'Admission Briefing Sessions' Attendance Quadrupled Due to Postponement of Difficult CSAT and Early Admission Schedule

Anxious Examinees and Parents Flock to Admission Briefing
Early Admission Delays Complicate Regular Admission Strategies
Attention Focused on June 17 Ruling on Answer Cancellation Lawsuit
Trust in Ministry of Education and Evaluation Institute Inevitably Declines

On the 12th, parents and examinees who attended the 2022 College Entrance Exam Regular Admission Score Prediction Announcement Strategy Briefing held at the 600th Anniversary Hall of Sungkyunkwan University in Jongno-gu, Seoul, are looking at the materials with serious expressions. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

As legal battles continue over errors in the 2022 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) Life Science II questions, students are experiencing confusion due to a two-day delay in the early admission schedule.

On the 12th, over four times the usual number of people attended the 2022 regular admission strategy briefing held online by the entrance exam company Jongno Academy. More than 30,000 people participated in the live internet broadcast, and simultaneous online viewers exceeded 7,000. The number of consultation requests also surged, with inquiries more than quadrupling compared to previous years.

The first trial ruling on the cancellation lawsuit regarding the answer to question 20 of Life Science II in this year’s CSAT was set for the 17th, causing delays in the early admission schedule and making it difficult to formulate regular admission strategies. The Ministry of Education postponed the announcement of early admission successful candidates from the 16th to the 18th, and the registration period for successful candidates was delayed by one day, from the 18th to the 21st. Life Science II scores will also be announced after the ruling, at 8 p.m. on the 17th.

With the first integrated CSAT, the so-called ‘difficult CSAT,’ and now the scheduling complications, the admission results are unpredictable. In particular, among science track test takers, the proportion of top scorers in the math section’s standard scores doubled from 1,427 in last year’s Math Type A to 2,702 this year, increasing the discriminative power of science subjects for the highest-ranking science students.

On the 12th, parents and examinees who attended the 2022 College Entrance Exam Regular Admission Score Prediction Announcement Strategy Briefing held at the 600th Anniversary Hall of Sungkyunkwan University in Jongno-gu, Seoul, are looking at the materials with serious expressions. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

Students are busy calculating their scores. If the court rules on the 17th that question 20 of Life Science II should be counted as correct for all, the scores of test takers will change. Since many students take both Earth Science I and Life Science II, both groups will be directly or indirectly affected. Many students in online communities are closely watching for changes in percentile ranks if all answers are accepted as correct. Life Science II is a subject taken by top science track students applying to Seoul National University, Hanyang University, and medical and pharmaceutical fields.

Im Seong-ho, CEO of Jongno Academy, explained, "The standard scores of top students who took Life Science II will be reduced by about 1 to 2 points, and students who chose other subjects may be relatively advantaged. When standard scores change, percentile scores are adjusted, which affects grades, so it impacts meeting minimum grade requirements and influences both early and regular admissions."

The uncertainty for students has increased further. It has become difficult to estimate the scale of regular admission transfers that were not filled during early admissions. The competition among students during the regular admission application process is expected to intensify. CEO Im said, "Although regular admission applications start on the 30th, students have to plan without knowing the number of transfers from early admissions, which makes the situation daunting for them. Even humanities students may be somewhat affected by delays in additional successful candidate announcements."

The unprecedented suspension of answer enforcement has dealt a critical blow to the credibility of the Ministry of Education and the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation. A professor at a university in Seoul commented, "The conclusion was probably not made independently by the evaluation institute, and it seems they tried to cover up the subsequent problems by accepting all answers as correct. Since the court listens to experts before making a decision, the Ministry of Education and the evaluation institute need to develop their own verification capabilities internally going forward," he pointed out.

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