Gwangju CSAT Preliminary Scores Show High Difficulty in Korean, Math, and English... Seoul National University Cutoff at 266 Points

Gwangju Office of Education: "Difficulty Increased Compared to Last Year, Greater Discriminative Power"
Korean Section Burdened by Challenging Reading Passages... Mathematics Hinges on Time Management
English Top Grade Expected Around 3%... Lowest Level in CSAT History
Social Studies More Difficult Overall Except for Life and Ethics
Science Inquiry I: 43?47 Points, Science Inquiry II: 46?48 Points Suggested

The preliminary CSAT scoring results for third-year high school students in Gwangju have clearly revealed the difficulty level of this year's exam. On November 18, the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education announced the "2026 Academic Year College Scholastic Ability Test Preliminary Score Analysis," concluding that this year's CSAT was generally more difficult than last year's. The data was compiled by the Gwangju High School Guidance Counselors’ Association and the Office of Education's Admissions Information Analysis Team, based on current students in the Gwangju area.

On the 16th, parents were reviewing college admission-related materials at a mock CSAT scoring briefing held at an academy in Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

The Office of Education noted that highly discriminative questions stood out in both Korean and Mathematics, and that English was clearly more difficult than the September mock test. For Korean, the reading passages were generally challenging, while the elective subject "Speech and Composition" was considered moderate, and "Language and Media" was set at a similar level to last year. In Mathematics, there was a mix of questions with varying difficulty, making time management a key variable, but the overall perceived difficulty was analyzed to be similar to last year.

The difficulty of the English section increased significantly. With a focus on reading comprehension and longer sentences, accurately understanding the content became more challenging, and discriminative power was strengthened in areas such as blank inference and sequence arrangement. The Office of Education projected that the proportion of students achieving the highest grade in English this year would be around 3%, the lowest in CSAT history.

There were also notable changes in the inquiry subjects. In Social Studies, all subjects except "Life and Ethics" were more difficult than last year, and the cut-off scores for the highest grade in "Life and Ethics" and "Society and Culture" are expected to be in the 44-46 point range. Science Inquiry maintained a similar level of difficulty to last year, with the highest grade cut-off suggested at 43-47 points for Science Inquiry I and 46-48 points for Science Inquiry II.

The Office of Education and the Admissions Information Analysis Team also provided the predicted minimum scores required for admission to major universities, based on the preliminary scores. Assuming a maximum raw score of 300 points for Korean, Mathematics, and Inquiry, Seoul National University is expected to require 266 points for humanities and 265 points for sciences. Korea University and Yonsei University are projected to require 259 points for humanities and 263 points for sciences.

Gwangju National University of Education is expected to require 228 points, GIST 254 points, and Korea Institute of Energy Technology 263 points for admission.

For Chonnam National University, the predicted minimum scores for humanities majors are: Department of Korean Language Education 232 points, Department of English Education 223 points, School of Business Administration 222 points, Department of Public Administration 217 points, Department of Political Science and International Relations 216 points, and Department of Korean Language and Literature 212 points. The overall minimum score for humanities is estimated to be around 208 points. For science majors, the predicted minimum scores are: School of Medicine (local) 278 points, School of Dentistry 274 points, School of Pharmacy 270 points, and Pre-Veterinary Medicine 269 points. The minimum score for majors requiring Mathematics (Calculus/Geometry) is 203 points, while for majors without a specified mathematics requirement, it is estimated to be around 210 points.

For Chosun University, the predicted minimum scores are: Pre-Medicine (local) 276 points, Pre-Dentistry 272 points, Department of Pharmacy 269 points, and Department of Nursing 213 points. However, as the regular admission quota is only 3.2%, it is necessary to check the number of places carried over from early admission.

The Office of Education also provided cautions regarding the use of this analysis. Since the data is based on the regular admission guidelines, there may be changes after the announcement of the number of places carried over from early admission, and predictions based on raw scores should be used for reference only. It is important to consider the possible variations due to the absolute grading of English, Korean History, and Second Foreign Language/Chinese Characters, and actual applications should be based on each university's converted scores after the official grade notification.

The CSAT results will be announced to students at 9 a.m. on December 5. Standard scores, percentiles, and grades will be provided, while English, Korean History, and Second Foreign Language/Chinese Characters, which are graded on an absolute scale, will only show grades. Students who do not take the Korean History section will have all their scores invalidated.

The Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education plans to hold a preliminary score briefing for high school senior guidance counselors on November 20, a detailed score analysis session for teachers, students, and parents on December 11, and one-on-one regular admission counseling sessions from December 19 to 23.

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