"Suneung Math Question 22, Correct Answer Rate Estimated in Single Digits" ... 'Ultra-High Difficulty Question' Released

Jongno Academy Preliminary Scoring Analysis Results
Harder Than September Mock Test's Difficult Questions
Korean Also at September Mock Test Answer Rate Level

In the 2024 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), the math section's 'Common Subject Question 22,' considered the most difficult question, is expected to have a single-digit correct answer rate, according to an analysis.

According to an analysis by Jongno Academy on the 20th, tracking the provisional scoring results of 4,128 students who took the June and September mock exams and the CSAT in the Korean language and math common subjects, only 8.8% of students answered Question 22 (short-answer) correctly. The next most difficult questions were Question 14 (multiple-choice) with a correct answer rate of 38.1%, and Question 20 (short-answer) with 40.7%, both around the 40% level.

Typically, questions with a correct answer rate around 5-10% are considered ultra-high difficulty questions, and so-called 'killer questions' refer to those with a correct answer rate below 10%.

In the September mock exam, held after the government announced a policy to exclude killer questions, the most difficult question, Question 21 (short-answer), had a correct answer rate of 17%. This means that the question distinguishing the top-tier students in this CSAT was even more difficult than that in the September mock exam.

Previously, only 1.5% of students who took the CSAT full-service released by EBS reported answering math Question 22 correctly. According to the 'Scoring Results and Correct Answer Rates' data released by Megastudy Education on the 16th based on students' provisional scoring results, even when limited to students who chose 'Calculus' for math Question 22, the correct answer rate was 5%.

On the 17th, examinees and their families attending the '2024 CSAT Results and Regular Admission Score Prediction Briefing' held at Daeyang Hall, Sejong University, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, are listening to the briefing. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

Question 22, the last question in the common subject, was from Math II and asked whether students could find a cubic function satisfying given conditions using differentiation. Students had to infer the graph shape satisfying the conditions by considering the sign of the derivative and then derive the function formula accordingly.

On the day of the CSAT, June 16, Shim Ju-seok, a teacher from the EBS on-site teacher group and Incheon Haneul High School, who gave a briefing on the question trends analysis at the Ministry of Education, analyzed, "The short-answer correct answer rate was slightly more stringent than the September mock exam to secure discrimination among top-tier students."

The Korean language section was also evaluated as having a high difficulty level. The correct answer rate for Question 34 (literature part) in the common subject was the lowest at 36.4%, and Questions 31 (literature) and 10 (reading) had correct answer rates of 38.1%.

This is similar to the three lowest correct answer rate questions in the September mock exam, which ranged from 33.4% to 40.1%.

Jongno Academy stated, "The math common subject was set at a similar level to the September mock exam, but since 2,520 perfect scorers appeared in the September mock exam, it seems that questions to distinguish the top-tier students were made more difficult," adding, "Although there were many EBS-linked passages in the literature and reading parts of the Korean language section, it may have been difficult for students to find the correct answers."

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