Here's what I thought of the Kobayashi Maru.
It's a test to showcase how in any given circumstances, there will be conditions where no matter which option you choose, you will always end up with a bad result.
- Try to rescue the Maru? FAILURE
- Go on your merry way? FAILURE
- Attack the klingon cruisers? FAILURE
- Go in and destroy the Maru? FAILURE
This is a test about making what you feel to be the right choice even if it will lead to something bad. If you watch Kirk's character in the Wrath of Khan, he believes that you can handle any situation and have it lead to a good result. That doesn't happen in the Wrath of Khan, where Kirk makes arrogant decisions that winds up getting members of his crew killed. This happens again when the Enterprise can't escape the blast radios of the Genesis Effect. Even though there was a solution to escaping the blast, it resulted in Spock's death. Something Kirk doesn't want to accept, but must. That's what the test is all about. Learning to live with the tough decisions you'll have to make as a Starfleet Captain.
This is one of the reasons why I put Star Trek III on par with the even numbered movies. Kirk and crew are again thrown into a situation where victory seems impossible, but instead of trying to figure out a way to save everything through arrogance that Kirk had shown in Star Trek II, Kirk decides to make a hard choice by sacrificing the Enterprise. For me, this was Kirk's final answer to the test, only now understanding what the test was trying to teach him.
Of course, that's not what we get in Trek09, where cadets have no choice but to rescue the Maru. And if you read any of the books, comics or any of the games (canon or not), the solution to the test that NuKirk uses in Trek09 is actually THE WRONG CHOICE! I'm not kidding. Making the Klingons easier to kill will result in failure. If you want to know what Prime Kirk's solution was, well, go play "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy" by Interplay on PC or read the comics. His solution is pretty clever and it works with how I thought the simulations were handled.