Record High Number of Repeat Test Takers in September Mock Exam... "Current Students Should Focus on Early Admission"

21.9% Repeat Test Takers, 78.1% Current Students
Higher Likelihood of Repeat Test Takers in This Year's CSAT

This September, the proportion of repeat test-takers among applicants for the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) mock exam reached an all-time high.

According to the application results for the 2024 academic year CSAT September mock exam released on the 24th by the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, the number of applicants including graduates was 104,377, accounting for 21.9% of all test-takers.

This is an increase of 16,077 compared to the June mock exam this year and 12,126 compared to the September mock exam last year.

This is the highest figure since the first mock exam conducted by the Institute in 2011. The proportion of repeat test-takers in the September mock exam, which had maintained the 10% range from 2010 to 2020, recorded 21.1% in 2021, dropped to 18.9% last year, and has now exceeded 20% this year.

Along with this, the proportion of current students in the September mock exam hit a record low of 371,448 (78.1%). The proportion of current students fell into the 70% range for the first time in 2021 and remained in the 70% range this year as well.

On the 1st, repeat students are taking the June mock exam for the 2024 College Scholastic Ability Test at the Jongno Academy headquarters in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Considering that the June mock exam this year also recorded the highest repeat test-taker rate (31.1%) since 2011, there is an analysis that the proportion of repeat test-takers in this year’s actual CSAT is likely to be high. Lim Seong-ho, CEO of Jongro Academy, said, "The proportion of repeat test-takers in this year’s actual CSAT could be expected to reach the mid-30% range, higher than last year," adding, "With the significant increase in repeat test-takers this year, it is advisable for current high school seniors to focus their efforts on early admissions as much as possible."

Meanwhile, the number of applicants by subject for the September mock exam is as follows: 475,374 for Korean, 472,391 for Mathematics, 475,198 for English, 475,825 for Korean History, and 251,253 for Social Studies. The number of applicants for Science is 251,653, for Vocational Studies 6,818, and for the Second Foreign Language/Chinese Characters 27,398. The application period for the September mock exam was held over nine days from the 26th of last month to the 6th of this month. The mock exam is scheduled to be held on September 6.