Record-breaking 'Bulsuneung'... 4 out of 10 Examinees Consider Retaking the Exam

Jongno Hakwon Conducts Survey After CSAT Score Notification
Area with Below-Expectations Scores is 'Korean'
Half of Science Students "Willing to Cross-Apply"

A public opinion survey revealed that 40% of students who took the 2024 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) are considering retaking the exam.

On the 11th, Jongro Academy announced that this analysis was based on a survey conducted on the 8th and 9th of this month, when the CSAT score reports were released, targeting 2,025 test-takers.

Among science track students, 50.5% responded that they intend to apply to humanities departments through 'cross-application,' exceeding half. This is a slight increase from 46.6% last year.

Looking at the data by score range, 41.5% of students in the top grade bracket (average of Korean, Math, Science, and English) expressed an intention to cross-apply, which was lower than the average. However, in the second grade bracket, it was 58.8%, third grade 50.8%, and fourth grade 70.6%.

Regarding regular admission application strategies, 38.7% planned to apply to higher-tier schools, 43.3% to appropriate-tier schools, and 18.0% to lower-tier schools.

Notably, among the three opportunities to apply for regular admissions, 44.3% responded that they would apply once each to higher-tier, appropriate-tier, and lower-tier schools. 'One higher-tier and two appropriate-tier applications' accounted for 23.0%, and 'two higher-tier and one appropriate-tier applications' made up 20.8%.

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When asked if they were considering retaking the college entrance exam during the regular admission application process, 40.4% answered affirmatively (23.0% said yes, 17.4% said strongly yes).

The subject in which humanities students scored the lowest compared to their usual performance was 'Korean,' chosen by 40.7%, and 39.7% of natural sciences students also selected 'Korean.'

When asked whether they expect this trend in question setting to continue in the 2025 academic year, 54.7% responded 'yes,' and 20.2% said 'strongly yes.'

Jongro Academy CEO Lim Seong-ho said, "Regular admission applications are likely to show an upward application pattern based mainly on appropriate-tier applications, and cross-application is expected to be high among students in the 2nd to 4th grade brackets. Students should carefully consider the advantages and disadvantages of applying to each university in light of these circumstances."

Record-breaking 'Difficult CSAT'... "Number of students failing to meet minimum CSAT requirements expected to increase"

Meanwhile, the 2024 CSAT was a record-breaking difficult exam, with the highest standard scores being 150 in Korean and 148 in Math. These scores were one point higher than the 2022 CSAT, which was also called a record-breaking difficult exam with highest standard scores of 149 in Korean and 147 in Math. The highest standard score increases as the exam difficulty rises.

This year, the highest standard score in the Korean section was 150 points, and the cutoff score for the top grade (Grade 1) was 133 points, showing a 17-point difference within the top grade. Last year, the difference within Grade 1 was 8 points, so the gap widened by 9 points.

This indicates that even within Grade 1, students were evenly distributed across different score ranges rather than clustering around a specific score. It also means that although the 'killer questions' (the most difficult questions) were removed, the exam still secured differentiation among the top-tier students.

Not only the top tier but also the upper-middle tier showed a large score gap within each grade. The difference within Grade 2 was 7 points, Grade 3 was 8 points, and Grade 4 was 9 points, all larger than last year's 3, 4, and 6 points respectively.

The English section, which is graded on an absolute scale, is expected to be a variable in regular admissions linked to early admissions results. The percentage of students achieving Grade 1 in English was 4.71%, close to the relative grading rate of 4%, indicating it was difficult. This was the lowest Grade 1 rate since English switched to absolute grading in the 2018 academic year.

Nam Yoon-gon, head of the Admissions Strategy Research Institute at Megastudy Education, said, "Students who applied to top-tier universities and medical/pharmaceutical fields in early admissions are likely to face difficulties meeting the minimum CSAT requirements. Especially for medical schools with very high minimum CSAT standards, the number of students transferring to regular admissions due to failure to meet these requirements is expected to increase."

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