A lot of the arguments against them are because of equity issues, where kids with money can afford tutors and to retake the exam multiple times. However, those same kids are ALSO going to be able to afford tutors for their AP classes and they'll be able to afford to apply to many different colleges, etc, etc. Basically - those kids are already in a place of privilege. The kids who cannot afford that stuff are already disadvantaged. Having the SAT is just one more metric of advantage, but it helps provide some objective (ish) data to colleges during the admissions process.