Students who are currently first-year high schoolers will take the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) on Nov. 16, 2028.
The Ministry of Education said on the 18th that CSAT scores for the 2029 academic year will be released on Friday, Dec. 8, 2028, about three weeks after the test date.
The 2029 academic year CSAT will maintain the structure introduced in the 2028 academic year. In the Korean, mathematics, social studies, science, and vocational studies sections, all test-takers will take the same content without elective subjects, and the only section with choices remaining is second foreign language/classical Chinese. Test-takers choose one out of nine subjects to take.
The test sections are Korean, mathematics, English, Korean history, studies (social/science or vocational), and second foreign language/classical Chinese. Korean history is mandatory, and the remaining sections can be chosen freely. However, if social studies and science are chosen, test-takers must take two subjects in total.
The number of questions and test times are the same as in the 2028 academic year. Korean has 45 questions in 80 minutes, mathematics has 30 questions in 100 minutes (including 30% short-answer), English has 45 questions in 70 minutes, Korean history has 20 questions in 30 minutes, studies has 25 questions per section in 40 minutes, and second foreign language/classical Chinese has 20 questions per subject in 30 minutes. Korean history, English, and second foreign language/classical Chinese are graded on an absolute scale with only grades reported, while the remaining sections provide standard scores, percentiles, and grades.
If cheating is detected, the test for that year will be invalidated, and except for minor cases, eligibility to take the test the following year will also be suspended.
The Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE) plans to announce the basic implementation plan, including question-setting principles, in March 2028.