There are big places in a lot of places :) My point is if your tests were harder the distribution bell would not be as 'inflated' and you would not have as many

There are big places in a lot of places :) My point is if your tests were harder the distribution bell would not be as 'inflated' and you would not have as many people in the high 90th percentile. Allowing you to still use those scores alone without all the performative arms race. See for example the International Baccalaureate programme and their point system normal distribution with thousands of kids from around the globe.