June Mock Exam Korean and Math Show Differentiation in Common Subjects... English EBS Linkage Decreases

The Number of Students Achieving Grade 1 in English Expected to Decrease Compared to Last Year's CSAT

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] The June mock test for the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) held on the 3rd is analyzed to have more discrimination power in common subjects than in elective subjects.

The Korean language section was somewhat easier than last year's CSAT. However, admission experts agree that the reading part of the common subject was challenging. This is because a new type of passage appeared in the reading section, which may have felt difficult and unfamiliar to test-takers. One of the passages included the COVID-19 testing method, polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

The literature part was considered to be at a similar and relatively easy level compared to previous years. Lee Young-deok, director of Daesung Academic Development Research Institute, explained, "In the reading section, the burden in terms of passage length and difficulty has decreased. However, since tricky answer choices tend to be presented in questions that check detailed information, it is important to calmly read the passages and solve the problems accurately."

Among the elective subjects, 'Language and Media' and 'Speech and Composition,' 'Language and Media' was evaluated as more difficult. Lim Seong-ho, CEO of Jongro Academy Haneul Education, analyzed, "Students who chose Language and Media may receive higher standard scores than those who chose Speech and Composition, even if they get the same raw scores."

In mathematics, the common subject was more difficult than the elective subjects. Although the difficulty of so-called 'killer questions,' which increase discrimination in the common subject, was low, many questions were not immediately understandable, so the overall difficulty is expected to have been high. As a result, humanities students likely found the math subject quite difficult. Lim said, "It is inevitable that there will be advantages and disadvantages between humanities and science tracks in the common subject."

The elective subjects were analyzed to have a similar difficulty level to previous years. Director Lee explained, "It seems that the aim was to minimize advantages and disadvantages according to subject choice by reducing the difficulty gap between elective subjects and increasing discrimination in common subjects." Nam Yoon-gon, head of the admissions strategy research institute at Megastudy Education, analyzed, "Since the perceived difficulty between calculus and geometry, which science students mainly choose, does not differ significantly, it appears that much attention was paid to fairness."

The English subject, which is graded on an absolute scale, was analyzed to be more difficult than last year's CSAT due to a lower EBS linkage rate. There were no passages directly linked to EBS, while the passages became longer and the vocabulary level increased. Experts expected that students' perceived difficulty would have risen. Director Lee explained, "Compared to last year's CSAT, the passage length is similar, but the attractiveness of answer choices was increased in main idea comprehension and blank inference types, and high-difficulty passages were presented in indirect writing types to secure discrimination for absolute grading."

The number of students achieving the top grade is also expected to decrease significantly compared to last year's CSAT. Lim evaluated, "English was so difficult that the number of top-grade students could drop to nearly half of last year's 12.7%."

The Korean history and social studies sections were evaluated to be somewhat easier than last year's CSAT. In Korean history, the correct and incorrect answers were made easy to distinguish, and questions were drawn from various topics such as politics, society, economy, and culture. The science inquiry section was analyzed to have a similar difficulty level to last year's CSAT.

This mock test, hosted by the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, was conducted in the same way as the 2022 CSAT scheduled for November 18, where students take the common subjects in Korean and mathematics without distinction between humanities and science tracks and choose one elective subject to take the exam.

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