This Year's CSAT Preliminary Analysis: English Emerges as the Key Variable for Top-Tier Students

Jongno Academy Analyzes Preliminary Scores of 5,170 Students

This year, in the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), top-tier students perceived English as the most difficult subject, while upper-middle-tier students found mathematics most challenging, and mid-tier students reported the highest difficulty in Korean.

Yonhap News Agency

On December 2, Jongno Academy announced that, based on an analysis of preliminary scores from 5,170 students who took the 2026 CSAT, the average English score among students with a combined raw score in Korean, mathematics, and inquiry subjects in the 290-point range was 93.4 points.

Compared to the average scores in Korean (97.7 points), mathematics (98.4 points), and inquiry subjects (96.9 points), the English score was the lowest among these students.

Among students in the 240-point range, who typically gain admission to upper-middle-tier universities in Seoul, the average mathematics score was the lowest. The average scores were 81.6 points for Korean, 82.6 points for English, and 82.0 points for inquiry subjects, but only 80.9 points for mathematics.

In the 200-220 point range, considered the threshold for entry into universities in Seoul, the Korean score was the lowest. For students in the 220-point range, the average scores were 76.2 points for mathematics, 78.4 points for English, 75.1 points for inquiry subjects, and just 73.4 points for Korean. Similarly, the average Korean scores for students in the 200-point and 210-point ranges were 66.9 points and 69.8 points, respectively, the lowest among all subjects.

Jongno Academy advised students to develop their regular admission strategies by considering the subject weightings of each university.

Lim Seongho, CEO of Jongno Academy, stated, "At Seoul National University, where the weight of English is low, even students with English grades in the 4th or 5th tier may have a chance of regular admission depending on their Korean scores."

The phenomenon known as 'Satam Run,' considered the biggest variable in this year's CSAT, was also analyzed as a major factor to consider when developing regular admission strategies.

According to Jongno Academy's survey, 21.1% of students who chose only two social inquiry subjects in this year's CSAT hoped to enroll in natural science departments.

Among students who took one social inquiry subject and one science inquiry subject, 72.1% indicated they would apply to natural science departments, while 89.7% of those who chose only two science inquiry subjects said the same. The average combined raw score in Korean, mathematics, and inquiry subjects for students who took two science inquiry subjects was 248.0 points, higher than that of students who took one social and one science inquiry subject (229.0 points) or two social inquiry subjects (228.2 points).

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