The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on the 18th that starting in 2027, the Korean language subject in the level 7 local civil service exam will be replaced with the Public Service Aptitude Test (PSAT).
The PSAT is a test designed to select individuals with common abilities required for public service, such as logical reasoning, analytical skills, and judgment. The test is composed of areas such as verbal reasoning, which assesses comprehension and logic; data interpretation, which evaluates numerical application and analytical skills; and situational judgment, which looks at decision-making abilities.
The government has previously expanded the application of the PSAT, starting with the foreign service exam in 2004, followed by the grade 5 open competitive examination (2005), civil service recruitment (2011), grade 7 security service exam (2019), and the national civil service grade 7 exam (2021).
With the introduction of the PSAT, the procedures and selection methods for the grade 7 local civil service exam will also be adjusted starting in 2027. The current two-step process, consisting of a first and second written exam and an interview, will be changed to a three-step process: the first step being the PSAT, followed by a second written subject exam, and a third interview.
Consequently, the second written subject exam can be taken by top scorers in the PSAT within a range of 10 times the number of positions to be filled. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety plans to introduce a regulation allowing those who fail the third interview to be exempt from the first PSAT the following year.
The government stated that introducing the PSAT in the grade 7 local civil service exam will also allow for applying to the national level 7 exam. It is also seen as similar to the job aptitude tests conducted by major companies like Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor, which is expected to help reduce the burden on test-takers.
Ko Ki-dong, Vice Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, said, “With this revision of the exam subjects, we aim to alleviate the preparation burden on test-takers and social expenses, while enabling individuals with competencies to enter public service.”