For the 2026 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), Korean, math, and English were assessed to have higher difficulty in questions aimed at distinguishing the top and highest-performing groups compared with last year. The overall difficulty was similar to last year's CSAT, but analysts said the perceived difficulty likely rose because of some tricky questions.
Yun Yun-gu, a teacher at Hanyang University Affiliated High School who oversees the EBS on-site teachers group, said at a comprehensive briefing on the CSAT held at the Government Complex Sejong on the 13th, "The overall difficulty of the CSAT is similar to last year, but the questions distinguishing the top group have become more challenging," adding, "However, the cutoff for the first grade is expected to show little change from last year."
This year's CSAT raised concerns that advantages and disadvantages would widen by subject in the inquiry section because of the deepening of "satam-run" (a phenomenon in which students choose the social studies inquiry section, which requires relatively less study, instead of the science inquiry section). On this, Teacher Yun said, "Satam-run spreads rapidly because of a few success stories, but it is impossible to succeed without considerable individual effort," adding, "The more densely students cluster, the more the difficulty inevitably rises, and test-takers preparing for next year's CSAT should keep this in mind."
Meanwhile, general test-takers finished all exams at 5:45 p.m. on the day. This year's CSAT saw a surge in applicants to the highest level in seven years, as those born in 2007, the "golden pig year" with an unusually high birthrate, took the test as 12th graders. As of the first period, 497,080 out of 548,376 registered applicants sat for the exam. Score reports will be distributed to test-takers on Dec. 5.