Calculus and Language and Media Maintain Highest Scores
Influence Expected to Diminish Slightly Due to Fewer Test-Takers
The 2026 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) is now just four days away. On November 9, Jongro Academy predicted, based on an analysis of mock exam data from the Office of Education and the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, that students who choose Calculus in mathematics and Language and Media in Korean are likely to have an advantage in terms of standardized scores.
In September, at Geumcheon High School in Geumcheon District, Seoul, where the 2026 College Scholastic Ability Test mock evaluation was conducted, 12th-grade students are preparing for the exam.
In the six mock exams held this year, students who achieved perfect scores in Calculus recorded higher standardized scores than those who achieved perfect scores in Probability and Statistics. For example, in the March mock exam administered by the Office of Education, the standardized score for a perfect score in Probability and Statistics was 149 points, while that for Calculus was as high as 157 points. Geometry also resulted in higher standardized scores compared to Probability and Statistics.
The same trend was observed in the Korean section. In the six mock exams held this year, the highest standardized scores for students who selected Language and Media were 2 to 7 points higher than those for students who chose Speech and Composition. In the most recent mock exam conducted by the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation in September, the highest score for Language and Media was 143 points, while Speech and Composition reached 137 points.
Jongro Academy stated, "If top-performing students select Calculus and Language and Media, even those in the natural sciences track can secure competitiveness when applying to humanities departments or for non-major admissions." However, the number of test-takers for both subjects decreased by 15.0% and 7.4%, respectively, compared to last year, so their impact may be less significant than before. The academy also added, "Differences in standardized scores are determined by the difficulty of each subject and the distribution of test-takers, so even with the same raw score, advantages and disadvantages will vary depending on the chosen subject." They emphasized, "Not only top-performing students, but also those taking Speech and Composition or Probability and Statistics should do their best on the day of the CSAT."
Since the introduction of the integrated CSAT in 2022, Language and Media and Calculus have consistently recorded the highest standardized scores among elective subjects each year. If this trend continues in this year’s CSAT, the environment is expected to remain favorable for top-performing students.
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