CSAT (Suneung)

KICE

Complete guide to passing the CSAT (Suneung) exam on your first attempt.

Very HardVery High (Korea) Search Volume

Key Information at a Glance

Cost

Free

Pass Rate

N/A (score-based)

Validity

Annual exam

Region

South Korea

Provider

KICE

Salary Impact

University admission

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Complete Overview

The College Scholastic Ability Test, called Suneung in Korean, is South Korea's national university entrance examination, written and scored by the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE) and sat on a single Thursday each November. It is taken by final-year high school students, graduates repeating the year, and holders of the equivalency certificate, and the registration fee is 37,000 won for four areas or fewer, 42,000 won for five areas and 47,000 won for six, waived entirely for candidates on national basic livelihood support, the legally defined near-poor category or single-parent family support. The 2027 admissions-year exam runs on 19 November 2026 with score reports issued on 11 December 2026.

The test covers six areas: Korean, Mathematics, English, Korean History, Inquiry (social studies, science or vocational) and a second foreign language or Classical Chinese. Only Korean History is compulsory. A candidate who skips Korean History has the entire exam voided and receives no score report at all. Korean, Mathematics and vocational Inquiry use a common-subject-plus-elective structure introduced for the 2022 admissions year. Korean electives are Speech and Composition or Language and Media. Mathematics electives are Probability and Statistics, Calculus or Geometry. Social and science Inquiry candidates pick up to two subjects from a combined pool of 17.

The day starts with room entry closing at 08:10 and ends at 17:45. Korean runs 08:40 to 10:00 with 45 items in 80 minutes. Mathematics runs 10:30 to 12:10 with 30 items in 100 minutes, 30 percent of them short-answer rather than multiple-choice. English runs 13:10 to 14:20 with 45 items in 70 minutes, of which 17 are listening delivered inside the first 25 minutes. Korean History and Inquiry share period four from 14:50 to 16:37. The second foreign language paper runs 17:05 to 17:45.

There is no pass mark. Korean and Mathematics report a standard score scaled to a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 20; Inquiry subjects use a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10. Every relative-graded area also reports a percentile and a grade from 1 to 9. English, Korean History and the second foreign language are graded absolutely against fixed raw-score cuts, and the score report shows only the grade for those three.

The scale of the event is national. For the 2026 admissions-year exam on 13 November 2025, 493,896 candidates sat, of whom 333,102 were current students and 160,794 were graduates or equivalency-certificate holders. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport halted every aircraft takeoff and landing in the country from 13:05 to 13:40 that day, a 35-minute window covering the English listening test plus five minutes either side.

Suneung feeds one of two admission tracks. For the 2027 admissions year, Korean universities plan 345,717 places, split 277,583 through the early rolling track and 68,134 through the regular track, and 63,195 of the regular-track places, 92.8 percent, are decided mainly on Suneung scores.

Why Get CSAT (Suneung) Certified?

Suneung scores decide 63,195 of the 68,134 regular-track university places planned for the 2027 admissions year, which is 92.8 percent of that track.

493,896 candidates sat the 2026 admissions-year exam, so a single grade band shift moves a candidate past tens of thousands of others.

Registration costs 37,000 to 47,000 won depending on how many of the six areas you enter, and is waived outright for candidates on national basic livelihood support or in the legally defined near-poor category.

Grade 1 in Korean required a standard score of 133 in the 2026 admissions-year exam and was reached by 22,935 candidates, 4.67 percent of the field.

English is graded absolutely, so a raw score of 90 out of 100 earns grade 1 regardless of how anyone else performs. Only 3.11 percent of 2026 admissions-year candidates cleared it.

Graduates repeating the year made up 160,794 of the 493,896 candidates in the 2026 admissions-year exam, 32.6 percent, so the field a school-leaver competes against includes a large cohort with an extra year of preparation.

KICE ties 50 percent of items in each area to its own EBS textbooks and lectures through indirect linkage, which makes one publisher's catalogue the single highest-yield source available.

Exam Format & Structure

Duration

Room entry closes at 08:10 and the last paper ends at 17:45. Actual testing time is 380 minutes for a candidate sitting all six areas, and 340 minutes for the common five-area entry that skips the second foreign language.

Questions

210 items for a candidate sitting all six areas: Korean 45, Mathematics 30, English 45, Korean History 20, two Inquiry subjects at 20 each, and the second foreign language or Classical Chinese 30.

