Seven social studies, six science subjects saw higher difficulty; overall easier than or similar to last year's CSAT

Students review their exam papers at Bangsan High School in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday, as the September mock College Scholastic Ability Test for the 2027 academic year gets underway. [Joint Press Corps]
Students review their exam papers at Bangsan High School in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday, as the September mock College Scholastic Ability Test for the 2027 academic year gets underway. [Joint Press Corps]

Thirteen of the 17 subjects in the social studies and science exploration areas of the September mock College Scholastic Ability Test for the 2027 academic year were harder than the June mock exam, according to an analysis released Wednesday.

In a subject-by-subject difficulty assessment released by Daesung hagwon on Wednesday, seven of the nine social studies subjects — ethics in life, ethics and thought, Korean geography, East Asian history, world history, economics, and politics and law — were rated harder than the June mock exam. World geography and society and culture were assessed as being at a similar level.

In the science exploration area, all six subjects — Physics I and II, Chemistry I and II, and Earth Science I and II — were judged harder than the June mock exam. Life Science I was easier, while Life Science II was at a similar level. Compared with last year's CSAT, Life Science I and II were easier, while the remaining six science subjects were at a similar level.

Among the social studies subjects, ethics and thought was the only one rated harder than last year's CSAT. Eastern ethics questions centered on frequently tested thinkers and were considered accessible, but Western ethics maintained existing trends while rising in difficulty. In ethics in life, high-difficulty answer choices on theories of punishment and social contract theory stood out.

Politics and law featured a paired set of questions on family law and special torts, and the volume of information to analyze from the provided materials made the section feel more demanding. East Asian history introduced a new question type — asking about Japan's Liberal Democratic Party as a political party rather than about a specific political era. Society and culture maintained its tendency to avoid complex calculations even in high-difficulty chart analysis questions.

In the science exploration area, questions that combined familiar formats with new data and conditions provided the key differentiating challenge. Chemistry I may have felt unfamiliar due to changes in how data were presented in questions on neutralization titration and oxidation-reduction reactions. In Earth Science I, question 15 — which presented stellar evolution through a new type of data — and question 18, covering the exploration of extrasolar planetary systems, were flagged as particularly demanding. In Earth Science II, question 18, which required calculating the spatial motion of stars based on hydrogen line observations, was also cited as a difficult item.

Korean history maintained a straightforward approach. The Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation said it drew on core content common to all nine approved textbooks and excluded peripheral material found only in specific editions.

Daesung hagwon assessed Korean history as similar in difficulty to last year's CSAT but harder than the June mock exam, adding that some topics and correct answer choices may have felt somewhat peripheral.

Across the exploration areas broadly, real-life and topical subject matter was widely incorporated. According to the evaluation institute, social studies questions touched on food ethics, asset management, and democracy and forms of government, while science questions covered hydrogen fuel cells, obesity, stem cells, typhoons, and global climate change. Questions presenting experimental scenarios through tables, diagrams, and graphs to assess data analysis and inquiry skills were also included.

In the vocational exploration area, questions drew on material directly tied to real working life, including initial public offering disclosures, stock market price tables, a workplace accident at a shipyard, and work-study programs. Questions were designed to assess problem-solving ability by requiring students to apply concepts from multiple units through scenarios involving entrepreneurship, production processes, and financing for factory scale-ups.


brunch@heraldcorp.com