"First Step in New College Admissions"... Over 37,000 Jeonnam High School Students Take March Assessment

First Test of 2028 College Admissions Reform: 12th Graders to Take "CSAT-Oriented" Assessment
Office of Education: "Customized College Guidance and Enhanced Rural Support"

The Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education announced on March 24 that it will conduct the "March 2026 National Joint Academic Assessment" for 37,044 students in grades 10 to 12 across high schools in the province. The office will also begin in earnest to establish a tailored college admissions support system for each grade level.

This assessment, organized by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, will be administered simultaneously at 97 high schools throughout the province. It has been prepared to objectively evaluate students' academic levels as the new school year begins. Notably, the testing format will differ by grade, depending on whether the college admissions reform plan applies to each grade.

Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education Exterior View

This year, 12th-grade students who will take the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) will undergo a "CSAT-oriented assessment" structured identically to the existing CSAT. The Korean language and mathematics sections will maintain the "common + elective subject" system, while students can select up to two subjects in the inquiry area.

In contrast, 10th and 11th graders will, for the first time, take an "integrated assessment" reflecting the "2028 College Admissions System Reform Plan."

These students will be evaluated according to the same standards across all subjects—Korean, mathematics, and inquiry—without elective subjects. For 11th graders, both "Integrated Social Studies" and "Integrated Science" are mandatory for a final score to be calculated, while for 10th graders, the questions will focus on the middle school curriculum.

The Office of Education expects that this assessment will provide 10th and 11th graders with an important opportunity to identify their strengths and weaknesses and enhance their adaptability to the rapidly changing CSAT system.

Based on the assessment results, the office plans to further strengthen grade-specific, customized college guidance. For 10th and 11th graders, counseling will be expanded to focus on supplementing basic academic skills and designing elective subjects, while 12th graders will receive intensive support for CSAT preparation and college admissions strategy development.

To this end, the office will provide detailed analysis data to individual schools to systematize in-school counseling and learning coaching.

Additionally, the office will accelerate policies such as: ▲ strengthening tailored educational capabilities at general high schools, ▲ enhancing teachers' expertise in career and college guidance, ▲ providing career and college counseling based on students' developmental stages, and ▲ supplying college admissions information. The support for students in rural and fishing communities, who generally have less access to information, will also be significantly enhanced.

Relevant support policies will be thoroughly shared at the general high school administrators’ workshop scheduled for March 26–27. Furthermore, year-round support will continue through initiatives such as a question-development competency training in July and the "J-Final," a Jeonnam-style CSAT mock exam in November.

Jeon Seonga, Director of Career Education, stated, "The March academic assessment is the starting point for 10th and 11th graders to adapt to CSAT changes, and it serves as the basis for strategy development for 12th graders." She added, "We will establish a college admissions support system that continues from diagnosis to year-round management."

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