Passing Score

There is no pass mark. Korean, Mathematics and Inquiry report a standard score, a percentile and a 1 to 9 grade. English, Korean History and the second foreign language report only an absolute grade set by fixed raw-score cuts, with English grade 1 at 90 out of 100 and Korean History grade 1 at 40 out of 50.

Question Types

Five-option multiple choice across every area
Short-answer numeric items in Mathematics, making up 30 percent of that paper's 30 items
Listening items in English, 17 of the 45, played within the first 25 minutes of the session
Item point values differ by area: Korean, English, Korean History and Inquiry items are worth 2 or 3 points, Mathematics items 2, 3 or 4 points, and second foreign language or Classical Chinese items 1 or 2 points

Delivery Method

Paper-based, pencil and OMR answer sheet, at designated centres nationwide with no more than 28 candidates per room. Korean, Mathematics, English and Korean History papers are printed in odd-number and even-number forms distributed by candidate number.

How scoring works

Score scale

Standard score with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 20 for Korean and Mathematics; mean 50 and standard deviation 10 for Inquiry subjects. Percentile from 0 to 100, and a grade from 1 to 9, accompany those. English, Korean History and the second foreign language report a 1 to 9 grade only, from fixed raw-score cuts.

Score needed to pass

None. Suneung has no pass mark. The functional cut is whatever grade or standard score your target university requires, and those move each year with difficulty.

Roughly what that means raw

For the absolutely graded areas the raw cuts are published: English grade 1 at 90 out of 100 with 10-point bands below it, Korean History grade 1 at 40 out of 50 with 5-point bands, and second foreign language grade 1 at 45 out of 50. In the 2026 admissions-year exam those cuts produced 3.11 percent at English grade 1 and 15.23 percent at Korean History grade 1.

When results arrive

There are no unofficial results from KICE. Official score reports for the 2027 admissions-year exam are issued on 11 December 2026, 22 days after the 19 November exam, collected from the place you registered. Alongside them KICE publishes the grade-boundary standard scores and frequency distributions for every area and subject.

How the scale is built

Raw scores in Korean, Mathematics and Inquiry are converted to standard scores against that year's candidate distribution, then grades are assigned sequentially down the standard score order. Because conversion is population-relative, an easier paper compresses the top and lowers the grade 1 standard score. English, Korean History and the second foreign language skip conversion entirely and use fixed raw-score bands. There is no negative marking anywhere, and Mathematics short-answer items award no partial credit.

Pacing and time budget

210 questions in 380 minutes gives you 1 minute 49 seconds averaged across the whole day, but that average is misleading and should never be used. The real budgets are: Korean 1 minute 47 seconds per item, Mathematics 3 minutes 20 seconds, English 1 minute 33 seconds overall or about 1 minute 36 seconds per reading item once the fixed 25-minute listening block is removed, Korean History 1 minute 30 seconds, each Inquiry item 1 minute 30 seconds, and the second foreign language 1 minute 20 seconds. per question.

09:20 (40 minutes into Korean)

Roughly 22 of 45 Korean items, with the longest reading set either finished or deliberately deferred

11:20 (50 minutes into Mathematics)

Items 1 to 14 or so of the common section done and transferred to the OMR sheet, leaving 50 minutes for the elective and the high-value late items

13:35 (25 minutes into English)

All 17 listening items answered and marked, since the audio has ended and will not replay, with 45 minutes left for 28 reading items

15:20 (end of Korean History)

All 20 Korean History items answered on the Korean History answer sheet, which is collected before the Inquiry papers are handed out

16:05 (end of the first Inquiry subject)

All 20 items of the first Inquiry subject marked, since there is only a two-minute changeover before the second subject starts at 16:07

At this point	You should have answered
09:20 (40 minutes into Korean)	Roughly 22 of 45 Korean items, with the longest reading set either finished or deliberately deferred
11:20 (50 minutes into Mathematics)	Items 1 to 14 or so of the common section done and transferred to the OMR sheet, leaving 50 minutes for the elective and the high-value late items
13:35 (25 minutes into English)	All 17 listening items answered and marked, since the audio has ended and will not replay, with 45 minutes left for 28 reading items
15:20 (end of Korean History)	All 20 Korean History items answered on the Korean History answer sheet, which is collected before the Inquiry papers are handed out
16:05 (end of the first Inquiry subject)	All 20 items of the first Inquiry subject marked, since there is only a two-minute changeover before the second subject starts at 16:07

