[2022 CSAT] "English harder than last year but easier than June and September mock tests"

From This Year, Perceived Difficulty Increased Due to EBS Indirect Linkage
No New Question Types, but High-Difficulty Items Showed Increased Discrimination Power

On the 18th, students who completed the 2022 College Scholastic Ability Test are leaving the exam site at Ewha Girls' Foreign Language High School in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The 2022 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) English section was considered easier than the June and September mock exams but more difficult than last year's CSAT.

On the 18th, Kim Changmook, a college admission counseling teacher at Kyungshin High School and a member of the Korea Council for University Education (KCUE), who analyzed the 2022 CSAT English section, explained, "It was expected that the difficulty would sharply increase as the direct linkage questions were abolished, but the perceived EBS linkage rate was somewhat higher than in June and September, making it slightly easier than the mock exams. However, I believe it was somewhat more difficult than last year's CSAT."

No New Question Types but Perceived Difficulty Increased Due to Indirect Linkage

Yoo Seongho, a teacher at Sungdeok Girls' High School, said, "It was easier than the June and September mock exams but harder than last year's CSAT. There were no new question types in the composition, and the question arrangement was the same as last year."

Starting this year, the 'direct linkage' method, which used passages and questions directly from EBS textbooks, was replaced by 'indirect linkage,' which uses passages and questions with similar intent for the exam. Particularly, high-difficulty questions were not created using the indirect linkage method, which increased the perceived difficulty. Notably, the percentage of students achieving the top grade (Grade 1) in English during the September mock exam dropped significantly to 4.87%, compared to 12.66% in last year's CSAT.

Yoon Heetae, a teacher at Yeongdong Il High School, explained, "There was little difference in high-difficulty questions between the June and September mock exams and last year's CSAT; they can be considered the same. Questions 34 to 39, which students find difficult, were designed to differentiate ability, and since they were not indirectly linked, students likely felt the difficulty was higher."

Yoo added, "Passages with themes or topics similar to those in the EBS linked textbooks appeared. Since similar themes or topics appeared in the June and September exams as well, students who prepared thoroughly with EBS might have felt that some questions seemed familiar."

Admissions Industry Also Says "Harder Than Last Year"... Top Grade Rate Expected Around 8-9%

The admissions industry shared similar interpretations regarding the difficulty. Compared to the 4-5% top grade rate in the June and September mock exams, it is expected to be higher this time.

Lim Seongho, CEO of Jongro Academy, evaluated, "It was harder than last year's CSAT and similar in level to the June and September mock exams. With the abolition of direct EBS linkage, unfamiliar passages appeared. The sentences were long, and the vocabulary level was high, making it a challenging test for students lacking reading comprehension skills."

Lee Youngdeok, director of Daesung Academic Development Research Institute, analyzed, "The difficulty was higher than last year's CSAT but easier than the 2022 September mock exam. The error rates for questions 21-24 (main idea), 31-34 (blank inference), and 35-40 (indirect writing) were likely high."

Lee Manki, director of Uway Education Evaluation Research Institute, explained, "No new question types were presented, and although familiar topics appeared due to the disappearance of direct linkage questions, it likely felt more difficult compared to last year's CSAT. The passages were shorter, and the vocabulary level was not difficult, so it probably felt easier than the June and September exams. The top grade rate is expected to be around 8-9%."

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