Lee Hyuk-je, Jeonnam Provincial Assembly Member, Demands Urgent Measures for "Jeonnam's Lowest CSAT Scores"

Lee Hyuk-je, Jeonnam Provincial Assembly Member

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Jun-gyeong] Lee Hyuk-je, a Jeonnam Provincial Council member (Democratic Party of Korea·Mokpo 4), forecasted that next year’s CSAT scores in Jeonnam will remain the lowest nationwide, making college admissions even more difficult for Jeonnam students, and called for countermeasures.

On the 29th, according to data analyzed by Councilor Lee Hyuk-je from the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation’s ‘2020 CSAT Scores,’ students’ scores in each subject across 17 cities and provinces nationwide showed significant regional differences. In Korean language, Seoul scored 100.9 points, Daegu 99.6 points, Jeju 99.6 points, and Gwangju 97.9 points in descending order, while Gangwon scored 92.7 points, Gyeongnam 93.7 points, and Jeonnam 93.9 points, placing Jeonnam at the bottom tier.

For Mathematics Type A, Jeju scored 104.0 points, Seoul 103.4 points, Daegu 99.6 points, and Busan 99.3 points in descending order, but Jeonnam scored 88.9 points, the lowest among the 17 cities and provinces nationwide. Only 1.1% of Jeonnam students achieved the top grade, and even when combining the top two grades, it was only 3.5%, showing a significant gap compared to Seoul’s 15.1% for grades 1 and 2 combined. For Mathematics Type B, Seoul had 6.3% for grade 1 and 7.8% for grade 2, whereas Jeonnam remained at 2.5% for grade 1 and 4.0% for grade 2.

In Korean language, the proportion of grade 1 was 5.7% in Seoul, 3.7% in Daegu, and 3.7% in Gyeonggi, but Jeonnam was only 2.1%, the second lowest after Gyeongnam’s 1.9%.

For English, 9.4% of Seoul students achieved grade 1 and 16.9% grade 2, meaning one in four scored 80 points or higher, but Jeonnam had only 3.6% for grade 1 and 10.0% for grade 2.

Councilor Lee Hyuk-je said, “Jeonnam students’ CSAT scores have remained the lowest every year. Although Jeonnam shows a tendency to focus on early admissions, the time has come to prepare for both early admissions and the CSAT,” and added, “Long-term academic improvement measures such as enhancing basic academic skills and numeracy and increasing reading volume from elementary school are necessary.”

He continued, “Jeonnam students’ math scores are extremely low. At least for math, changes are needed in the high school exam system, which requires separate preparation for the CSAT and school grades,” and proposed, “The evaluation method should be aligned with the CSAT by extending exam time and including CSAT-style questions in school exams to prepare students for CSAT math on a regular basis.”

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