54% of 22 Universities Include Questions Beyond High School Curriculum in Written and Oral Exams

Sagyoyuk Geokjeong Eomneun Sesang, Analysis of University-specific Exam Questions
12 out of 22 Universities Asked Questions Beyond High School Curriculum
Some Universities Also Included Questions from University Curriculum

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] Among 22 universities nationwide, 12 universities were found to have included questions in their essay and oral exams that went beyond the high school curriculum.

On the 7th, the organization "No Private Education Worries" analyzed the 2021 academic year essay and oral exams, including university-specific tests in medical and natural science fields, from 22 major natural science universities nationwide, and found that 12 universities did not adhere to the high school curriculum in their exam questions.

Since the 2015 academic year, the "Special Act on the Promotion of Normalization of Public Education and Regulation of Preceding Education" has been in effect, prohibiting the inclusion of questions outside the high school curriculum in essay or oral exams. However, the practice of question setting has not changed.

"This year, complaints were reported that the difficulty level of university-specific tests conducted by medical schools was excessively high, making it impossible to prepare with only the school curriculum, so we included medical school exam questions in our analysis," explained No Private Education Worries.

The 12 universities that did not comply with the question setting criteria are Kyung Hee University, Dongguk University, Sogang University, Sookmyung Women’s University, Yonsei University (Seoul), Chung-Ang University, Hanyang University, Hongik University, Kyungpook National University Medical School, Pusan National University Medical School, Ulsan University Medical School, and Inha University Medical School.

The analysis covered a total of 232 questions: 163 questions from 14 universities located in Seoul, 60 questions from 7 medical schools nationwide, and 9 questions from one science and technology specialized university.

Among the 14 universities in Seoul, 8 (57.1%) had questions beyond the high school curriculum, accounting for 22 out of 163 questions (13.5%). Among the 7 medical schools, 4 (Kyungpook National University, Pusan National University, Ulsan University, Inha University) had 6 out of 60 questions (10%) that were outside the high school curriculum.

Among the 12 universities that included questions beyond the high school curriculum, 9 were found to have set questions based on content from their own university textbooks. These 9 universities are Kyung Hee University, Dongguk University, Sogang University, Sookmyung Women’s University, Yonsei University, Chung-Ang University, Hanyang University, Hongik University, and Kyungpook National University. Of the 28 such questions, 18 (64.3%) were based on university-level curriculum.

No Private Education Worries emphasized, "The Ministry of Education should impose strong administrative sanctions on universities violating the Preceding Education Regulation Act, including revoking eligibility for financial support projects. The Curriculum Normalization Review Committee, which reviews legal violations in university-specific exams, should increase the proportion of math and science experts to about half of the total members. Additionally, channels should be opened for students, parents, and civil society to raise concerns about the scope of questions in university-specific exams."