Nothing carries over between sessions. Time unused in Korean History cannot be lent to Inquiry, so each of the seven papers needs its own rehearsed budget rather than one whole-day plan.
Mathematics gives 100 minutes for 30 items, the most generous per-item budget on the exam, and that is deliberate: the last items in each half are where the difficulty concentrates. Bank time on items 1 to 10, do not spend it there.
The English listening block is externally timed and cannot be paused, rewound or deferred. Mark listening answers directly on the OMR sheet as they play rather than on the paper, because there is no quiet moment to transfer 17 answers afterwards.
Period four is a single 107-minute administrative sequence with paper collection and redistribution built in. Rehearse it as one block, including the 15-minute changeover at 15:20 and the two-minute changeover at 16:05.
Transfer answers to the OMR sheet in blocks of five to ten rather than at the very end. Korean and English both have candidates who run out of clock with answers still sitting on the question paper, which score nothing.

Where the marks are

Korean reading and literature

45 items, 80 minutes

The largest item count paired with the tightest per-item budget. Long non-fiction sets pair a main passage with a supplementary one and ask for inference and application rather than recall.

English reading

45 items, 70 minutes, 17 of them listening

Absolutely graded, so 90 raw points ends the work. The 28 reading items concentrate on blank inference, sentence insertion and paragraph ordering, which are the items that decide grade 1 versus grade 2.

Inquiry subjects, two chosen

40 items, 60 minutes total

Scaled to mean 50 and standard deviation 10, so subject choice affects the standard score as much as performance does. Grade boundaries swing hardest in low-entry subjects such as Earth Science II with 4,264 candidates.

Mathematics common subjects and elective

30 items, 100 minutes, nine short-answer

The heaviest time allocation and the highest item values, up to 4 points. Short-answer items give no partial credit, so an arithmetic slip on a late 4-point item costs as much as two easy misses.

Second foreign language or Classical Chinese

30 items, 40 minutes

Entered by only 10.15 percent of candidates. Absolutely graded with grade 1 at 45 out of 50, and items are worth 1 or 2 points, the lowest on the exam.

Korean History

20 items, 30 minutes

KICE states it tests basic historical literacy rather than discriminating between strong candidates, and 15.23 percent reached grade 1 in 2026. Small effort, but skipping the paper voids every other result.

Topic	Weight	Why it scores
Korean reading and literature	45 items, 80 minutes	The largest item count paired with the tightest per-item budget. Long non-fiction sets pair a main passage with a supplementary one and ask for inference and application rather than recall.
English reading	45 items, 70 minutes, 17 of them listening	Absolutely graded, so 90 raw points ends the work. The 28 reading items concentrate on blank inference, sentence insertion and paragraph ordering, which are the items that decide grade 1 versus grade 2.
Inquiry subjects, two chosen	40 items, 60 minutes total	Scaled to mean 50 and standard deviation 10, so subject choice affects the standard score as much as performance does. Grade boundaries swing hardest in low-entry subjects such as Earth Science II with 4,264 candidates.
Mathematics common subjects and elective	30 items, 100 minutes, nine short-answer	The heaviest time allocation and the highest item values, up to 4 points. Short-answer items give no partial credit, so an arithmetic slip on a late 4-point item costs as much as two easy misses.
Second foreign language or Classical Chinese	30 items, 40 minutes	Entered by only 10.15 percent of candidates. Absolutely graded with grade 1 at 45 out of 50, and items are worth 1 or 2 points, the lowest on the exam.
Korean History	20 items, 30 minutes	KICE states it tests basic historical literacy rather than discriminating between strong candidates, and 15.23 percent reached grade 1 in 2026. Small effort, but skipping the paper voids every other result.

