this style of baccalaureate in testing education is ever going to be phased-out.