The Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE) said it confirmed that there were a final total of 82 cases of "ink smearing" caused by defective computer sign pens in this year's College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT).

Min Gyeong-seok, Chairperson of CSAT grading, said at a Dec. 4 briefing on the "2026 academic year CSAT grading results announcement," "We identified a total of 82 cases that could be problematic due to computer sign pen smearing or ink drops," adding, "For the 82 cases, we conducted grading while checking with the naked eye at least four times to ensure students would not be disadvantaged."

A test-taker practices marking with a computer-sign pen while preparing for the 2026 College Scholastic Ability Test on the morning of the 13th at Gwangnam High School in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul. /Courtesy of News1

KICE explained that it went through processes including ▲ identifying duplicate-marked answer sheets using a reader ▲ handling objections submitted through the CSAT website, the national petition portal, and provincial and metropolitan offices of education ▲ and visual inspection. Chairperson Min said, "The number of duplicate-marked answers among all answer sheets was 12,822," and added, "Of these, we confirmed 426 through objections filed with the national petition portal, the CSAT website, and provincial and metropolitan offices of education."

Min went on, "In the end, the total number of cases where duplicate marking was a concern due to sign pen smearing was 82," adding, "In some cases, ink dropped on the choices, and in other cases, ink dropped in blank areas outside the answer sheet. When ink dropped on the choices, we checked with the naked eye and, as a rule, graded to ensure students would not be disadvantaged."

However, Min did not disclose how many of the 82 cases were treated as correct answers. Chairperson Min said, "Given the variety of circumstances, I do not think it is appropriate to discuss the number of correct-answer treatments here."

Earlier, in the 2026 academic year CSAT held on Nov. 13, posts continued to appear claiming damage due to defective computer sign pens distributed on the test day. Test-takers said ink streamed or smeared from the pens, preventing proper marking of answers. In response, the Education Ministry acknowledged, "We confirmed that the issue occurred with products from a specific company contracted by some provincial and metropolitan offices of education."

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