EBS says difficulty appropriate, easier than last year's CSAT; test-prep industry warns students likely found it tough

Third-year high school students prepare for the June mock college entrance exam at Cheonggu High School in Dong-gu, Daegu, on Thursday. [Yonhap]
Third-year high school students prepare for the June mock college entrance exam at Cheonggu High School in Dong-gu, Daegu, on Thursday. [Yonhap]

By Kim Yong-jae, The Herald Business

The English section of the June mock College Scholastic Ability Test for the 2027 academic year was slightly easier than last year's CSAT — the exam that spawned the term "lava English" for its record-breaking difficulty — analysts said Thursday.

According to EBS, the English section administered Thursday was somewhat easier than last year's CSAT and was set at an appropriate difficulty level with no new question types, though students likely still found it challenging.

EBS said it excluded passages that relied on excessively abstract language difficult to understand even in translation, and that questions were designed so students who engaged actively in classroom learning could earn strong scores.

The overall linkage rate with EBS CSAT study materials stood at 55.6 percent, with 25 questions drawn from connected content.

EBS identified questions 33 and 34, which test blank-filling inference, and questions 36 and 37, which ask students to arrange sentences in order, as the key items designed to differentiate top-scoring students.

Jongno Academy, however, assessed the English section as somewhat difficult. The institute said that despite the exam being similar to or slightly easier than last year's CSAT, students would likely have found it considerably hard.

Jongno Academy said students had expected an easier test because only 3.1 percent of test-takers earned a first-grade rating on last year's CSAT English section — an exceptionally low share. The actual difficulty did not meet those expectations, it added, and questions requiring precise comprehension of passages were what separated top-tier students.


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