The numbers

493,896 total, of whom 333,102 were current students and 160,794 were graduates or equivalency-certificate holders

Candidates at the 2026 admissions-year exam

Source: Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, 2026 CSAT scoring results, published by the Ministry of Education on 4 December 2025

Standard score 133, reached by 22,935 candidates, 4.67 percent

Korean grade 1 boundary, 2026 admissions year

Source: KICE 2026 CSAT scoring results, Table II-1

Raw score 90 or above, reached by 15,154 candidates, 3.11 percent

English grade 1 share, 2026 admissions year

Source: KICE 2026 CSAT scoring results, Table II-3

50 percent of items per area or subject, delivered by indirect linkage

EBS linkage rate for the 2027 admissions-year exam

Source: KICE 2027 CSAT basic implementation plan, announced 31 March 2026

37,000 won for four areas or fewer, 42,000 won for five areas, 47,000 won for six areas

Registration fee

Source: KICE 2027 CSAT implementation guideline

63,195 of 68,134 regular-track places, 92.8 percent, out of 345,717 total university places

Regular-track places decided mainly on Suneung, 2027 admissions year

Source: Korean Council for University Education / Ministry of Education, 2028 university admissions plan press release, 30 April 2026, which tabulates the 2027 figures alongside 2028

If you fail

Wait before retaking

One year. Suneung runs once annually on a Thursday in November. The 2027 admissions-year exam is on 19 November 2026, with scores issued on 11 December 2026, and the next sitting falls in November 2027.

Attempt limit

None. There is no cap on how many times a person may sit Suneung and no age limit. Repeat candidates are a structural part of the field rather than an exception: 160,794 of the 493,896 candidates at the 2026 admissions-year exam were graduates or equivalency-certificate holders.

Retake fee

The same fee applies to every attempt: 37,000 won for four areas or fewer, 42,000 won for five areas, 47,000 won for six areas. The waiver for national basic livelihood support recipients, the legally defined near-poor category and single-parent family support recipients applies to repeat candidates on the same terms.

A repeat candidate registers through the high school they graduated from or through the district education office covering their address, rather than through a school. Registration for the 2027 exam runs 20 August to 3 September 2026 online at mycsat.re.kr, then 24 August to 4 September 2026 in person. Retaking has no bearing on the previous year's result, which does not transfer: universities use the score from the year you apply. A candidate voided for a prohibited item loses that year entirely and must wait for the next November.

Exam Domains & Topics

Korean (국어)

21.4%

45 items in 80 minutes, 08:40 to 10:00. Weight here is the share of the 210-item full entry; KICE does not publish topic weightings, and each university sets its own area weightings for admission.

Key Topics to Master:

Common subjects: reading and literature
Elective: Speech and Composition, chosen by 67.88 percent of 2026 admissions-year candidates
Elective: Language and Media, chosen by 32.12 percent
Long non-fiction reading sets combining philosophy, economics, law or science with a supplementary passage
Classical Korean poetry and prose paired with modern criticism
Grade 1 in 2026 required a standard score of 133, reached by 4.67 percent of candidates

Mathematics (수학)

14.3%

30 items in 100 minutes, 10:30 to 12:10, the longest session of the day. Nine of the 30 items are short-answer rather than multiple choice, and items carry 2, 3 or 4 points.

Key Topics to Master:

Common subjects covering functions, sequences and introductory differentiation and integration
Elective: Probability and Statistics, chosen by 56.08 percent of 2026 admissions-year candidates
Elective: Calculus, chosen by 41.03 percent
Elective: Geometry, chosen by 2.89 percent
Short-answer items require an integer response entered on the OMR grid, so partial credit does not exist
Grade 1 in 2026 required a standard score of 128, reached by 4.62 percent of candidates

English (영어)

21.4%

45 items in 70 minutes, 13:10 to 14:20, graded absolutely. 17 listening items play inside the first 25 minutes, leaving roughly 45 minutes for 28 reading items.

Key Topics to Master:

Listening: short dialogues, announcements and one longer set of linked items
Reading: main idea, purpose, implied meaning, blank inference, sentence insertion and paragraph ordering
Vocabulary in context, tested as a choice between two lexical alternatives inside a passage
Grade 1 is a raw score of 90 or above; grade 2 is 80, grade 3 is 70, in fixed 10-point bands
Only 15,154 candidates, 3.11 percent, reached grade 1 in the 2026 admissions-year exam

Korean History (한국사)

9.5%

20 items in 30 minutes, 14:50 to 15:20, compulsory for every candidate. KICE states this area tests basic historical literacy expected of a high school graduate rather than discriminating between top candidates.

Key Topics to Master:

Ancient kingdoms through Goryeo and Joseon
The colonial period and the independence movement
Liberation, the Korean War and post-war state formation
Democratisation and contemporary Korea
Grade 1 is a raw score of 40 out of 50, reached by 15.23 percent of 2026 admissions-year candidates
Skipping this area voids the entire exam and no score report is issued

Inquiry (탐구: 사회, 과학, 직업)

19.1%

Up to two subjects at 20 items and 30 minutes each, run back to back from 15:35 to 16:37 with a two-minute changeover. 99.16 percent of 2026 admissions-year Inquiry candidates took the maximum two subjects.

