The test-setting headquarters for the 2026 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) said that for the Korean history section in the fourth period held on the 13th, it wrote the exam in a straightforward manner focused on core and important content to evaluate whether students have basic literacy in Korean history.

It added that the questions were not skewed toward a particular unit or era but centered evenly on key elements of the curriculum, so that students who faithfully completed the curriculum through school classes could earn high grades.

It said it wrote questions that can measure evaluation factors such as understanding of historical knowledge, chronological thinking, recognition of historical contexts and issues, design and conduct of historical inquiry, analysis and interpretation of historical sources, and historical imagination and judgment.

Han Byoung-hoon (right), a teacher at Deoksan High School, analyzes the question trends for the Korean section of the 2026 College Scholastic Ability Test in the briefing room of the Ministry of Education at the Government Sejong Complex on the 13th. On the left is Yoon Yoon-gu, a teacher at Hanyang University College of Education Affiliated High School. /Courtesy of Yonhap News

For the social studies inquiry section, it said it presented ethical, geographic, historical, and social situations as materials and, using humanities and social science approaches, wrote questions that measure the humanities and social science inquiry skills needed for college education and the creative thinking required to solve social problems.

It added that by using academic and current-affairs topics, it aimed to write questions that can evenly measure six evaluation factors: understanding of concepts and principles; identification and recognition of problems; design and conduct of inquiry; analysis and interpretation of data; drawing conclusions and evaluation; and value judgment and decision-making.

The social studies inquiry section drew questions from nine electives: life and ethics; ethics and thought; Korean geography; world geography; East Asian history; world history; economics; politics and law; and society and culture.

Regarding the science inquiry, it said it wrote questions that, using scientific situations and situations commonly seen in daily life as materials, can measure comprehensive thinking ability against six behavioral domains—understanding, application, problem recognition and hypothesis setting, design and conduct of inquiry, analysis and interpretation of data, and drawing conclusions and evaluation.

Kim Chang-won, chair of the CSAT question-setting committee, explains the direction of the 2026 College Scholastic Ability Test in the briefing room of the Ministry of Education at the Government Sejong Complex on the 13th. /Courtesy of Yonhap News

The science inquiry section was designed to evenly assess key concepts across eight electives: Physics I, Chemistry I, Life Science I, Earth Science I, Physics II, Chemistry II, Life Science II, and Earth Science II.

For the vocational inquiry, it explained that it aimed to measure the problem-solving ability needed for test-takers at specialized and industry-demand-customized high schools to study job-related and major-related content at colleges in the same or similar tracks.

Test-takers finished all exams at 5:45 p.m. that day. In this year's CSAT, those born in 2007, the so-called "golden pig year" when the birth rate was unusually high, took the exam as 12th graders, making the number of applicants the largest in seven years. As of the first period, 497,080 out of 548,376 registered applicants sat for the test.

Score reports for the CSAT will be distributed to test-takers on Dec. 5.

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