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Interesting that you should raise actuaries though. Actuaries take a series of ten standardized tests.

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I am an actuary which is why I picked that profession.

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Ability to pass those tests is an extremely signficant predictor of success as a consulting actuary, a profession that requires a very broad base of knowledge and abilities. Thus it is clear that standardized tests CAN be designed that indicate educational aptitude accomplishment or both.

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Ah, but there is the rub. They're not really standardized tests. They're specialized tests designed by actuaries to filter out anyone that doesn't meet the actuarial profession's concept of "actuarial". Of course they are a "successful" predictor of success when you measure success as being "actuarial" in the same way the tests are designed to pass "actuarial" people. People write the exams voluntarily to gain access to the actuaries' club under the actuaries' club rules. If they think the rules are stupid, they don't write the exams. No such freedom is afforded to public school entrants. They must pay and attend or pay and not attend. The case of actuarial exams is an example of how private education works, not support for public education!