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I think the essay's more of a "can you construct a basic argument" sort of thing. I have to admit - it does take practice which makes it a little odd to be in use.. but it's not impossible.
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It may not be impossible, but that does not mean it is a good way to test students' ability to write essays. In order to write this essay, students must be trained for their four years of high school; the method, the formula of writing a random essay very rapidly must be pounded into them for four years. And for what? Just to pass one test. Instead of training students to be good, creative essay writers for life, they are trained to be good SAT essay writers - and you can hardly call the SAT essay an essay; more like three or four short paragraphs strung together. Good essays require time. With constant training for the SAT essay, a student leaves high school with a formula for writing essays very rapidly, but perhaps an inability to write any other type of essay from having to pound out the SAT-type essay to the point that it became mechanical (which is really the only way it can be written on the SAT in time).
The tests are less about knowing and more about being able to rapidly pound out guessed answers.