[Jeong Gyu-young's Presidential Election and College Entrance③] The CSAT Should Be a Source of Hope and Opportunity for Students

Published 31 Dec.2021 08:17(KST)

Proposal for College Scholastic Ability Test Reform Plan

Editor's NoteThis series features expert contributions aimed at improving the structural problems of education in the Republic of Korea and suggesting necessary policy directions. The following is a proposal by Jung Kyu-young, president of the nonprofit organization 'Studying Athletes, Exercising Students.' President Jung studied at Stanford Graduate School in the United States and served as president of the university's fencing association. He analyzed the selection process of outstanding students from various countries and the elementary, middle, and high school curricula they completed. Based on this, since 2008, he has been promoting an educational system that combines study and exercise, as well as scholarship projects, to establish the U.S. education system and school sports system domestically. Drawing on his experience, he discusses stories worth referencing regarding domestic public education and university entrance examination systems.

☞Reference

①Speaking about Education to the President of the Republic of Korea

②The College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) Is Not a Bar Exam

Jung Kyu-young, President of the Studying Athletes Exercising Students Association and CEO of Lorus Enterprise

As previously suggested by the author, the CSAT should be adjusted in difficulty so that all test takers can achieve high scores without the help of private education. Additionally, multiple opportunities to take the exam should be provided throughout the year without age restrictions, and multiple test types should be introduced so that examinees can choose the exam format most advantageous to them. The idea is to give everyone who studies diligently a chance to achieve a high score.

If exams are set at a level much more difficult than school classes, reliance on private education increases. The problem is that similar levels of private education markets do not form evenly nationwide. Consequently, parents flock to specific regions where private education markets are well established, causing real estate prices to skyrocket and entrenching educational inequality.

Every year after the CSAT, articles inevitably appear with titles like "How a young head of household achieved a perfect CSAT score without private education in difficult circumstances." Whenever such articles come out, the author wonders how the vast majority of students who studied diligently without special private education outside their hometowns but did not achieve high scores on the CSAT might feel. Rather than giving them hope, such stories may only raise the walls of relative frustration and despair.

To overcome the limitations of high school internal grades, which inevitably vary due to differences in schools, regions, and private education infrastructure, the author proposes introducing subject-specific exams like CSAT2. In other words, through subject-specific exams such as CSAT2 Korean Literature, CSAT2 Mathematics, CSAT2 Korean History, and CSAT2 Chemistry, it is possible to verify the subject-specific academic abilities of students attending schools where internal grade competition is relatively less intense or students applying for specific majors. These exams should have the same maximum score and exam duration for each subject, unlike tests where the number of questions, maximum scores, exam times, and difficulty levels vary each year.

Difficulty adjustment is equally important for CSAT2 subject-specific exams. Students who have diligently absorbed school lessons without private education outside their hometowns should be able to score at least 70%. Students with school grades above 90 out of 100 who have studied hard on their own using study materials available at bookstores should be able to achieve scores above 90% without much difficulty.

In the United States, the SAT Subject Tests, equivalent to CSAT2, are not mandatory entrance exams required by all universities. Students take these exams if they want to enhance their competitiveness, if their school's competitiveness is too low, or if they are homeschooled or attend online schools and feel their academic abilities might be questioned. Also, the required SAT Subject Tests vary by university and college.

These exams have a maximum score of 800 points per subject and last one hour. There are also AP (Advanced Placement) subject exams, which cover a broader and higher-level curriculum than SAT Subject Tests. These AP courses are offered in high schools, and teachers prepare students for the exams during class. However, many high schools do not offer AP courses. Students are not disadvantaged in college admissions if they do not have AP scores. AP exams are taken by students who want to further demonstrate their academic excellence or reduce the number of required courses in college. Universities allow students who score highly on AP exams to graduate early.

One female student the author counseled had a congenital facial issue requiring surgery. Due to surgical scars, she suffered severe complexes and bullying, leading her to give up on public education. The author recommended homeschooling for her. She took the Korean high school equivalency exam and three SAT Subject Tests in the U.S. corresponding to the subjects she wished to major in, as proposed by the author. After proving her university-level academic ability, she was admitted to a prestigious U.S. university ranked in the top 30. This student did not receive expensive private education but purchased several SAT Subject Test study books and studied independently for two years, taking the exams multiple times until she achieved her desired scores.

In this way, in the U.S., students applying to specific majors such as engineering mainly take SAT Subject Tests and AP exams. Conversely, students from highly competitive schools do not need to take SAT Subject Tests because universities recognize the competitiveness of their high schools, so they do not require excessive private education. Universities also operate their own evaluation criteria to ensure students who cannot afford private education are not disadvantaged for lacking AP scores. This is impossible under the middle and high school equalization system and requires universities to have autonomy in student selection. In other words, student selection should not be solely based on ranking top-performing students by grades but should be a university-led selection method. How universities exercise their authority and criteria for student selection without controversy will be discussed in detail in the next installment.