Gwangju CSAT Absentee Rate at 7.13%... Korean and Math Show Discriminative Power Without "Killer Questions"

Second Lowest Absentee Rate After Busan
Test-Setting Committee: "Similar to or Slightly More Difficult Than Last Year"

As the absentee rate for the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) in Gwangju decreased compared to last year, analysis suggests that this year’s Korean and Mathematics sections were set at a level similar to or slightly more difficult than last year, with “killer questions” excluded. For top-performing students, the ability to solve discriminative questions is expected to be the key factor in determining their scores.

On the morning of the 13th, examinees are cheering for other examinees in front of the main gate of Test Site 21, set up at Seoseok High School in Hwajeong-dong, Seo-gu, Gwangju. Photo by Min Chanki

According to the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education on the 13th, out of 17,607 candidates registered for the first-period Korean section of the 2026 academic year CSAT, 1,256 did not attend, resulting in an absentee rate of 7.13%. This is a decrease of 0.49 percentage points from last year’s 7.62%, and is lower than the national average absentee rate (in the 9.4% range), ranking second lowest after Busan.

This year, the number of CSAT applicants in Gwangju reached 17,731, an increase of 885 (5.3%) compared to the previous year. The number of current students increased by 974 (8.3%), and other applicants such as those who passed the qualification exam grew by 88 (11.9%), while the number of graduates decreased by 177 (4.0%).

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With the absentee rate remaining low, it was also analyzed that the question-setting trend did not deviate significantly from last year’s approach. The test-setting committee announced that it maintained its principle of controlling the difficulty level, excluding “killer questions” while still ensuring discriminative power.

Kim Changwon, Chair of the CSAT Question-Setting Committee and professor at Gyeongin National University of Education, stated at a briefing at the Government Complex Sejong that day, “We prepared questions of appropriate difficulty so that discriminative power could be ensured using only content covered in the public education curriculum,” and added, “We excluded questions that would favor students who have repeatedly practiced problem-solving techniques in private education.”

He also explained that the linkage rate with EBS was set at about 50% of the total number of questions, with efforts made to enhance the perceived relevance.

For the Korean section, it was analyzed that the difficulty of the reading passages was high. Han Byunghun, a representative Korean instructor at EBS, said, “The difficulty of reading passages increased, but the difficulty of literature and elective subjects decreased,” and added, “Overall, it was similar to last year’s CSAT.” For the mathematics section, it was evaluated that questions with discriminative power, which would differentiate high-scoring students, were appropriately distributed.

College admissions consulting companies analyzed the Korean section as “similar to or slightly more difficult than last year,” and the mathematics section as “slightly more difficult than the September mock test.”

This year, the total number of CSAT applicants was 554,174, an increase of 31,504 (6.0%) compared to last year. In particular, as students born in 2007-the “Year of the Golden Pig”-took the CSAT as high school seniors, the number of current student applicants surged to 371,897. In contrast, the number of graduate applicants decreased.

The quota for medical school admissions, which determines entry into the top tier of natural sciences, will return to the pre-increase level of 3,123 for the 2026 academic year, making competition for admission even fiercer.

Experts point out that the increase in high school senior examinees and the reduction in medical school quotas may lead to a higher proportion of current students in the regular admissions process. The admissions consulting company Uway analyzed, “The position of graduates in the regular admissions process could become relatively narrower.”

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