2023-12-10 18:00:00
Giving up on regular admissions and registering early for re-study institutes Expected to increase number of N-students due to expansion of medical school quota 96.5% of students scoring 1st grade in math on CSAT are expected to increase conversion of science and liberal arts students to calculus-geometry
While the results of the College Scholastic Ability Test for the 2024 school year were notified on the 8th, a large number of parents and students flocked to the college entrance information session held by Jongno Academy at the 600th Anniversary Memorial Hall of Sungkyunkwan University in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 10th. The government announced that it had ‘excluded killer questions from this CSAT’, but the scoring results showed that it was very difficult, raising the concerns of test-takers who need to devise a strategy for regular admission to college. Reporter Choi Hyuk-joong sajinman@donga.com
“The first period (Korean language section) was so difficult that I failed everything. “I will take the exam once more.”
Parent A’s high school senior son declared that he would retake the exam on the 8th following receiving the 2024 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) report card. This is why Mr. A visited Gangnam and Songpa, Seoul over the weekend (9th and 10th) to look for re-education academies. Most re-education academies cost 2.5 million won per month for tuition alone. A famous academy in Daechi-dong costs over 3.5 million won. Mr. A said, “I expected good grades because there were no ‘killer questions’ and I might solve them without private education, but it would cost more for private education.”
As a result of the 2024 CSAT scoring results, there were no killer questions, but it was analyzed as a very difficult ‘impossible exam’, and an increasing number of test takers are deciding to retake the test early. Entrance exam academies have also started promoting retake classes that will begin as early as the 11th.
● Recruitment of repeat applicants is faster than last year
According to the entrance examination industry on the 10th, the rate of increase in the number of students enrolling in re-study academies this year is more than 50% faster than last year. Usually, re-entry academies begin following mid-February, when successful candidates are selected. Before that, there were not many applicants for classes that started in December. However, this year, students’ interest in this class is high. An official from Academy B said, “If 10 people came during the same period last year, 15 people have already come this year. “We’ve just started recruiting, so even though it hasn’t led to registration, we’ve had a lot of inquiries,” he said. For the past 2 to 3 years, ‘self-studying’, which involves self-studying in a reading room and only going to a private academy for the subjects you want, has been popular. However, as the CSAT is difficult this year, the number of test-takers choosing day-study or boarding-type prep academies has increased, saying, “It is difficult for test-takers to prepare alone.”
Test takers who want to enter re-study academies early before regular application acceptance begins next month (3rd to 6th) are usually those who have received grades 3 or 4 on the CSAT. An official from Academy C said, “There are quite a few students, especially in the mid-tier, who failed the CSAT to the point where they immediately gave up applying on a regular basis.”
The number of retakers or semi-takers is expected to increase. As the government plans to expand medical school admissions next year, many of the top test takers will be able to reapply to medical school following applying with their convictions during the regular admissions process. Among this year’s CSAT test takers, the proportion of N students, including graduates, was 35.4%, the highest since the current CSAT system began in 2005. The college admissions industry predicts that this number will rise even higher next year.
● Academies “We will teach harder even without killers”
Entrance academies said, “It has become more difficult even without a killer.” “We need to prepare for the newly difficult CSAT at the academy,” he emphasizes. In particular, they put forward ‘French language’ and ‘mathematics, where the score gap between elective subjects has widened’. An official at an academy said, “They say there were killer questions in grammar and literature among the Korean language areas, but the government is saying that it was a normal question, so they say, ‘Now this is a normal difficulty level.’ We have no choice but to teach it more difficult so that test-takers can prepare.”
According to Jongno Academy’s analysis on the 10th, the proportion of students who selected ‘Calculus’ and ‘Geometry’ among first-grade math subjects is estimated to be 96.5%. Most science students choose this elective subject. On the other hand, it was analyzed that only 3.5% of the first grade students chose ‘Probability and Statistics’, which is mainly chosen by liberal arts students.
Accordingly, it is expected that the number of repeat academies that recommend liberal arts students to switch to calculus or geometry and retake the exam will increase. An official from Academy D analyzed, “In the past, we were told to be cautious regarding switching math electives, but as the gap in the highest standard score between probability, statistics, and calculus has widened to 11 points, even liberal arts students will all switch to calculus.” One parent said, “One month’s tuition at a re-education academy is close to one semester’s college tuition. “There is a lot of pressure,” he said.
Reporter Choi Yena yena@donga.com
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