Any kind of improvement motivated by the test is kind of "gaming" the test. There's no clear boundary line between optimizing for test conditions and optimizing

Any kind of improvement motivated by the test is kind of "gaming" the test. There's no clear boundary line between optimizing for test conditions and optimizing for something broader. I think the onus is on the designers of the tests to make sure they reflect realistic use. It can't help but be a cat and mouse game but at least the effects of cheating can be reduced to small enough levels that it's OK. An analogy is a student studying for the exam. That's gaming it somewhat too. The exam is supposed to test what they learnt during the semester and retained over a long period, not what they crammed the night before and will forget by next week.