[2022 CSAT] The CSAT with High Discrimination Power... Korean, English, and Math All Difficult (Comprehensive)

Similar Difficulty in Korean as Last Year
English More Difficult Than Last Year
Math Increased Discrimination in Common Subjects
Teachers Group: "Difficulty Similar to June Mock Test"

On the morning of the 18th, when the 2022 College Scholastic Ability Test was held, examinees were preparing for the exam at Gyeongbok High School in Jongno-gu, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The 2022 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), conducted with an integrated science and humanities format, showed higher discriminative power compared to last year's exam. The Korean language section was similar in difficulty to last year's challenging test, while mathematics and English were considered more difficult than last year.

The CSAT held on the 18th was generally evaluated as more difficult than last year.

Lim Seong-ho, CEO of Jongro Academy, said, "It was the first year of the integrated CSAT, and all subjects?Korean, English, and Math?were difficult and designed to differentiate students effectively. Even English, which is graded on an absolute scale, was difficult, and the proportion of top-tier scores is expected to drop by about half."

Lee Young-deok, director of Daesung Academic Development Research Institute, stated, "Korean was as difficult as last year, math was more difficult than last year, and English was harder than the very easy test last year. Overall, the revamped integrated CSAT was a highly discriminative exam."

Teacher Group: "Difficulty Similar to June Mock Test"

Kim Chang-mook, a college entrance counseling teacher from Kyungshin High School and member of the Korea Council for University Education (KCUE) college entrance counseling teacher group, said, "This year's CSAT showed signs of being set at the level of the June mock test. Korean was at the June level, math was similar to June and September levels, and English was easier than this year's mock tests but harder than last year's CSAT."

The teacher group did not provide a direct comparison with last year since Korean and math were tested as 'common + elective subjects' starting this year. They noted the difficulty was similar to the June mock test. Generally, a standard score in the 140s is considered indicative of high discriminative power. The highest standard scores in the June mock test for both Korean and math were in the 140s.

Kim explained, "Discriminative power in the CSAT is compared by the difference between the top-tier standard score and the raw score (perfect score). For both subjects, the difference between the highest standard score and the perfect raw score in the June mock test was about 12 to 14 points. Comprehensive analysis shows this year's CSAT was similar to June's, securing upper-tier discriminative power comparable to June."

Kim added, "In terms of score ranges, math will have the greatest discriminative power among the top-tier students, while Korean and math will have significant discriminative power in the upper tier. English will also serve as a considerable differentiating factor in the middle tier during admissions."

Korean Similar to Last Year, English Harder Than Last Year

The Korean section was evaluated as similar or slightly easier than last year's difficult CSAT but harder than the September mock test. Although the passages were shorter, some questions requiring inference were somewhat challenging. Questions related to the key currency economy (question 13) and technology (question 16) were identified as killer questions.

Lim Seong-ho, CEO of Jongro Academy, said, "It was easier than last year's CSAT and this June's mock test but harder than the September mock test. The reading questions on Hegel's dialectics (questions 4-9) and the key currency economy (questions 10-13) were attempts to differentiate top-tier students, and all elective subjects were set to be easy."

Woo Yeon-cheol, director of Jinhaksa Admission Strategy Research Institute, explained, "The test was slightly easier than June but harder than September. Considering last year's CSAT was very difficult, it cannot be regarded as an easy test. Except for the humanities passage on dialectics linked to EBS textbooks, the reading passages were short, and the science and technology passages, which students fear, were not very difficult, making it slightly easier than last year's CSAT."

On the morning of the 18th, when the 2022 College Scholastic Ability Test was held, a test-taker is embracing his mother at the examination site set up at Yeouido High School in Seoul. Photo by Joint Press Corps

The English section was more difficult than last year. From this year's CSAT, the 'direct linkage' method, which used passages and questions directly from EBS textbooks, was replaced by an 'indirect linkage' method that uses passages and questions with similar intent. Particularly, high-difficulty questions were not included in the indirect linkage format, increasing the perceived difficulty.

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

Math Common Section Difficult... "Calculus and Geometry Standard Scores Expected to Be High"

The math section was similar in difficulty to the June and September mock tests, but the common subjects were difficult, while the elective subjects' difficulty was similar to previous mock tests.

Kim Byung-jin, director of Etoos Education Evaluation Research Institute, said, "The difficulty of the common subjects was increased, and the difficulty of elective subjects was adjusted. Probability and statistics were difficult, while calculus was moderate. This seems to be an attempt to address the high proportion of top-tier scores among calculus takers in previous mock tests and to reduce the gap between elective subjects."

Lee Young-deok of Daesung Academic Development Research Institute said, "The common subjects in Korean and math were somewhat difficult, while the elective subjects were set at an average level. The intention was to reduce the difficulty gap between elective subjects to alleviate advantages or disadvantages."

Despite the common subjects being difficult and the elective subjects' difficulty being lowered, it is expected to remain challenging for students who chose calculus or geometry to achieve high scores.

Lee explained, "In math electives, top-tier natural science universities require students to choose calculus and geometry. Since many top students select these two subjects, their standard scores are likely to be high."

Lim said, "Score differences between elective subjects are inevitable. Students who chose probability and statistics are likely to receive relatively lower standard scores. Probability and statistics were relatively easier than calculus, making it harder to enter the top 1st and 2nd grades."

Chief Examiner: "Adjusted Difficulty to Resolve Advantages and Disadvantages Among Elective Subjects"

On the 18th, Professor Wi Su-min of Korea National University of Education, the chairperson of the 2022 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) question committee, is explaining the CSAT question framework at the Government Complex Sejong.

Professor Wi Soo-min of Korea National University of Education, who served as the chief examiner for this year's CSAT, said, "We tried to adjust the question levels using the characteristics of examinee groups for each elective subject identified through two mock tests to resolve advantages and disadvantages."

Regarding the possibility of academic gaps caused by COVID-19, Professor Wi explained, "Analysis of the two mock tests showed no significant differences in characteristics between current students and graduates compared to last year or previous years."

Professor Wi added, "In the curriculum system, common subjects take precedence over elective subjects. Common subjects account for 75% and include a variety of questions from very difficult to very easy. Elective subjects also include discriminative questions, but we tried not to include particularly difficult high-level questions."

Meanwhile, the number of examinees for the first session of the CSAT on the day was 452,222, accounting for 89.2% of the total applicants (507,129). The absentee rate was 10.8%, down 2.4 percentage points from last year's 13.2%. Among the examinees, 96 tested while confirmed positive at hospitals or residential treatment centers, and 128 took the test at separate venues as self-quarantined individuals. The number of examinees at general test sites was 451,998.

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