Korea Institute of Curriculum and Evaluation To Refer EBS Lectures for the 2006 CSAT

It is expected that the College Scholastic Ability Test in 2006, scheduled to take place on November 23, will show a similar degree of difficulty compared with last year. The Educational Broadcasting System (EBS) lecture contents for the exam are likely to influence the test as much as the previous year.

One thing that distinguishes the test from last year is that the penalties for those who cheat on the test have been enhanced in response to the massive irregularities that occurred last year.

The Korea Institute of Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE) announced on March 30 both “Specific Action Plans for the 2006 College Scholastic Ability Test” and “Comprehensive Measures to Prevent Cheating on the Test,” which contain procedural outlines.

Jeong Kang-jeong, the head of KICE said, “The institute will maintain the degree of difficulty at the same level as the previous year, but it will adjust the degree of difficulty in the elective subjects of the research, the second language, and Chinese character segments of the test in order to prevent producing as many perfect scores as the 2005 test did.”

He also stressed, “The center will do its utmost for students who truly understand lectures in school and study proportionately through EBS lectures to get a good score on the test. The Ministry of Human Resource and Development, reportedly, has decided to toughen punishment against cheaters in order to keep students from cheating through mobile phone use or paying others to take the exam in their place by nullifying test scores obtained by illicit ways and depriving cheaters of the chance to take the annual exam for up to two years.

Seong-Chul Hong sungchul@donga.com