Perfect CSAT Scores for Two Consecutive Years... Gwangnam High School's Three Secrets: Self-Study, Dinner, and Personalized Student Records

Self-Study Rooms and Dinner Service for Time Management
Gwangnam High School's Student Records Used as a Model at Seoul National University
Principal Personally Secures 300 Million Won Budget, Proving the Strength of General Public High Schools

"Choi: The best principal, Jae: Principal Choi Jaeil, Il: Number one principal"

This is an acrostic poem written by a second-year student at Gwangnam High School in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, using the name of Principal Choi Jaeil. In one corner of Principal Choi's office, several acrostic poems created by students using his name were displayed. There were also writings expressing pride in the school, such as "Choi: Recently produced two perfect scorers on the College Scholastic Ability Test, Jae: A place where only talented people gather, Il: Ordinary high school Gwangnam High School, fighting!" The fact that students express their respect for the principal so freely is one of the unique strengths of Gwangnam High School, which has produced perfect scorers on the College Scholastic Ability Test for two consecutive years.

Jaeil Choi, principal of Gwangnam High School (far right in the photo), is posing together with Jeonggeon Wang, a perfect scorer on the 2026 College Scholastic Ability Test (second from the right). Gwangnam High School

On the 4th, in a corner of Principal Choi Jaeil's office at Gwangnam High School, handwritten letters from students and crafts made by parents are displayed.

Gwangnam High School is the only general public high school to have produced perfect scorers on the College Scholastic Ability Test for both the 2025 and 2026 academic years. Last year, the school made headlines as a perfect scorer came from a general high school, not a science, gifted, or autonomous private high school. This year's exam was considered so difficult that it was dubbed the "impossible CSAT," with the number of perfect scorers dropping to just five (four current students and one graduate), less than half of last year's eleven. Among them, one current student was again from Gwangnam High School. Given that this achievement has been repeated every time Principal Choi has been appointed to a school, it is difficult to attribute it simply to coincidence or the school's location.

When Principal Choi was interviewed in his office at Gwangnam High School on December 4, he waved off the question about the "secret to producing perfect scorers," saying, "There is no such thing." However, he added, "There is something I have always done at every school I have been appointed to."

"Does serving dinner really make a difference?" From zero to five Seoul National University admits at Gangil High School, with new self-study rooms and dinner service

Principal Choi cited the establishment of "self-study rooms" and the provision of "dinner" as the first tasks he tackled at every school he was assigned to. He designed the flow so that students could eat at school and move directly to the self-study room, minimizing the time they would spend outside the school.

Principal Choi expanded the meal service at Gwangnam High School to include dinner in addition to lunch after his appointment. Currently, out of approximately 980 students at Gwangnam High School, about 220 eat dinner at school. After dinner, students can immediately move to the self-study room on the same floor to continue their studies, allowing them to manage their time efficiently.

During his tenure as principal at Gangil High School in Gangdong-gu, Seoul, he created an environment that enabled "self-directed learning" in this way, and the results in university admissions changed dramatically. When he first arrived, there were zero students admitted to Seoul National University, but over his three years as principal, the school produced two, one, and two admits each year, totaling five students who were accepted. He said, "Time management is crucial for students," adding, "To prevent students from wasting time elsewhere after school, we made it possible for them to have dinner at school and move directly to the self-study room for self-directed learning." This approach has continued at Gwangnam High School. Currently, the self-study rooms at Gwangnam High School are open until midnight. Due to high demand, the school plans to abolish the fixed-seat system next year and introduce an electronic attendance system that automatically assigns available seats when students scan their ID cards. The cost to set up this system, 20 million won, plus the remodeling of the self-study rooms, totals about 300 million won, all of which has been secured from the city and district education offices.

The "dinner and self-study room" is not just a space, but a mechanism that anchors students' daily routines within the school. It minimizes the time and loss of focus that comes with commuting between home and private academies, and creates a structure where students repeatedly engage in self-directed learning under the supervision of teachers and peers.

Career exploration from first year... "Learning Note" created by the principal used for student records

On one side of Principal Choi's desk were three notebooks, one for each grade. These "Learning Notes" are another "secret weapon" of Gwangnam High School. The Learning Note is a booklet that Principal Choi created during his time at Gangil High School, consisting of sections such as "Finding My Dream (Aptitude Exploration, 1st year) - Sprouting (Career Exploration, 2nd year) - Bearing Fruit (Major Exploration, 3rd year)." Principal Choi said, "Studying is enjoyable when you have a dream," explaining, "In the first year, students are encouraged to think about their dreams; in the second year, they find a career or major that suits them; and in the third year, they choose the university and department that fits their goals."

