[solatic]

Unfortunately it's not really possible to measure intellectual merit in a standardized way without inadvertently also selecting for children of wealthier backgrounds. Standardized testing ultimately needs to be formulaic in nature in order to produce comparable scores. As long as the test is formulaic, it will be possible to purchase test preparation services that essentially teach you the formula. Test preparation services are purchased by people of means; their children confound the test score's signal of intellectual merit with a signal of test preparatory ability. The more elite the institution, the narrower the range of acceptable test scores, the more that the score signals test preparation rather than intellectual merit.

For any sufficiently in-demand institution, a healthier approach would be to define a minimum bar ahead of time, accept applications only from students who meet the bar, then select applicants by lottery from the pool according to available openings. Ultimately, selecting for perfect and near-perfect scores is actually counterproductive - Goodhart's Law is as applicable as ever.