This Year's CSAT Test Takers Increase by 3.3%... Many Choose Language and Media, Probability and Statistics

by Han Jinjoo

Published 06 Sep.2021 12:00(KST)

Number of High School Senior Test Takers Increases by 14,000 Compared to Last Year
Repeat Test Takers Slightly Increase, Overall Proportion Decreases by 0.6%p
Korean: 71% Speech and Writing, 29% Language and Media
Math: 53% Probability and Statistics, 38% Calculus, 8.6% Geometry

On the 1st, high school seniors at Sangam High School in Mapo-gu, Seoul, are preparing for the September 2022 CSAT mock exam. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] This year, the number of applicants for the 2022 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) has recovered to over 500,000 as the number of current students significantly increased. Unlike last year, when the proportion of repeat test-takers rose sharply due to COVID-19, this year saw a decrease in the proportion of repeat test-takers.

According to the '2022 CSAT Application Results' announced on the 6th by the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, the number of CSAT applicants this year was 509,821, a 3.3% (16,387) increase from last year, which had fallen to the 400,000 range.

The number of high school seniors (current students) increased by 4.0% (14,037) to 360,710 compared to last year. The proportion of current students among applicants rose by 0.6 percentage points to 70.8%. Meanwhile, the number of graduates (134,834) increased by 1,764 from last year, resulting in a decrease of 0.6 percentage points in the proportion of repeat test-takers to 26.4%. The number of GED applicants increased by 586 to 14,277 (2.8%). By gender, male students increased by 7,322 to 261,350 (51.3%), and female students increased by 9,065 to 248,471 (48.7%).

An official from the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation explained, "Although the school-age population is generally declining, this year is an exceptional increase."

Number of Applicants and Proportion by Elective Subject for the 2022 College Scholastic Ability Test (Data = Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation)

This year's CSAT is conducted with common plus elective subjects in the Korean language and mathematics sections. In the Korean language section, 70.6% (357,976) chose 'Speech and Writing,' overwhelmingly higher than the 29.4% (149,153) who took 'Language and Media.'

For mathematics, the distribution was 5:4:1. Probability and Statistics accounted for 53.2% (257,466), Calculus 38.2% (184,608), and Geometry 8.6% (41,546).

An official from the evaluation institute stated, "We interpret this as a preference based on academic characteristics. Since this is the first year of the integrated CSAT, we expect trends to change in the future. Because it varies depending on the environment and admission trends, various variables will influence students' choices even within the common plus elective subject structure."

Among applicants for the inquiry section, 492,442 (98.7%) chose social and science inquiry subjects, while 6,362 (1.3%) selected vocational inquiry subjects. Among social and science inquiry applicants, 32.5% chose 'Life and Ethics.' Among vocational inquiry applicants, 95.3% selected the common vocational subject 'Successful Vocational Life.'

The proportion of applicants choosing a second foreign language or Chinese characters was 12.0% (61,221). Among them, 25.7% (15,724) selected 'Arabic I.'

During the September mock evaluation, the number of repeat test-takers increased significantly compared to the previous year due to vaccination benefits, but the increase rate of repeat test-takers for the actual CSAT was relatively low.

Regarding this, a Ministry of Education official explained, "Typically, about 90,000 to 100,000 take the September mock evaluation, and about 140,000 take the CSAT. Since vaccines were a sensitive issue at that time, the number of applicants for the September mock evaluation increased. It is better to prepare for the exam stably after vaccination, and there were various factors beyond just vaccine-related fluctuations."