[Q&A] "Maintaining the Usual Level of Questions... Striving to Avoid Ultra-High Difficulty Problems"

No Significant Differences in Academic Performance in June and September Mock Exams
"Just Be Careful Not to Make It Especially More Difficult"

On the morning of the 3rd, during the 2021 College Scholastic Ability Test, Professor Min Chan-hong of Hanyang University, the chief exam committee member, is explaining the exam direction at the Ministry of Education in the Sejong Government Complex, Sejong City. On the right is Professor Jeong In-sil of Hanseo University, the chair of the exam review committee.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee, Trainee Reporter Seungseop Song] Amid the ongoing spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the 2021 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) began on the 3rd. Min Chan-hong, a professor at Hanyang University and the chair of the CSAT question committee, said, "We tried to maintain the usual level of discrimination," adding, "We are well aware that current students have faced difficulties in their studies. We paid utmost attention to ensure that the exam would not give the impression of being particularly difficult." Below is a Q&A session with Chair Min, Sung Ki-seon, president of the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, and Jeong In-sil, a professor at Hanseo University and chair of the review committee.

=There have been repeated concerns about academic gaps caused by COVID-19. Were these reflected in the CSAT?

▶(Chair Min) Through analysis of the recent mock exams, there were no unusual differences compared to previous years in academic gaps between graduates and current students or in the distribution of scores among current students. Therefore, we maintained the usual approach in setting the questions. However, we were particularly cautious not to make the exam more difficult.

=The English section, which is graded on an absolute scale, was quite difficult in the September mock exam. What is the trend in this year's question setting?

▶(Chair Min) For English, we maintained last year's approach to uphold the purpose of absolute grading. By last year's approach, I mean the trend of last year's CSAT. There was no particular effort to adjust the number of students per grade.

=How was health managed during the selection process of the question committee?

▶(Chair Min) All members were tested upon entry. We tried to minimize contact among committee members, and all tested negative. Nevertheless, we wore masks, tracked movement paths, and ate meals in staggered times at tables with partitions arranged in a row. So far, there have been no suspected COVID-19 symptoms.

=You apologized to the public for not maintaining appropriate difficulty in the 2019 CSAT. How will you respond if there is controversy over difficulty this year?

▶(President Sung) As Chair Min mentioned, since there were questions from June and September mock exams, we do not expect sudden changes in difficulty. Considering academic gaps and exam preparation levels, we believe the appropriate difficulty will be maintained. If any unusual issues arise, we will share our opinions then.

=Although you say there was no academic gap due to COVID-19, it is clear that COVID-19 was a variable. What changes reflecting COVID-19 were incorporated?

▶(Chair Jeong) This year's two mock exams were set at a difficulty level similar to the 2020 CSAT. There were no distinctive characteristics between current students and graduates in the mock exams, nor any signs of academic polarization in the test-taking groups. Since the CSAT is an academic achievement evaluation used for university admissions, we tried to maintain the usual level of difficulty.

On the morning of the 3rd, when the 2021 College Scholastic Ability Test was held, examinees at Gyeongbok High School in Jongno-gu, Seoul, received test papers and marked their answer sheets in the examination room.

Due to the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), this year's exam was postponed by two weeks and was simultaneously conducted at 1,383 test centers across 86 test districts nationwide, with a record low of 493,433 candidates taking the test. 2020.12.3/News1

=In reality, since the outbreak of COVID-19, third-year high school students have not been able to follow a normal academic schedule, raising concerns about academic gaps. If the two mock exams showed no difference, it is hard to feel that in practice?

▶(Chair Min) Maintaining the usual approach was the main principle and framework. All members of the question and review committees, including area chairs, are well aware that current students have faced difficulties in their studies due to COVID-19. From the initial planning stage, we paid utmost attention to ensure that the exam would not give the impression of being particularly difficult. At the same time, we tried to maintain the usual level of discrimination.

=You mentioned efforts to avoid giving students the impression that the exam was difficult. What specific methods did you use?

▶(Chair Min) Maintaining the usual approach means there was nothing special. We set questions for each subject area as in previous years, but paid attention to questions that the review committee found difficult. During the question revision process, difficulty is usually determined by factors such as whether there is a correct answer, how many competitive wrong answers there are, and so on. We worked hard during this process to ensure that the final product was not too difficult.

=You said the question setting trend was similar to last year, but the year before last was considered a very difficult exam,

▶(Chair Min) To my understanding, the year before last had very difficult questions that caused social controversy. Since last year, efforts have been made to avoid so-called ultra-high difficulty questions in CSAT question setting, and this year we also tried our best to avoid excessively difficult ultra-high difficulty questions.

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