[2024 CSAT] 'Killer Questions' Removed but 'Difficult Exam'... Securing Differentiation in Korean, Math, and English (Comprehensive)

'Exclusion of Killer Questions' Applied, Discrimination Power Secured
More Difficult Level Compared to Last Year's CSAT
Korean "Likely Insufficient Time"
Math "Difficult Questions Presented", English 'Abstract Questions Excluded'

In the 2024 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) held on the 16th, it was analyzed that the exam was designed with a difficulty level close to a 'difficult CSAT' to ensure discrimination, despite the application of the 'killer question (ultra-high difficulty question) exclusion policy.'

On the 16th, a student who finished the CSAT at Ewha Girls' High School in Jung-gu, Seoul, is taking a photo with her mother as they leave the exam site. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

At the '2024 CSAT Question Trend Analysis Briefing' held at the Government Complex Sejong from the morning of the day, the EBS on-site teacher group, which analyzed the Korean, Mathematics, and English sections, explained after each section that "there were no killer questions, but there was discrimination." They diagnosed that all three sections were generally maintained at the level of the September mock test or were set to be slightly more difficult.

The admissions industry analyzed that efforts were made to increase the difficulty in all Korean, Mathematics, and English sections to ensure discrimination. Kim Byung-jin, director of the Etoos Education Evaluation Research Institute, said, "To overcome the standard score deviation in Korean and Mathematics, the difficulty of Korean appeared to be somewhat raised," adding, "English also seems to have focused more on the difficulty of the questions, especially the answer choices, rather than the difficulty of reading comprehension." Lim Seong-ho, CEO of Jongro Academy, also said, "The discrimination in both Korean and Mathematics has increased."

Korean: More Difficult than Last Year's CSAT and September Mock Test

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EBS analyzed that the Korean section in this year's CSAT was set to be somewhat more difficult than last year's CSAT and this year's September mock test. They explained that discrimination was highly ensured within the scope of public education by meticulously structuring the method of applying the concepts of the passages to the answer choices.

Yoon Hye-jung, a member of the EBS on-site teacher group and a teacher at Deoksu High School who analyzed the first session Korean section, explained, "Although so-called 'killer questions' were excluded, the existing trend of setting the exam so that it can be prepared through the public education curriculum was maintained, which is expected to prevent confusion among examinees." She also said, "Various difficulty levels of questions were presented in the elective subjects of Speech and Writing, and Language and Media, securing discrimination."

For the Korean section, the EBS linkage rate was identified as 51.1%. Teacher Yoon said, "Following the direction of maintaining the EBS linkage rate and method while increasing the perceived linkage, the perceived linkage that examinees feel in reading and literature is expected to be generally high," adding, "It is judged that examinees who have faithfully completed public education and studied the EBS CSAT textbooks will be able to solve the questions sufficiently."

Questions 10 (Reading, Science and Technology), 15 (Reading, Integrated Humanities Topic), 27 (Literature, Genre Complex), 40 (Speech and Writing), and 39 (Language and Media) were considered highly discriminative questions.

The admissions industry's analysis was similar. CEO Lim said, "All Korean common subjects (Reading, Literature) and elective subjects (Language and Media, Speech and Writing) were set to be more difficult than the September mock test and last year's CSAT," adding, "Although EBS was linked, it is presumed that it was practically difficult to find the correct answers, and overall, the time was likely more insufficient than in the September mock test."

Director Kim also said, "Considering the large standard score imbalance between Korean and Mathematics in the 2023 CSAT, the difficulty of Korean seems to have increased somewhat in the 2024 CSAT to secure discrimination," adding, "This is similar to the trend of the September mock test, and the final perceived difficulty will be determined by students' analysis and learning level of the September mock test."

The Korean section teaching staff of Megastudy Education also evaluated, "There were no actual ultra-high difficulty questions, and it seems that the questions were set not to deviate significantly from the September mock test," adding, "However, they put a lot of thought into the question types and answer choices to create discriminative questions, and there were many attractive wrong answers in the choices."

Mathematics: Similar Level to Last Year's CSAT

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EBS analyzed that the Mathematics section was easier than the June mock test this year but had higher difficulty in some questions compared to the September mock test. Shim Ju-seok, a member of the EBS on-site teacher group and a teacher at Incheon Haneul High School, explained, "While following the question-setting policy of the September mock test this year, appropriate difficulty questions were arranged considering the characteristics of the examinee group," adding, "It was set to maintain discrimination at a level similar to the 2023 CSAT."

Earlier, the Mathematics section of the September mock test this year, which applied the 'killer question exclusion' policy, sparked controversy over discrimination as the number of perfect scorers rose to 2,520, which is 3.9 times that of the June mock test and 2.7 times that of last year's CSAT. Regarding this, Teacher Shim said, "Discrimination for the top tier was strengthened," explaining, "The big difference from 'killer questions' was whether the questions that provide discrimination reflected how much mathematical thinking could be progressed and whether the correct answer could be reached through short calculations."

Teacher Shim cited question 22 of the common subject as an example. He said, "The correct answer rate varies depending on how much practice the student has done after learning it at school," adding, "All students can draw an outline of a cubic function graph, but finding a function that satisfies the conditions requires a lot of practice."

Questions with applied discrimination included Mathematics I question 15, Mathematics II question 22, Probability and Statistics question 30, Calculus question 30, and Geometry question 30. The EBS linkage rate was calculated to be 50%, the same as last year.

The admissions industry analyzed that this year's CSAT Mathematics section was set at a level similar to the September mock test and that efforts were made to secure discrimination.

CEO Lim evaluated, "It was set at a level similar to the September mock test, but additional questions were added to secure discrimination for the top tier," adding, "Among the elective subjects, Calculus and Geometry were set at a similar or slightly more difficult level compared to the September mock test."

Director Kim also explained, "There seems to be an intention to adjust the difficulty of Calculus to last year's level to manage the number of perfect scorers, but we need to see the grading results to understand how well students actually adapted."

English: Many Students Likely Experienced Time Shortage

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EBS analyzed that the English section was more difficult than last year's CSAT and at a similar level to this year's September mock test. Kim Bo-ra, a member of the EBS on-site teacher group and a teacher at Samgaksan High School who analyzed the third session English section, explained, "While excluding elements of so-called 'killer questions' (ultra-high difficulty questions), discrimination was secured." She added that the 'excessively abstract topics,' known as the killer question type in English, were excluded.

Regarding discrimination, she said, "The question arrangement is similar to the 2023 CSAT," adding, "Although familiar topics were handled, many questions were placed that require careful reading of the passages and analysis of the answer choices, making it somewhat more difficult than the 2023 CSAT and similar to the September mock test this year."

Discriminative questions included numbers 24 (title inference), 33 (blank inference), 34 (blank inference), 37 (order of the text), and 39 (sentence insertion). The EBS linkage rate was identified as 53.3%.

The admissions industry also analyzed that it was set more difficult than last year's CSAT. CEO Lim said, "It was set at a level similar to the quite difficult September mock test and more difficult compared to last year's CSAT," adding, "The passages included many long sentences and various unfamiliar topics, which is expected to cause difficulties in sentence interpretation and many students likely felt time shortage."

Director Kim also analyzed, "Although abstract content passages decreased in reading comprehension, there were many questions that required thinking in the process of finding answers and included attractive wrong answers, making problem-solving challenging."