No Perfect Scorers Amid 'Bulsunung' News... Academy Scene Says "There May Be None This Year"

No Perfect Scores Reported in Entrance Exam Prep Academies After CSAT
"Impact of Difficult Questions in Korean, English, and Math"
Many High-Difficulty Questions Despite Exclusion of 'Killer Questions'

As of the 5th day after the 2024 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) on the 16th, no perfect scorers have yet appeared based on preliminary scoring results. The admissions industry predicts that there may be no perfect scorers this year due to the CSAT being a 'difficult test.' Whether there are any perfect scorers will be confirmed on the score notification day, the 8th of next month.

According to major admissions academies such as Jongno Academy, Daesung Academy, Megastudy, Uway, Etoos, and Jinhaksa on the 21st, no perfect scorers have been identified in this year's CSAT. Lim Seong-ho, CEO of Jongno Academy, said, "Usually, perfect scorers appear 2 to 3 days after preliminary scoring is completed," adding, "At this point, it seems there are no perfect scorers."

In the past five years, the number of perfect scorers in the CSAT were ▲2019 academic year (9 people) ▲2020 academic year (15 people) ▲2021 academic year (6 people) ▲2022 academic year (1 person) ▲2023 academic year (3 people). There were no perfect scorers in the 2011 academic year CSAT, which is considered the most difficult test in history. That year’s CSAT had high difficulty levels in the language, mathematics, and foreign language sections, and new question types appeared, causing difficulties for test takers.

Lim said, "Except for social studies, all subjects were difficult in this CSAT," adding, "Especially in Korean, it wasn’t just one or two difficult questions; high-difficulty questions appeared across all areas, making it even harder for students." Nam Yoon-gon, head of the admissions strategy research center at Megastudy, also explained, "When Korean is difficult, perfect scorers rarely appear," adding, "This time, both Korean and mathematics were difficult."

On the 16th, when the 2024 College Scholastic Ability Test was held, examinees were preparing for the exam at Yongsan High School in Seoul. Photo by Joint Press Corps

After the government's application of 'killer question exclusion,' new types of high-difficulty questions were created by changing the way concepts in passages were applied to answer choices, leading to further difficulties for test takers. The EBS on-site teacher group also analyzed each session on the day of the CSAT and diagnosed, "Although killer questions were excluded, questions of varying difficulty levels were presented, ensuring discrimination." This has sparked controversy over whether 'killer questions' were effectively included.

In fact, more than 8 out of 10 students who took the CSAT evaluated the test as difficult. According to a survey on perceived difficulty conducted by EBS on the high school lecture website on the 17th, based on the 2024 CSAT Korean, Mathematics, English, and Korean History sections, 85.9% of the 2,764 respondents answered that the test was 'difficult.' Among them, 47.4% said it was 'very difficult,' and 38.5% said it was 'somewhat difficult.'

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