"Will CSAT English Get Harder?"... September Mock Test Sees 15.5% Achieve Grade 1 in 'Easy English'

English Grade 1 Proportion Hits Third-Highest Since Adoption of Absolute Grading
"Satam Run" Phenomenon Intensifies... Korean and Math Also Relatively Easier

In the September mock test for the 2027 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), the percentage of students achieving the highest grade (Grade 1) in English reached 15%, marking the third-highest figure in history since the introduction of the absolute grading system.

On the morning of September 2nd, students were preparing to take the September mock test for the 2027 College Scholastic Ability Test at Seoul Girls' High School in Mapo-gu, Seoul. 2026. 09. 02 Photo by Joint Press Corps

According to the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation's "2027 CSAT September Mock Test Grading Results" released on September 28, the proportion of students scoring Grade 1 in English (with a raw score of 90 points or above) was calculated at 15.54%. Grade 2 accounted for 22.58%, while Grade 3 was 23.48%. This means that six out of ten students ranked within Grade 3 or higher.

The core issue is not only the lack of discrimination among high-achieving students but also the significant fluctuations in test difficulty. The percentage of top scorers in English hit an all-time high of 19.10% during the June mock test last year, but then plunged to 4.50% in the September mock test three months later, falling even further to 3.11% in the November CSAT.

Previously, following controversy over the so-called "difficult CSAT," Oh Seunggeol, President of the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, resigned just six days after issuing an apology; nevertheless, the proportion of students attaining Grade 1 in the June 2027 mock test held this year remained at only 4.13%. In the elective exam area, the phenomenon known as "Satam Run," where an overwhelming number of students choose social studies electives, has intensified.

According to Jongro Academy, the number of students who took science electives dropped by 33.0% compared to the September mock test last year, while the number of students who selected Life Science I decreased by 38.3%. In contrast, the number of students opting for social studies electives increased by 10.8%. Notably, those who chose "Life and Ethics" within the social studies category rose by 16.4%, highlighting a clear concentration toward specific subjects.

Korean and mathematics tests were analyzed to be somewhat easier compared to last year’s CSAT. The standard score, which indicates the deviation of a student’s raw score from the average, tends to fall when the test is easier and the average score rises.

In this mock test, the highest standard score for Korean was 144 points, 3 points lower than last year’s CSAT. Likewise, mathematics’ highest standard score was 137 points, down 2 points from last year.

Meanwhile, the number of test-takers for this mock exam was tallied at 396,118, a decrease of 13,053 compared to the same period last year. This figure is also 97,778 fewer than the number of CSAT candidates in the previous year. Of these, 298,250 (75.3%) were current students, while 97,868 (24.7%) were graduates or persons who passed the qualification exam, bringing the number of repeat takers close to 100,000.

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