[2025 CSAT] EBS: "English was easier than last year's CSAT... No killer questions"

"1st Grade Ratio, Between Last Year's CSAT and September Mock Exam"

EBS (Korea Educational Broadcasting System) analyzed that the English section of the 2025 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) was easier than last year’s exam. The proportion of top-tier scores is expected to be formed between last year’s CSAT and this September’s mock evaluation.

At the ‘2025 CSAT Question Trend Analysis Briefing’ held on the 14th at the Government Sejong Complex, Kim Ye-ryeong, a teacher at Daewon Foreign Language High School affiliated with EBS, analyzed the third session English section and stated, "This year’s CSAT English section secured discrimination power with questions requiring precise interpretation of passages and answer choices," adding, "It was easier than last year’s CSAT and seems to have maintained a public education-centered question setting policy."

The CSAT English section, which is graded on an absolute scale, is evaluated to have fluctuated in difficulty after the application of the ‘killer question (ultra-high difficulty question) exclusion policy’ last year. The proportion of top-tier scores (90 points or above) in last year’s CSAT was 4.71%. Subsequently, only 1.47% achieved top-tier scores in the June mock evaluation, the lowest since the absolute grading system was implemented in 2018. However, in the September mock evaluation, it rose again to 10.94%, more than double last year’s CSAT.

Yonhap News

The difficulty of this exam was considered easier than last year’s CSAT but more difficult than the September mock evaluation. Teacher Kim said, "There was a significant fluctuation in the proportion of top-tier scores between the June and September mock evaluations," and added, "I think several questions required a bit more time management compared to the September mock evaluation."

He also assessed that killer questions were excluded. Teacher Kim explained, "Many questions were composed such that answers could only be found by thoroughly reading the questions based on reading comprehension and comprehensive thinking skills and accurately understanding the meaning of the answer choices."

Questions 33, 34, 37, and 39 were cited as having discrimination power. The EBS linkage rate was 55.6% (25 questions).