Court to Deliver First Trial Verdict on June 17 for 'Life Science II Exam Error Lawsuit'

Amid the suspension of the effect of the court's decision on the answer determination for question 20 of Life Science II in the 2022 College Scholastic Ability Test's Science Inquiry section, which sparked controversy over a test error, a student at Gyeongbok High School in Jongno-gu, Seoul, is covering their face with the received score report on the 10th.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The verdict on the lawsuit seeking the cancellation of the answer key decision for question 20 of the 2022 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) Science Inquiry Area Biology II, which has sparked controversy over a question error, will be announced on the 17th.

The Seoul Administrative Court Administrative Division 6 (Presiding Judge Lee Ju-young) stated at the first hearing of the cancellation lawsuit filed by 92 Biology II test takers against the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE) on the 10th, "The ruling on this case will be delivered at 1:30 PM on the 17th."

The court also added, "We will try to proceed as quickly as possible so as not to disrupt the academic schedule, but we need time to review. If there are any circumstances, please provide your opinions, and we will consider whether the announcement date can be moved forward."

Earlier, the examinees filed a main lawsuit on the 2nd, claiming that there was an error in question 20 of Biology II and requesting the cancellation of the answer key decision by KICE, while also applying for a provisional injunction to temporarily suspend the effect of the answer key decision.

The day before, the court ruled on the provisional injunction application, stating, "The decision by KICE on November 29 to set the answer for question 20 of Biology II as number 5 will be suspended until the main lawsuit verdict is announced."

At that time, the court explained, "If the effect of the answer key decision is maintained, the applicants will receive score reports with Biology II grades determined accordingly, which will be used as the basis for university admission decisions, causing irreparable damage that cannot be compensated monetarily unless there are special circumstances."

Following the court's acceptance of the provisional injunction application, KICE distributed score reports with the Biology II scores left blank to the examinees on that day.

The question in controversy involves reading the given passage and identifying which of the two groups maintains Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, and based on this, evaluating whether the truth of three answer choices can be determined.

The examinees who filed the lawsuit argued that according to the passage, calculating the population size of one group results in a negative number (-), indicating that the premise of the question itself is invalid. However, KICE maintained the answer key decision, stating that even if the conditions of the question are incomplete, it remains valid as an assessment item to differentiate academic achievement levels.

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