Kudos are due to college athletes, who continue to perform academically and graduate at astounding rates. Also, as a colleague on Linkedin noted, college athletes often have access to an extensive academic support network, including tutoring. Much research has shown the significant benefits of high-dose tutoring… Imagine if all students had access to such a tutoring support network. College graduation rates as a whole would likely rise considerably.
Not to mention, there are of course many parallels between preparing for an athletic event (or any competition) and preparing for a standardized test. The preparation-and-fundamentals-oriented mindset of high-school athletic success carries over very well to standardized test success. Important skills like focus and execution cross over between the two tasks.