The last mock exam before the 2026 college entrance examination (Suneung) will be held on the 3rd. The September mock exam for the 2026 academic year will take place at 2,154 high schools (including education offices) and 533 designated institutes nationwide, starting at 8:40 a.m.
The number of test takers is 515,900, an increase of 27,608 compared to last year. Among them, 410,210 are current students, and 105,690 are graduates and others. The number of current students increased by 28,477, while graduates decreased by 869.
The number of graduates and other test takers has recorded over 100,000 for three consecutive years. Compared to last year, when a large number of 'N-testers' surged due to an increase in medical school admissions, the number has slightly decreased.
The phenomenon of natural science students turning to the social studies subject, which has relatively less study burden instead of science exploration, known as 'Satamrun,' is also intensifying. The number of test takers in the social studies area during the September mock exam reached 391,449, accounting for 61.3% of the total. This is the highest level in 15 years for the September mock exam.
Meanwhile, the September mock exam serves to gauge the trends and difficulty levels of the 2026 Suneung, which will be held on November 13. The nature of the exam, subject areas, and number of questions are all identical to the Suneung.
The mock exam will proceed in the same order as the Suneung: ▲ 1st session Korean (08:40-10:00) ▲ 2nd session Mathematics (10:30-12:10) ▲ 3rd session English (13:10-14:20) ▲ 4th session Korean history and social studies/science/vocational studies (14:50-16:37) ▲ 5th session Second foreign language/Chinese classics (17:05-17:45).
For the Korean and Mathematics sections, a 'common + elective subject' structure is applied. All test takers selecting a subject area must take the common subjects, but must choose one from either 'speech and writing' or 'language and media' for Korean, and one from 'probability and statistics,' 'calculus,' or 'geometry' for Mathematics. In the social studies and science exploration area, they can select a maximum of two subjects from among 17 subjects, and in the vocational exploration area, a maximum of two subjects from six subjects.
The evaluation agency will accept objections to the questions and answers from the exam day until 6 p.m. on the 6th, review them, and announce the final answers on the 16th. Score reports will be distributed to test takers on the 30th.
Meanwhile, following the September mock exam, the application process for rolling admissions will begin on the 8th. Admissions experts advise determining college entrance strategies based on the results of this mock exam. Lee Man-ki, head of the Euway Education Evaluation Research Institute, noted, "If the likelihood of meeting the minimum requirement is high, actively apply for rolling admissions; if it's difficult to meet the minimum, it is reasonable to focus on regular admissions instead."