"Ah, the Good Old Days" Even 6th Grade CSAT Scores Pass Teacher's College, Popularity Declines

Acceptance Cutoffs for Regular Admission at Education Universities Drop Simultaneously

Amid a recent sharp decline in teacher preference due to the fall in teacher authority, it has been revealed that a student who received a '6th grade' on the 2024 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) was also admitted to a teachers' college. Despite the decrease in the number of students and the crisis of appointment chaos, education universities significantly reduced the number of freshmen, yet the regular admission cutoff scores all dropped simultaneously.

A test taker is doing final studies before the start of the CSAT at Yongsan High School in Seoul.
[Photo by Joint Press Corps]

Jongno Academy recently released an analysis on the admission cutoff scores of nine teachers' colleges and elementary education departments nationwide (Seoul National University of Education, Jeonju National University of Education, Jinju National University of Education, Kongju National University of Education, Gwangju National University of Education, Chuncheon National University of Education, Korea National University of Education Elementary Education, Cheongju National University of Education, and Busan National University of Education) on the 28th. All showed a decline compared to the previous year.

The average CSAT grades in Korean, Mathematics, English, and Inquiry subjects for the final registrants at Kongju National University of Education dropped from 2.6 last year to 3.1 this year, a decrease of 0.5 grades. According to the academy, the cutoff score fell even further when including admitted students who did not register. The minimum passing grades for each CSAT subject were also disclosed, confirming that students who received a 6th grade in Korean, Mathematics, and Inquiry subjects were admitted. This means that there are students who passed with a minimum grade of 6 in each subject, but it does not imply that a single student received a 6th grade in multiple subjects.

Im Seong-ho, CEO of Jongno Academy, analyzed, "The lowest average grade among admitted students across the four CSAT subjects was 3.88. Usually, even for regional teachers' colleges, it was perceived that students with school grades of 1 to 2 and CSAT grades in the 2 range would be admitted, so this drop is unusual."

Seoul National University of Education disclosed its own converted scores (calculated by assigning different additional points per subject by university), which fell from an average of 636.2 points in 2023 to 628.5 points in 2024, a decrease of 7.7 points. Among universities that disclosed their own converted scores, Jeonju National University of Education dropped from 738.3 to 666.0 points, Jinju National University of Education from 689.9 to 641.7 points, and Chuncheon National University of Education from 466.2 to 460.6 points, all showing declines.

Among universities that disclosed the average CSAT grades of admitted students, Cheongju National University of Education dropped from 2.5 to 3.2, Jinju National University of Education from 2.7 to 3.2, and Chuncheon National University of Education from 2.8 to 2.9, all showing a decline in grades.

Busan National University of Education, which disclosed the percentile scores for CSAT Korean, Mathematics, and Inquiry subjects, saw a decrease from 81.7 to 81.1 points, and Gwangju National University of Education from 85.5 to 78.1 points.

Although the cutoff scores for the nine teachers' colleges all declined, the regular admission competition rate for 13 teachers' colleges and elementary education departments nationwide was 3.20 to 1, the highest in the past five years. This is analyzed to be due to a large number of students failing to meet the minimum CSAT scores in early admissions, resulting in a large number of early admission rollovers and an increase in the number of regular admission applicants. Im Seong-ho, CEO of Jongno Academy, predicted, "The cutoff scores are not expected to rise next year either."

As the school-age population decreases, the annual selection number for elementary school teachers, which is about 3,000, is expected to decrease to around 1,800 by 2028, making appointment competition increasingly fierce. In addition, the issue of declining teacher authority, which has surfaced since last year, is also believed to have had a considerable impact.