CSAT D-100: Final Test Under Current System, First Application of Regional Physician System... Variable for N Students

Abolition of Elective Subjects from 2028 Academic Year

First Year of the Regional Physician System, A Variable for Top N Students

Korean and Math Expected to Maintain Discrimination... English Difficulty Under Scrutiny

The 2027 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) will reach the D-100 mark on August 11. As this year’s CSAT is the last to be held under the current system, there are forecasts that more repeat takers (N students) may feel increased pressure due to forthcoming changes in the entrance exam structure. The regional physician system, being introduced for the first time this year, has also been identified as a variable that could attract top-ranked repeat examinees.

Yonhap News Agency

Final CSAT with Elective Subjects, Introduction of the Regional Physician System... A Variable for Top N Students

According to the education sector on August 10, from the 2028 academic year CSAT onwards, elective subjects in Korean and mathematics will be abolished. In the area of inquiry subjects, instead of choosing individual subjects as is currently the case, all examinees will take both "Integrated Social Studies" and "Integrated Science." Consequently, if candidates fail to enter their desired university this year, they will have to prepare for next year under a new testing system. The admissions industry believes these changes could encourage N students to take this year’s CSAT.

The regional physician system, implemented for the first time this year, is being cited as another variable. The system will be centered on 27 regional universities and 4 medical schools in the Gyeongin area. As this opens up new opportunities for top-performing students aiming for medical school, it is analyzed that it could also impact the movements of high-achieving N students.

Attention is also focused on the difficulty levels of each subject in this year’s CSAT. For Korean and mathematics, it is expected that the current approach—ensuring a certain level of discrimination to identify top-performing students—will be maintained. Since top-tier recruitment units such as medical schools need to secure distinct levels of differentiation, it is highly likely that the so-called "killer questions" will be excluded, but medium to high-difficulty questions will continue to be used to distinguish students.

Jongno Academy stated, "Based on the June mock exam, 31.4% of students scored 50 points or less out of 100 in Korean, and 47.9% did so in mathematics." The academy added, "Given these score distributions, even getting one or two more correct answers in mathematics on 2-point, 3-point, 4-point, or subjective questions could significantly impact percentile rankings and grades." They further analyzed, "Students maintaining high scores in mathematics must focus closely until the end on quasi-killer and other differentiating questions introduced since the 2024 CSAT, while students in the middle range can also benefit meaningfully by securing one or two more correct answers, even if not on quasi-killer questions."

There is speculation that English may be somewhat easier compared to last year. In 2025, although English was graded on an absolute scale, the proportion of students earning the top grade was only 3.11%, leading to controversy that the level of difficulty was too high. Some have pointed out that if too few students achieve a top grade under an absolute grading system, the system’s intended purpose is undermined. As a result, the admissions industry predicts that the difficulty level in English could be adjusted compared to last year, although there is a possibility it could still be difficult, as seen in the June practice test by the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation. Jongno Academy recommended, "It is necessary to prepare by reviewing questions that have been challenging across different areas in previous tests."

100 Days Left: "For Rolling Admissions, Meet the Minimum Requirement; For Regular Admissions, Weigh Subject Weighting"

Admissions experts unanimously agree that during the remaining 100 days, it is important to optimize study strategies for one’s own situation to achieve actual score improvements. For rolling admissions, they advise focusing on meeting the CSAT minimum academic achievement standard set by the target university, while for regular admissions, they recommend prioritizing study based on the subject weighting system of the intended university for greater efficiency.

Megastudy pointed out that, in the 2026 academic year, only 70% of applicants in Korea University’s school recommendation track (a student record-based track) and 40.4% in the academic excellence track (a holistic admissions track) met the CSAT minimum standard, emphasizing, "Even for upper-tier universities, meeting the CSAT minimum is extremely important in student record-based admissions." The same holds true for essay-based admissions. For example, although the initial competition rate for the 2026 Kyung Hee University Pharmacy Department’s essay-based admission was 95.6 to 1, only 11.4% of essay takers met the CSAT minimum standard. Megastudy further advised, "Students applying to tracks that require a CSAT minimum in rolling admissions must closely check the minimum standards for each university and recruitment unit and develop a targeted CSAT study plan to meet those requirements."

For regular admissions, since the percentiles or standard scores for the four CSAT subjects are typically used, it is regarded as most efficient to identify and prioritize study in the subjects with the highest weighting at the target university.

This year, at the major fifteen universities, CSAT-based admissions account for up to 40% of the total intake. Megastudy explained, "For the main universities in the 2027 academic year, most humanities tracks assign higher weightings to Korean and mathematics, and most natural sciences tracks place greater emphasis on mathematics. If you identify which subject areas your desired university prioritizes for regular admission and focus your studies accordingly, you can achieve good results."

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