[2025 CSAT] EBS: "Korean, September Mock Test Level... Easier Than Last Year's CSAT"

EBS "Classic Poetry Questions Presented As Is
Sufficient Discriminatory Items for High, Middle, and Low Levels"

EBS analyzed that the Korean language section of the 2025 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) was easier than last year's CSAT and was set at a difficulty level similar to the September mock exam this year. While increasing the sense of connection by directly using scenes from works included in the EBS linked textbooks, it is also evaluated that there were enough questions to select top-tier students.

At the '2025 CSAT Korean Language Section Question Trend Analysis Briefing' held on the 14th at the Government Sejong Complex, Han Byung-hoon, a teacher from Cheonan Jungang High School and a member of the EBS on-site teacher group who analyzed the first session Korean language section questions, explained, "Following the question-setting direction aimed at measuring reading comprehension and thinking skills learned through school education, the trend of the September mock exam this year was maintained," adding, "The overall difficulty level was easier than last year's CSAT." Last year's CSAT Korean language section was evaluated as a 'difficult CSAT,' but the September mock exam this year was widely considered easy.

On the morning of the 14th, when the 2025 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) was held, examinees were preparing for the exam at the testing site set up at Banpo High School in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Joint Press Corps

He continued, "The amount of information in the passages was appropriate, and passages at the level studied through textbooks were presented," adding, "So-called 'killer questions' were excluded."

The EBS linkage rate for the Korean language section was 51.1% (23 questions). The teacher said, "Following the question-setting direction to maintain the linkage rate and method while increasing the perceived linkage, it is expected that students will particularly feel a strong sense of connection in literature," adding, "In literature, modern poetry and classical poetry were presented in full, and most of the classical novel passages matched scenes included in the EBS CSAT linked textbooks."

Questions with high discriminative power included question 7 and 13 in the reading section, question 27 in literature, question 45 in speech and writing, and question 39 in language and media. The teacher mentioned, "Question 7 requires understanding the core claims of 'Park Eun-sik' presented in (A) and the 'intellectuals of the New Culture Movement' mentioned in (B), as well as understanding and comparing detailed positions on the acceptance of Western science and technology, making it a discriminative question."

When asked whether the difficulty level similar to the September mock exam, which was widely considered easy, could secure discriminative power, the teacher replied, "Securing discriminative power importantly implies distinguishing not only the top tier but also the upper, middle, and lower tiers evenly," and analyzed that "there were enough questions to distinguish the top tier in this exam as well."

He added, "Although the September mock exam and this CSAT are close tests, the populations are different, so the results cannot be predicted to be exactly the same. Nevertheless, since the question-setting trend and difficulty of the September mock exam are followed to some extent, results at a similar level are expected," explaining, "Considering students' preparedness after the September mock exam, detailed difficulty adjustments were analyzed at the choice level."