This Year's CSAT Excludes 'Killer Questions'... Unsettled Education Scene

Government Takes Strong Stance on Private Education... Immediate Implementation from September Mock Exam
"Students Anxious Over Major Announcement Ahead of CSAT"

The government has decided to exclude 'killer questions' (ultra-high difficulty questions) from the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) in order to reduce private education, creating a restless atmosphere in the education field. The government views killer questions as the fundamental cause of increased dependence on private education and plans to exclude them starting from the mock exam in September.

Civil society generally agrees with the direction of 'strengthening public education and reducing dependence on private education.' However, in the education field, there are ongoing views that it is overwhelming to know how to prepare for the mock exam starting in September.

Seo Bu-won, a teacher at Salesio High School in Gwangju, said in a CBS radio interview on the 20th that students are confused by the government's announcement to exclude 'killer questions' from the CSAT. He mentioned that what students worry about the most is whether it will be possible to secure differentiation.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Lee Ju-ho is attending the Party-Government Council on Enhancing School Education Competitiveness and Reducing Private Education held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building on the 19th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

He said, "(Students) say they are more afraid that other friends will all get the questions right than that they themselves get them wrong," adding, "From the students' perspective, they might perceive that all questions become killers." He explained that even if the questions are easy and everyone gets good scores, the exam ultimately ranks students, so easier questions are not necessarily better.

Seo also said, "Until now, students have been taking monthly mock exams and training to prepare for and adapt to the CSAT, adjusting their bodies to the pattern, but suddenly, this kind of change comes in abruptly, so anxiety can only increase."

The government holds the position that sufficient differentiation can be achieved within the public education curriculum even without killer questions. However, it has not provided a clear answer on how to specifically secure differentiation.

Some question whether excluding killer questions will effectively reduce dependence on private education.

Teacher Seo said, "There are many big issues such as the transition to an absolute evaluation system, securing trust in university admissions, the crisis faced by regional universities, reforming the hierarchical academic structure centered on the metropolitan area, and many other major problems, but all of these seem to disappear somewhere, and the education issue is being reduced to a trivial problem of whether to include or exclude a single killer question."

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