The Korea Institute of Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE) administers the annual test on the third Thursday in November.
Because the CSAT is the primary factor considered during the Regular Admission round, it plays an important role in South Korean education.
[5] Many shops, flights, military training, construction projects, banks, and other activities and establishments are closed or canceled.
[6] The CSAT is designed to test a candidate's ability to study in college, with questions based on Korea's high-school curriculum.
It standardises high-school education and provides accurate, objective data for university admission.
In the Mathematics section, candidates take Math I (which consists of logarithms, sequences and trigonometry) and Math II (which consists of limits, precalculus and calculus), and are allowed to select one topic among probability and statistics, geometry and calculus.
The subordinate subjects are divided into three sections: social studies, science, and vocational education.
Most high-ranked universities require applicants to take two science subordinate subjects and Geometry or Calculus in the mathematics section if they apply for a STEM major, and do not accept subordinate subjects in the same field (such as Physics I and Physics II).
In 2023, the Ministry of Education announced revisions that will take effect starting in 2027, which includes abolishing electives, including Korean Language and Mathematics electives, and replacing different Natural science and social studies subjects with Integrated Science and Integrated Social Studies.
Common economy topics are: macroeconomics and international economics This category consists of texts from five categories: classical poetry, classical novels and prose, contemporary poetry, contemporary novels and play and essays.
All mathematics candidates take the Maths I and II and select one elective topic from three choices: Calculus, Geometry or Probability and Statistics.
The reading questions from 18 to 45 involve topics such as biographies and, philanthropy, graphs and grammar, fixing the correct words, orders of sentences, infer the intentions with sources originating from theses, autobiographies, news articles, academic journals, and EBS textbooks.
Electromagnetism: electric dipole moment, Lorentz force, RLC circuit III.
Quantum mechanics: black bodies, Wien's displacement law, Stefan–Boltzmann law, photoelectric effect, Compton scattering, matter waves, the Davisson–Germer experiment, uncertainty principle, Schrödinger equation, wave function, quantum tunnelling, scanning tunneling microscope Geology: Geology and Natural geography of the Korea, earthquakes, volcanoes, weathering, landslides, weather, tsunamis, environmental pollution, climate change Universe: Star, Earth, Sun, sunspot, Moon, eclipse, extraterrestrial life The problems are created by KICE members who are university professors and high-school teachers.
[6] High-school graduates and final-year high school students are allowed to sit the test.
The Korean Armed Forces, USFK and UNC change the schedule of military activities to minimise the noises.
Planes are grounded during the listening portion of the English section so their noise does not disturb the students.
[5][11] Neither students nor administrators may bring in cell phones, books, newspapers, food, or any other material which could distract other test-takers.
Administrators are warned against doing anything which could distract students in any way such as talking, opening windows, standing in front of a desk, sniffling, or making excessive noise.
The paragraph is excerpted from John Leofric Stocks' "The Limits of Purpose":So far as you are wholly concentrated on bringing about a certain result, clearly, the quicker and easier it is brought about the better.
Your resolve to secure a sufficiency of food for yourself and your family will induce you to spend weary days in tilling the ground and tending livestock; but if Nature provided food and meat in abundance ready for the table, you would thank Nature for sparing you much labour and consider yourself so much the better off.
High-school students may apply to take the test, and local education offices decide whether it will be administered in their districts.
[a][19] In the Korean and English sections, the questions are not directly from textbooks but are constructed in accordance with the curriculum.
[24] The changes have been cited as evidence of systemic instability and the sensitivity of the admission process to public opinion.
The Supreme Council for National Reconstruction established an early CSAT from 1962 to 1963 as a qualification test for students.
A similar policy was adopted in 1969 by the Third Republic of Korea, and the new test was the Preliminary College Entrance Examination (대학입학예비고사); it continued, mostly unchanged, until 1981.
The test name was changed to Preliminary College Preparations Examination (대학예비고사), and hagwons (cram schools) were outlawed.
[24][25] In the 1990s, there was a rumor that if students had the S-shaped emblem, they could go to a prestigious university (Seoul National University), and if they had the letter III, they could get a score of 300 on the CSAT, which led to the Onata incident in which test takers secretly removed the Sonata III emblem.
[30][31] The highly competitive exam has also cited as a contributing factor to South Korea's declining birth rate, as parents often pay for expensive hagwon cram schools to help their children study.
[33] Considered one of the most important days of a South Korean's life due to its role in determining which university a student gains admission to, the excessive reliance on the Suneung as a means of determining a student's future has also been criticised.