September mock KSAT with ‘killer’ question but is difficult overall

The September mock test for the 2024 Korean SAT was conducted in high schools and private institutions across South Korea on Wednesday. It took place 84 days after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered in June to remove ‘killer’ questions, which refer to extremely difficult questions, that are not covered in the regular school curriculum. The education authorities, Korea Educational Broadcasting System (EBS), and private institutions said the president’s order was reflected as the mock test didn’t include killer questions after analyzing it.

The Korea Institute of Curriculum and Eval‎uation (KICE) conducted the mock test at 2,139 high schools and 485 designated private institutions across the country. The test garnered much attention as it was the first test organized by the KICE after President Yoon ordered the removal of killer questions. The reading section of the Korean language proportion, which is the test that the president said was too difficult in June, didn’t have questions that required background knowledge or included excessive concepts. The same goes for the science and technology portion.

The mathematics portion was relatively easy as some questions were taken from EBS’s mock test textbooks with different numbers. Question number 12 on progression was the same question as question number seven in one of the EBS’s mock tests, with just different numbers. A member of Jongro Hagwon, a well-known private institution for SAT preparation, said it was the first time that the same mathematics question as the EBS’s was presented. There was also no question that 'combines three or more mathematical concepts' or 'requires the understanding of college-level concepts,' which were mentioned as examples of killer questions by the Ministry of Education in June.

“There was no question that required technical knowledge or was too abstract to be understood even in Korean,” said a teacher of Samgaksan High School named Kim Bo-ra on the English portion of the test. “While the choices for questions were more carefully created to better assess the level of the students, they were not created to trick students.”

Compared to the mock test in June, the latest test was more difficult for the Korean and English portions and easier for the mathematics sections. As the mathematics portion of the June mock test was believed to be the most difficult in the last eight years, the KICE seems to have adjusted the difficulty level. However, for a better assessment of students’ levels, questions and choices were tricky while the content of the questions was easy, which may have caused mid-upper level students to find it difficult, according to SAT experts. If the SAT to be held on November 16 also doesn’t include killer questions and has a similar difficulty level as the latest mock test, competition among the top-level students who wish to enter medical schools is expected to be intense. The scores for the September mock test will become available on October 5.


Ye-Na Choi yena@donga.com · Sung-Min Park min@donga.com