CSAT to be held on November 17 this year... "No scores provided for elective subjects" (Comprehensive)

Integrated CSAT-EBS Linkage Rate Same as Last Year
Continued Controversy over Advantages and Disadvantages of Elective Subjects in Humanities and Sciences
"We Are Paying Attention to Prevent Advantages and Disadvantages"
Exam Period Extended by 2 Days, Objection Review System Improved
New High-Difficulty Question Review Stage Established Before Final Review

Lee Gyumin, President of the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, is announcing the basic plan for the 2023 College Scholastic Ability Test at the Government Sejong Complex on the 22nd.

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The 2023 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) will be held on November 17. Although there is ongoing debate about the advantages and disadvantages of the elective CSAT, which is taken without distinction between humanities and sciences, the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE) has decided not to provide separate scores or statistics for each elective subject.

On the 22nd, KICE announced the basic plan for the 2023 CSAT.

This year’s CSAT will maintain the same “common + elective subject” system in the Korean language, mathematics, and vocational inquiry areas as last year, in accordance with the 2015 revised curriculum. In the Korean language section, students choose one from 'Speech and Writing' or 'Language and Media' in addition to the common subject (75%). In the mathematics section, students select one from 'Probability and Statistics,' 'Calculus,' or 'Geometry' alongside the common subject (75%). In the social and science inquiry areas, students can choose two subjects from 17 available options.

Typically, humanities students select Probability and Statistics, while science students choose either Calculus or Geometry. There have been ongoing criticisms that humanities students are disadvantaged due to score differences depending on the elective subject. Regarding this, Moon Young-joo, head of the CSAT Examination Headquarters at KICE, stated, "We pay great attention to question setting to prevent any advantage or disadvantage caused by elective subjects being too easy or too difficult," adding, "We will be as cautious as last year in this regard."

CSAT scores for Korean and mathematics are reported by combining scores from common and elective subjects, with elective subject scores standardized based on the group average scores obtained from the common subjects. KICE plans not to disclose the scores of elective subjects to test takers when announcing this year’s CSAT results.

Moon explained, "Providing standardized scores, averages, or percentiles by elective subject might lead students to choose subjects based on the scoring system rather than their interests or strengths," and added, "There are concerns that this could distort the selection rates of elective subjects, so we have decided not to provide such information this year as well."

The EBS CSAT textbooks and lectures will maintain a 50% linkage rate to the CSAT, but English will be tested through indirect linkage. Since Korean history is a mandatory subject, failure to take it will invalidate the entire test score. For the Korean history and inquiry sections, separate answer sheets will be provided to test takers.

The June mock test will be held on June 9, and the September mock test on August 31. CSAT registration will be open from August 18 to September 2. The answer key will be announced on November 29, and score notifications will be sent on December 9. The answer announcement schedule has been delayed by one day compared to previous years to reflect improvements in the CSAT question setting and objection review system.

Following the answer key error in Life Science II in last year’s CSAT, improvements to the CSAT question setting and objection review system will be applied starting this year. After submitting the second draft with high question completeness, a review process for high-difficulty questions will be newly established. A permanent committee for CSAT question errors and EBS-linked textbook errors will be set up, and case education will be strengthened through workshops for question setters, reviewers, and advisory committee members.

Lee Kyu-min, president of KICE, said, "The committee members responsible for question setting also expressed that there is a high possibility of errors in high-difficulty questions, so these measures will help resolve such issues," adding, "Extending the question setting period by two days was a carefully considered decision, and we expect these improvements to significantly help reduce question errors, especially in Life Science, social inquiry, and science inquiry areas."

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