From About a Week Before the CSAT, 12th Graders Switch to Remote Classes... "No Plans to Adjust Difficulty"

Ministry of Education Announces 2021 College Entrance Exam Management Plan in Response to COVID-19
Students per Classroom Reduced from 28 to 24
Partitions Installed on Each Desk

The above photo is not related to the article. / Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Hyun-joo] Due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), high school seniors will attend remote classes instead of going to school starting one week before the 2021 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT).

On the 4th, Park Baek-beom, Vice Minister of Education, announced the 2021 college entrance exam management plan in response to COVID-19 at the Government Sejong Complex.

Vice Minister Park stated, "We plan to recommend that high school seniors switch to remote education 3 to 4 days or a week before taking the CSAT," adding, "This is because if a confirmed case occurs at school and students switch to self-quarantine, it could cause confusion."

Regarding questions about the difficulty level of the CSAT, Vice Minister Park said, "We will determine the direction of the questions after reviewing the June and September mock exams," and emphasized, "Lowering the difficulty does not necessarily benefit only current students, so for now, the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation's stance remains unchanged."

In consultation with the Ministry of Education, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, and metropolitan and provincial offices of education, the number of students per classroom will be reduced from 28 to 24, and partitions will be installed on each desk. On the day of the CSAT, even if a student has a fever, they can take the exam in a separately prepared examination room or test site. Students confirmed positive for COVID-19 can take the exam in hospitals or residential treatment centers where they are isolated, and self-quarantined students must take the exam at a separate test site separated from general test sites.

Universities that need to conduct interviews or practical exams must establish their own quarantine management measures. They must ensure spacing between examinees in exam rooms and waiting rooms and prepare separate exam rooms for symptomatic individuals. If examinees are restricted from moving due to infection risk, priority will be given to supporting remote testing, and separate test sites will be prepared by region. Examinees must take the exam at a separate test site in the region, not at the university they applied to.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.