The Increase in Repeat Test Takers Raises Admission Cutoffs for In-Seoul and Regular Admissions

Jongno Academy's '2023 University-specific Regular Admission Score Analysis' Results

The cutoff scores for regular admissions in the 2023 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) increased across universities in Seoul and other regions, as well as in both humanities and natural sciences fields. Analysts suggest that this may be due to the continued expansion of regular admissions and the higher proportion of graduates among CSAT test-takers.

Students taking the July National Joint Academic Achievement Test in preparation for the 2024 College Scholastic Ability Test (This photo is not directly related to the article) [Photo by Joint Photo Coverage Team]

According to the analysis of regular admission cutoff scores by Jongro Academy on the 16th, the average 70th percentile cutoff scores in Korean, Math, and Inquiry subjects for final registrants under the general admission track at 246 universities rose uniformly compared to the 2022 academic year.

At universities in Seoul, the 70th percentile cutoff score for humanities applicants in Korean, Math, and Inquiry subjects increased by 2.6 points from 84.2 in 2022 to 86.8 in 2023. For natural sciences, it also rose by 2.2 points from 86.1 to 88.3.

During the same period, in the metropolitan area, the humanities 70% cutoff increased by 8.9 points, and the natural sciences by 8.2 points. In non-metropolitan areas, humanities rose by 5.2 points, and natural sciences by 6.4 points.

The score gap between Seoul-area universities and non-metropolitan universities narrowed by 2.6 points in humanities, from 28.7 in 2022 to 26.1 in 2023, and by 4.1 points in natural sciences, from 28.6 to 24.5 during the same period.

In the 2023 college admissions, the proportion of regular admissions among total admissions was on average 39.6% for Seoul-area universities and 13.9% for non-metropolitan universities.

Jongro Academy pointed out that the increase in scores was influenced by the fact that repeat test-takers accounted for 31.1% of CSAT test-takers in 2023, the highest in 26 years. They also suggested that among high school seniors, there may have been a clear division between students focusing on early admissions based on school records and those concentrating on regular admissions based on the CSAT.

Earlier, in the 2023 regular admissions, many students who scored in the 3rd to 4th grade range in Korean on the CSAT were admitted to top-tier universities, leading to interpretations that the discriminative power of Math had a significant impact on admission outcomes. The admissions industry viewed the difficulty gap between Korean and Math as making a Math 1st grade a decisive factor for acceptance.