"Mom Will Lower Your Science Scores"... Controversy Over High School Senior Parents Taking the CSAT

"Not Illegal vs Too Extreme"
Verification Documents Uploaded in Entrance Exam Community

With the application period for the 2025 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) ending on the 6th of next month, controversy has arisen as parents are appearing to take the CSAT themselves to secure higher grades for their children. On the 28th, numerous online communities and social networking services (SNS) saw a post titled "Unimaginable #Parent CSAT" go viral. The author wrote, "Since current students are stressed due to the influx of medical school students, mothers in Daechi-dong are taking the CSAT to boost their children's science scores."

On the 22nd, the first day of application submission for the 2025 College Scholastic Ability Test, a test taker is submitting an application at the Northern Education Support Office in Dobong-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Joint Press Corps]

On the 23rd, a netizen named A posted on an admissions community with 80,000 members, saying, "A few years ago, I moved to another region and fortunately registered at the education office instead of the school I graduated from," and shared their application details. A said, "I brought my ID card, a graduation certificate printed from Government24, and a resident registration abstract," and added, "Yesterday (the 22nd), my application was rejected because the face length in the photo was less than 3.2 cm, so I retook it." They continued, "The moms who were supposed to take the CSAT with me backed out due to diabetes, so I bravely registered alone," and added, "I will protect our children's standard scores in Chemistry and Life Science."

After seeing this, another parent commented, "Amazing. My high school senior also chose Chemistry and Life Science, so I'm suddenly considering applying for the CSAT for my child," to which A replied, "Join us." Another parent certified their payment for the CSAT registration by card, saying, "I registered for the CSAT for my child taking Chemistry and Life Science. I am from the generation when the perfect score was 2 million."

A parent who registered for the CSAT on behalf of their child, a test-taker, shared the registration details [Photo source=Naver Cafe]

As this content spread across various communities, many netizens responded negatively with comments like, "What is the CSAT that they would go this far?" and "It must feel bad for children who worked hard with their own abilities." On the other hand, some netizens expressed understanding of the parents' anxious mindset, saying, "There is no legal issue, so what's the problem?"

September Mock CSAT Conducted... 'N-Su Students' Account for 22% of Approximately 488,000 Examinees

On the 22nd, the first day of application submission for the 2025 College Scholastic Ability Test, a test taker is submitting an application at the Northern Education Support Office in Dobong-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Joint Press Corps]

The September mock test for the 2025 CSAT will be held on September 4. The number of 'N-Su students'?graduates and others retaking the exam?is the second highest ever recorded in related statistics. On the 27th, the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE) announced that the 2025 CSAT September mock test will be conducted from 8:40 a.m. on September 4 at 2,154 high schools nationwide and 523 designated academies.

The number of examinees registered for the September mock test is 488,292. Among them, 381,733 (78.2%) are current students, and 106,559 (21.8%) are graduates and other examinees. The total number of applicants increased by 12,467 compared to a year ago. Current students increased by 10,285, and graduates and other examinees increased by 2,182. The proportion of graduates and other examinees is just 0.1 percentage points lower than the highest rate recorded since KICE began publishing mock test registration statistics in 2011, which was 21.9% in the September 2024 mock test. This is the second highest figure ever. The number of graduates and other examinees is also the second highest since September 2022 (109,615). The September mock test is an exam that helps gauge the direction and difficulty of the 2025 CSAT, which will be held on November 14. The nature of the exam, test areas, and number of questions are the same as the CSAT.