First college entrance exam after increase in medical school admissions was easier than last year

[Anchor]

This year marks the first national college entrance exam held after the increase in medical school admissions, so there has been significant interest in the difficulty level.

It is evaluated that the exam was somewhat easier than last year's due to the absence of high-difficulty questions, commonly referred to as killer questions.

Kim Min-hyuk reports.

[Report]

In front of the school gate after the long exam, the test-takers look relieved.

[“You did well!”]

Many expressed that it was easier than they had worried about.

[Song Da-hyun/Test-taker: “I thought it would be difficult because many repeaters were taking the exam, but the Korean and math sections were surprisingly easy, so I was a bit shocked.”]

[Song Hye-jin/Test-taker: “The difficulty of Korean, English, and math seems to be similar to the September mock exam.”]

This year, while there were some tricky questions in the Korean, math, and English sections, many analyses suggest that it was easier overall than last year's exam.

[Shim Joo-seok/Teacher at Incheon Hanul High School/EBS Instructor: “If I were to judge, I would say this year's exam was closer to the September mock exam.”]

Due to the increase in medical school admissions, the number of repeaters is the highest in 21 years, raising concerns about whether the easier exam can effectively differentiate the top students.

The evaluation agency stated that they aimed to ensure differentiation by evenly distributing questions of appropriate difficulty without killer questions.

[Choi Joong-cheol/Chairman of the College Scholastic Ability Test Question Creating Committee/Professor at Dongguk University: “We analyzed the data from various angles and made significant efforts to maintain the 9-grade system for this year's CSAT.”]

However, it has been observed that the difficulty of some math elective subjects, such as calculus, was somewhat high, and there are predictions that one or two tricky questions could be factors.

KBS News, Kim Min-hyuk.