[2022 CSAT] Teachers Group: "Korean Difficulty Higher Than September, Similar to June"

Common Subjects at Similar Level to Last Year's CSAT
60,000 More Graduates Compared to June Mock Test
"Must Accurately Assess Score Position and Plan Regular Admission Strategy"

On the morning of the 18th, when the 2022 College Scholastic Ability Test was held, examinees were waiting for the exam at the test site set up at Yeouido High School in Seoul. Photo by Joint Press Corps

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The 2022 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) Korean language section is analyzed to have felt difficult for test takers. It was evaluated to be more difficult than the September mock test and similar in difficulty to the June mock test.

On the 18th, Oh Su-seok, a teacher from Somyeong Girls' High School and a member of the Korea Council for University Education (KCUE) college entrance counseling teachers group who analyzed the 2022 CSAT Korean language section, said, "This year's Korean section was set at a difficulty level similar to the June mock test and harder than the September mock test," adding, "Considering the recently taken September mock test, test takers likely felt the difficulty was high."

Discriminative Power for Top Scorers... Passages Shorter but Require Conceptual Inference

Teacher Oh stated, "In the common subjects, the passages were shorter, but many questions required conceptual inference, so the process may have felt somewhat difficult," and added, "For elective subjects, there was a volume of information that needed to be understood and interpreted, so it is expected that solving the problems took some time."

This year's CSAT Korean language section was conducted as an integrated humanities and science type, structured with common and elective subjects. In the common subjects, there were 17 questions each on reading and literature, and among the elective subjects, 11 questions on Speech and Composition, and 11 questions on Language and Media were presented. It was explained that there were no questions reflecting specific field characteristics in line with the purpose of the integrated humanities and science CSAT.

It is expected that the Korean language section will differentiate top scorers this year. The Korean section was evaluated to be more difficult than the September mock test (highest standard score 127 points) and similar in level to the June mock test (highest score 146 points).

Teacher Oh said, "The usual criterion for checking discriminative power is the difference between the highest standard score and the first-grade score. Last year's CSAT had a 13-point difference, June mock test had 13 points, and September had 3 points," adding, "Since the difficulty was similar to June, it had discriminative power for top scorers but was somewhat difficult for middle and lower-ranked students."

However, even though the difficulty was similar to the June mock test, he advised that it is important to accurately understand the differences in the composition of test takers between the June mock test and the actual CSAT when planning regular admission strategies.

Teacher Oh explained, "All current students took the June mock test, but about 50,000 of them were absent on the CSAT day, and about 60,000 graduates additionally took the CSAT," adding, "This can affect the distribution of group scores, so it is premature to conclude that the results will be the same as June."

He advised, "Last year's absentee rate increased by 3 percentage points to 14.7%, so you should check your position based on the final number of test takers and consider your regular admission strategy accordingly."

"Common Subject Difficulty Similar to Last Year's CSAT"

On the morning of the 18th, when the 2022 College Scholastic Ability Test was held, examinees were waiting for the exam at the test site set up at Yeouido High School in Seoul. Photo by Joint Press Corps

The common subjects were evaluated to be at a level similar to last year. Kim Yong-jin, a teacher at Dongdae Girls' High School, said, "Perhaps considering the learning gaps caused by COVID-19, the reading passages have become about one level shorter than in the past, appearing easier," but added, "However, during problem-solving, if accurate reading was not done, there were difficult questions included that required inferential thinking, showing evidence of effort."

This year's Korean reading included a humanities passage on 'Hegel's Aesthetics' (questions 4?9), a social passage on the 'Triffin Dilemma' (questions 10?13), and a technical passage on 'Principles of Devices Providing Surrounding Video to Drivers' (questions 14?17).

Kim Yong-jin explained, "All necessary areas for the Korean section were evenly utilized, and the EBS linkage rate was about 50%. The integrated reading questions using Hegel's dialectics in questions 4?9 were difficult in terms of the topic itself for students, and question 7 was relatively hard."

Kim analyzed, "The part of Korean reading that students find most difficult is the science area, but this year, instead of science, questions came from the technology area. Questions 10?13 included an economic passage on exchange rates, which students found somewhat difficult, and since they had to accurately understand the given content and infer various information, it was a challenging problem."

For literature, questions used a combination of modern poetry and classical essays based on Yi Yuk-sa's 'Choga', Kim Gwan-sik's 'Geosanho 2', and Lee Ok's 'Damcho (談艸)' (questions 18?23), a modern novel passage based on Yoon Heung-gil's 'A Very Handsome Umbrella' (questions 24?27), a classical novel passage based on an anonymous 'Bak Taebojeon' (questions 28?31), and classical poetry passages based on Jeong Hun's 'Tankungga' and Wi Baek-gyu's 'Nongga' (questions 32?34), utilizing both classical and modern works.

Yoon Sang-hyung, a teacher at Yeongdong High School, said, "Compared to reading, the difficulty was relatively easy, and the characteristics and difficulty of the literary works were at a moderate level. It probably was not very difficult for students," adding, "Among the seven works, three were linked to EBS textbooks, and two were felt to be directly linked."

Yoon said, "The four works not linked included some unfamiliar pieces, but their difficulty was not high. To help understand the unlinked works, the options given for each question assisted comprehension," and added, "The question types maintained the existing formats, but the problem-solving process included many questions requiring relatively high concentration."