Court Cancels Decision on Correct Answer for CSAT Life Science II Question... "Clear Error in Question"

Question 20 of the 2022 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) in Life Science II, which sparked controversy over a "question error."

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The court ruled to cancel the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation's decision on the correct answer for question 20 of the 2022 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) Science Inquiry Area, Life Science II, amid controversy over a question error.

On the 15th, the Seoul Administrative Court Administrative Division 6 (Presiding Judge Lee Ju-young) made this ruling during the verdict hearing of the cancellation lawsuit filed by 92 Life Science II test takers against the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation regarding the decision on the correct answer.

The court pointed out, "According to the principles of life science, the number of individuals in an animal population cannot be negative, so there is a clear error in this question as there are no groups I and II that satisfy all the given conditions."

Furthermore, the court stated, "This question contains a clear error, and such an error makes it impossible for examinees to select the correct answer or at least causes serious obstacles. Therefore, this question cannot fulfill its basic role of measuring the examinees' academic ability necessary for university education and has lost its validity as an evaluation indicator."

The court added, "Nevertheless, the defendant's decision to designate option 5 as the correct answer for question 20 of Life Science II is illegal and is hereby canceled."

The court advanced the originally scheduled verdict date from the 17th to this day. This move is interpreted as an effort to minimize confusion in academic schedules by delivering an early ruling amid the imminent university admission schedule.

Earlier, the examinees filed a main lawsuit on the 2nd, requesting the cancellation of the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation's decision on the correct answer for question 20 of Life Science II, claiming there was an error. They also applied for a provisional injunction to temporarily suspend the effect of the correct answer decision. On the 9th, the court ruled, "The decision by the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation on November 29 to designate option 5 as the correct answer for question 20 of Life Science II is suspended until the main lawsuit verdict is delivered," granting the provisional injunction.

Subsequently, the Institute issued score reports to examinees with the Life Science II score marked as 'blank,' and the Ministry of Education, after consulting with the Korea Council for University Education, postponed the announcement date for early admission successful candidates to the 18th. The registration period for early admission successful candidates was also delayed from the 17th?20th to the 18th?21st, and the early admission unregistered supplementary admission period was postponed from the 21st?27th to the 22nd?28th, each by one day.

The question under controversy involved reading the given passage and identifying which of the two groups maintained Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, then evaluating whether the truth of three answer choices could be determined based on this.

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, the Institute maintained the decision on the correct answer, arguing that even if the conditions of the question are incomplete, it remains valid as an evaluation item to distinguish academic achievement levels.

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