Can AI resolve Korea's college entrance exam's difficulty problem?
Published: 19 Mar. 2026, 07:00
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- CHO JUNG-WOO
- [email protected]
Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI
![A students sits for the College Scholastic Ability Test at a high school in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Nov. 13, 2025. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/03/19/65f46e41-6e25-4d2f-9cff-3e03c996843a.jpg)
A students sits for the College Scholastic Ability Test at a high school in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Nov. 13, 2025. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]
Could using AI to write Korea’s college entrance exam help with setting an “appropriate” level of difficulty?
After criticism that the English section of the 2026 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), or suneung, contained extremely difficult questions, the Ministry of Education proposed a new approach last month to bring AI into the test-making process.
Officials said the unusually high level of difficulty stemmed in part from a late-stage overhaul of the exam. Around 42 percent of the questions were replaced shortly before the exam date, leaving authorities with limited time to review the test.
The ministry now plans to develop an AI-based system to generate English reading passages, which are typically adapted from published materials. System development is scheduled to begin in the second half of this year, with pilot use in mock exams to start as early as next year.
Why it matters
Last year, the CSAT English section became the center of controversy when only 15,154 students received a Grade 1, the highest mark on a scale from one to nine. At 3.11 percent of test takers, that figure is the lowest since the absolute grading system was introduced for the English portion of the exam in 2018. The English selection, unlike the Korean language and math sections, is graded on an absolute scale.
That grade carries weight not only for students in the regular admissions track, known as jeongsi, but also for those admitted early with conditional offers that hinge on a minimum CSAT score.
![High school seniors take a mock College Scholastic Ability Test at a high school in Geumcheon District, southern Seoul, on Sept. 3, 2025. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/03/19/81fe44b7-03e9-4558-88ec-ce782214bdd3.jpg)
High school seniors take a mock College Scholastic Ability Test at a high school in Geumcheon District, southern Seoul, on Sept. 3, 2025. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]
More generally, the suneung, administered once a year in November, is considered a decisive gateway to the country’s top universities, which, in turn, is widely viewed as a guarantee of future success.
As a result, even small shifts in difficulty can provoke intense scrutiny, so much so that Oh Seung-keol, then-head of the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE), issued a public apology and resigned following public backlash last year over the notoriously difficult exam.
A temporary fix
Some experts say AI could help — at least in the margins.
According to Lee Byung-min, a professor of English language education at Seoul National University, the technology could improve the quality of the exam questions.
“There have been issues with selecting passages, with texts sometimes being incoherent, overly abstract or too short to provide context,” he said. “If AI can help evaluate and refine these aspects, that could certainly be beneficial.”
However, others warn that AI will not resolve more fundamental issues.
“The adoption of AI could help adjust the difficulty of the exam, given that test makers currently select the passages themselves,” said Yoon Hee-cheol, a professor of English language and literature at Duksung Women’s University. “But it also raises many concerns. Since the [...] writing is artificially generated, without extremely precise AI prompts, the passages themselves could become problematic.”
The Education Ministry plans to create a support center to develop educational test items, including AI-generated English passages. It also proposed using AI to review questions and predict their level of difficulty.
![Grade 1 scorers in CSAT English [CHUN YU-JIN]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/03/19/8dc77922-1546-4af4-a9f6-43fbf97453be.jpg)
Grade 1 scorers in CSAT English [CHUN YU-JIN]
Additionally, the ministry plans to increase the share of teachers among test developers from the current 33 percent to 50 percent to better reflect current students’ academic levels.
Officials are also reviewing structural issues. Former President Yoon Suk Yeol previously described the CSAT as causing a “private education cartel,” referring to how students are tested on content beyond what is taught inside the classroom, leading to a higher reliance on private education, such as after-school academies and tutors.
Consequently, he introduced a system to curb the cartel, with test makers being randomly selected from a pool of educators. However, the ministry now suggests that this may have affected the overall quality of the exam.
The exam-making process remains tightly controlled. Writers and reviewers sign strict confidentiality agreements and spend about a month in isolation to create the exam. Teams typically comprise incumbent teachers and professors.
The bigger question
But both professors agree that AI could ultimately address the issue of calibrating difficulty, at least in the short term.
“To adjust difficulty is, in other words, to match the grade ratio,” Prof. Yoon said.
He noted that while a small percentage of students earned the top grade in the English section of the test last year, the figure was around 10 percent in 2018.
“What percentage is neither too easy nor too difficult?” he said. “We need clear guidelines or a broader social consensus.”
The extreme differences across the years, from as high as 12.7 percent in one year to about 3 percent in another, suggest the current system may be ill-suited, he added.
![A controversial English reading passage from last year’s exam is seen in this photo. The correct answer is 2. [KOREA INSTITUE FOR CURRICULUM AND EVALUATION]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/03/19/f0dd1ba2-e733-46e6-8d09-804430a2eee3.jpg)
A controversial English reading passage from last year’s exam is seen in this photo. The correct answer is 2. [KOREA INSTITUE FOR CURRICULUM AND EVALUATION]
Among the three core CSAT subjects — Korean, mathematics and English — only English is graded on an absolute scale. That rule, Prof. Yoon said, has had unintended consequences.
“Private spending on English education has not decreased,” he said. “Instead, like a balloon effect, it has shifted to younger children who are in preschool and lower elementary school.”
Many families now aim to tackle English education early and focus on other subjects when children are older, the professor stressed.
Prof. Lee emphasized that the absolute grading system shouldn’t rank students in the first place.
“A driver’s license test is a classic example,” he said. “If you can drive, you should pass. It’s not about rankings.”
Improving the exam, he added, may require more fundamental changes, such as longer and more coherent reading passages. Current CSAT passages, typically 200 to 250 words, often lack sufficient context to support genuine comprehension.
For students, the introduction of AI may bring a more consistent exam, but not necessarily a fairer one.
It may deepen existing inequalities if private academies adopt the technology faster, which is usually the case.
“If private education providers respond to changes first and quickly apply them to their classes and tests, they could end up gaining an advantage by getting students accustomed to them early,” Prof. Yoon said, questioning whether public schools can keep pace.
BY CHO JUNG-WOO [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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