"National Language Section Easier Than Last Year's CSAT"…Fewer New Types and High-Difficulty Questions

Reading, appropriate passage length with no difficult concepts
Possibility of 3 high-difficulty questions related to non-linked works and inference

On the 3rd, the day of the 2021 College Scholastic Ability Test, examinees are waiting for the exam to start at the testing site set up at Gyeongbok High School in Jongno-gu, Seoul. / Photo by Joint Press Corps

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee, Trainee Reporter Seungseop Song] In the 2021 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) held on the 3rd, the Korean language section was generally evaluated to be easier compared to last year's CSAT and this year's June and September mock exams.

Oh Su-seok, a college entrance counseling teacher from the Korea Council for University Education (KCUE) and a teacher at Somyung Girls' High School who analyzed the Korean language section questions, stated, "This year, the new questions and high-difficulty questions did not have high discriminative power," adding, "There were no economics-related passages or mathematical calculations within them, so the perceived difficulty was likely easier."

In the literature section, most of the questions were based on linked works, so it seems there was no significant difficulty in solving the problems. Although there were some modern and classical novels not linked to EBS materials, the difficulty level of the works was not high, so they were likely not difficult, according to evaluations.

Yoon Sang-hyung, a teacher at Yeongdong High School, explained, "The reading section was what increased the difficulty of the CSAT Korean language section, but the passage lengths were appropriate and no difficult concepts were presented."

The speech and writing section featured familiar question types frequently encountered through regular textbooks and materials. Jin Su-hwan, a teacher at Gangneung Myeongryun High School, said, "The given passages were questions we have often seen before."

High-difficulty questions included question 20, which presented 'Bukhaegui' by the late Joseon Dynasty Silhak scholar Park Jega and required critical reading linked to the passage before selecting the answer, and question 36, which involved understanding a nonfiction passage related to 3D animation and selecting the appropriate answer through inference. Question 40, related to classical poetry and classical essays, was also a non-linked work and may have felt somewhat difficult.

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