Students record all their activities-classes, clubs, volunteering, experiential activities, and reading-in these notebooks. They also organize their own career and major exploration processes. At the end of the year, teachers use these records to write the students' official school records. This is the moment when a "personalized student record" is created.

Principal Choi said, "I always ask teachers not to 'Ctrl C+V (copy and paste),'" pointing out that when teachers rush to write student records at the end of the year, they may end up repeating similar content for each student, which he wants to avoid. He believes that student records should be tailored to each student's characteristics.

Student records based on Principal Choi's Learning Note have proven effective in early admissions. The number of students from Gwangnam High School (excluding graduates) admitted to Seoul National University and medical, dental, and pharmacy schools has increased sharply: for the 2022 academic year, two through early admission and two through regular admission; for 2023, two early and eight regular; for 2024, eight early and five regular; and for 2025, ten early and four regular. He shared, "Last year, the admissions office at Seoul National University even used our students' records as samples."

Extracurricular project activities are also active

This year, Jeonggeon Wang, the perfect scorer on the College Scholastic Ability Test, participated in the "Career Exploration Project (Jintampeu)," another unique activity at Gwangnam High School. Jintampeu is a program in which teams of four to six first- and second-year students explore academic fields and career paths in their areas of interest for a year. They conduct research on relevant majors, do field interviews, engage in volunteer and project activities, and ultimately produce a report. All these activities are also recorded in the student records. Last year, 63 teams and 300 students participated, and this year, about 57 teams and 270 students are involved. There are as many as 30 supervising teachers. It is essentially a signature program in which most students participate at least once during their time at Gwangnam High School.

On one side of the hallway wall, there is a poster for the "Career Exploration Project (Jintampeu)" in which students participate.

This year, a new reading program called "Wise Reading Life" was introduced for first-year students. Students read at least one book per week and participate in group activities in the fourth week. Out of about 270 first-year students, 93 signed up-about one in three students. Since the number of applicants far exceeded the expected 65, Principal Choi recruited seven more supervising teachers, increasing the number from 13 to 20. By strengthening "reading and critical thinking training" within the school, students can prepare for essay-based assessments and the increasingly challenging Korean language college entrance process without relying on private tutoring. This activity is also included in the student records and used for early admissions.

"The principal is a businessperson"... Personally securing a 300 million won remodeling budget from the city and district offices

Principal Choi said, "A principal must be a businessperson," adding, "The role is to set the direction for education and actively secure the necessary budget and support." He declared, "A principal who says, 'I am the best, follow me,' will ruin the school."

In fact, since his time as vice principal at Gwangnam High School, he personally visited the district office to secure funding for operating the self-study rooms. As a result, he established a model in which the cost of night staff (part-time wages) for supervising the self-study rooms after 9 p.m. is covered by the district office budget, and to this day, Gwangjin District Office continues to support Gwangnam High School's self-study room operations. "Even when told it couldn't be done at first, I eventually made it happen," he said, adding, "This year, we will receive an additional 30 million won in support." Not only the 300 million won for remodeling the self-study rooms and 20 million won for the electronic seating system, but also the budget for art performances, music festivals, and outreach art programs have all been secured through city and district education office grants and support programs.

Principal Choi recently opened a new study cafe with free seating. It is said to be more popular than fixed seating.

Principal Choi is set to retire in February next year, but he expressed a desire to improve the learning environment by replacing all desks, lockers, lights, and other items in the existing self-study rooms before he leaves. The necessary budget for this has already been secured through the city education office and district office.

He also actively involved parents and local figures in school operations. He re-invited a former head of the parents' association, who had served during his vice principal days, to join the school management committee, and appointed a local figure who had served as a city council member as the committee chair. He replaced most of the previous committee members who were there only for their connections or titles. His reasoning was that "those who know the region and the children best have a special affection for the school."

Principal Choi advised that the school must respond flexibly to future changes in the college admissions system. He said, "No matter how the admissions system changes, the school must continuously adapt to those changes," adding, "Thanks to this, even at public schools, we have been able to nurture outstanding talent on par with specialized and autonomous private high schools."

Principal Choi is set to retire in February next year.

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