CSAT Killer Questions Released... But Anxiety Persists in Educational Field

22 'Killer Questions' Announced... Controversy Over Selection Criteria
Including EBS-Linked Questions, Doubts About Killer Questions

The government announced the killer questions (ultra-high difficulty questions), but anxiety in the education field has not subsided.

Earlier, on the 26th, Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, announced measures to reduce private education and presented examples of killer questions from the past three years of the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) and this year's June mock CSAT. According to the Ministry of Education, killer questions are defined as "questions covering content not dealt with in the public education curriculum, which favor students who have learned problem-solving techniques through private education and have repeatedly practiced them."

Looking at examples of killer questions in Korean, English, and Mathematics, there were 1 in the 2021 CSAT, 7 in the 2022 CSAT, 7 in the 2023 CSAT, and 7 in the 2024 June mock test, totaling 22 questions. By subject area, there are 7 in Korean, 9 in Mathematics, and 6 in English.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Specifically, in Korean, killer questions include passages that are difficult for high school students to understand or use technical terms, making them easier for students with background knowledge. In Mathematics, questions that combine multiple concepts and require excessively complex thinking or high-level problem-solving methods are considered killer questions. In English, questions involve professional or conceptual and abstract content, making it difficult to understand the meaning even after interpreting the passage.

The Ministry of Education plans to exclude killer questions from this year's CSAT. The goal is to reduce private education costs by enabling students to prepare for the CSAT without the help of large private academies.

However, controversy remains over the criteria for selecting killer questions. There are criticisms that the Ministry's explanations, such as "abstract" or "excessive inference," are vague. Additionally, some questions linked to EBS textbooks and those with an EBSi standard correct answer rate exceeding 30% were selected, raising doubts about whether they can be classified as killer questions.

Professor Sung Ki-seon of the Department of Education at Catholic University, former president of the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, pointed out regarding the 22 announced killer questions, "It is difficult to properly analyze the questions with abstract terms like difficult passages and complexity without revealing the correct answer rates or the basis for the questions."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 27th, he said on CBS Radio's "Kim Hyun-jung's News Show," "(Currently) about 50% of the questions are linked to EBS textbooks," adding, "If you look at the CSAT materials, there are very complex and diverse passages not found in textbooks, but when creating those materials, the Institute’s experts review them with the perspective that they should not exceed the high school curriculum."

Former President Sung said, "In the 2019 CSAT, question number 31 in Korean, related to manning power, was a very difficult and high-level question that caused an issue," and added, "Almost all passages related to science, economics, and philosophy, which fall under scientific nonfiction, are included in EBS textbooks."

He also mentioned a case where students and parents filed a lawsuit for damages against the state due to the 2019 "bul-suneung" (difficult CSAT) but ultimately lost.

Previously, in November 2018, the civic group Education Concern-Free World (Sagokse) along with 10 students and parents filed a damage claim against the state and the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, which administers the CSAT, arguing that some questions in the 2019 CSAT were outside the high school curriculum and caused harm. However, the court dismissed the claim.

He explained, "The Supreme Court's conclusion is that the Institute administering the exam to high school students can increase the difficulty level, but a high difficulty level does not necessarily mean that the questions exceed the curriculum."

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