The California high school exit exam was created to show that students in California have learned the necessary skills in math and English to graduate high school. By taking the more difficult problems out of a test that has already been watered down with an eight-grade math level and a ninth grade English level there is really no reason to dumb down the test. Even if students would fail they have up to 5 times to pass it. Besides everything that is on the test has already been taught and should be prior knowledge. By passing the test if proves that you have learned what you needed and shown you have learn at least the basics to graduate. By requiring students to pass the test it insures that students just did not kick back and happen to graduate without hardly learning anything so some challenging question should be kept. And by showing that you have learned what is needed to pass the test it shows colleges and potential employers that you have the necessary basic knowledge that was required in high school.
The California high school exit exam was not created to stump students but simply just prove that they have learned basics in math and English. Usually high schools start giving the testing to their students in their sophomore year and the test contains math problems at a eight grade level and English at a ninth grade level so if the student advances grade levels they should of learned what is need to pass both parts of the test. Yet even thought the test contains problems from lower grades it even gives you a better chance of passing by have the requirements very lenient to pass both parts of the test. Even thought its not recommended students even have a chance of passing the test by simply guessing.
Hence, the fact that the test questions are at a lower grade level and have such lenient requirements to pass. You also have as much as five times to pass the test. By giving multiples chance of passing the test to students who do not pass it will already give them the general idea of what the question are asking and how to better prepare for them.