When a measure becomes a target it ceases to be a good measure. A test is a proxy for actual performance working on some useful task. The nature of useful work

When a measure becomes a target it ceases to be a good measure. A test is a proxy for actual performance working on some useful task. The nature of useful work is usually that it can't be represented by two hours of multiple choice questions, whiteboarding, or anecdotes about "a time you disagreed with someone"; therefore, most tests will differ from the work. Learning to pass the test is easier than learning to do the work, but if you do that the test ceases to measure your work performance.