Key Topics to Master:

Social and science Inquiry: any two of 17 subjects, freely mixed across the social and science pools
Most-taken subject in 2026 was Society and Culture with 239,403 candidates, then Life and Ethics with 196,382
Least-taken was Earth Science II with 4,264 candidates, which makes its grade boundaries volatile
Vocational Inquiry: six subjects, open only to candidates who completed 86 or more credits of specialised vocational curriculum
Taking two vocational subjects requires Successful Working Life as the compulsory common subject plus one of five track electives
Inquiry standard scores are scaled to a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10, unlike Korean and Mathematics

Second foreign language or Classical Chinese (제2외국어/한문)

14.3%

30 items in 40 minutes, 17:05 to 17:45, choosing one of nine subjects. Only 50,144 candidates, 10.15 percent of the 2026 admissions-year field, entered it.

Key Topics to Master:

Nine subjects: German I, French I, Spanish I, Chinese I, Japanese I, Russian I, Arabic I, Vietnamese I and Classical Chinese I
Japanese I was the most-taken in 2026 with 15,714 candidates, then Classical Chinese I with 13,255
Vietnamese I was the least-taken with 491 candidates
Graded absolutely: grade 1 is a raw score of 45 out of 50, then 5-point bands down
Items carry 1 or 2 points, the lowest per-item values on the exam

Recommended Study Plan

Weeks 1-2 (March, after the school year opens): Establish a baseline against the real instrument

Baseline week, keep normal school hours plus 15-20 hours

1Sit the March provincial mock exam under full timing and record standard score, percentile and grade for every area
2Download the KICE implementation guideline from the Suneung site and read the timetable and item counts until you can recite the per-session budget
3Choose your Korean elective between Speech and Composition and Language and Media, and your Mathematics elective between Probability and Statistics, Calculus and Geometry
4Pick two Inquiry subjects and check their prior-year grade boundaries, because a subject with 4,264 candidates behaves differently from one with 239,403
5Buy the current-year EBS Suneung Teukgang volumes for every area you entered

Weeks 3-5 (late March to April): First pass through EBS Suneung Teukgang

25-30 hours per week outside school

1Work the Korean Suneung Teukgang reading sets, marking every passage topic so you recognise reused material in November
2Work the Mathematics common-subject chapters before touching your elective
3Do 20 English reading items daily from Suneung Teukgang, timed at 96 seconds each
4Cover Korean History in one concentrated block, since the whole area is 20 items in 30 minutes and rewards a short intense pass
5Log every wrong item with the reason, not just the correct choice

Weeks 6-8 (May): Mathematics elective and Inquiry subject one

30-35 hours per week

1Work your Mathematics elective end to end, and drill the nine short-answer positions separately because they carry no partial credit
2Complete the first Inquiry subject's Suneung Teukgang volume
3Sit the May provincial mock exam and compare grade movement against March
4Re-do every Korean reading set you scored below 70 percent on in weeks 3 to 5
5Practise OMR transfer under time, entering answers in blocks rather than one at a time

Week 9 (early June): The June KICE mock evaluation

Exam week plus 20 hours of analysis

1Sit the June KICE mock evaluation, which KICE runs precisely so candidates can calibrate against the real setters
2Treat it as a full dress rehearsal: 08:10 entry, real breaks, no phone from the previous night
3Score it against the published grade-boundary standard scores rather than against raw percentages
4Identify the single area where your grade is worst relative to your target university's weighting
5Rebuild the rest of the year's plan around that area

Weeks 10-12 (mid June to early July): Repair the weakest area from the June mock

35-40 hours per week

1Spend at least half your weekly hours on the weakest area, not the most enjoyable one
2Start EBS Suneung Wanseong volumes for that area as they publish
3Rework every June mock item you missed, and write out why the distractor attracted you
4Keep the other areas alive with a fixed daily minimum: one Korean reading set, ten Mathematics items, twenty English items
5Complete the second Inquiry subject's first pass

Weeks 13-16 (July to mid August): Past papers by area

40-45 hours per week

1Work through five years of released KICE past papers area by area, not as whole exams yet
2Time each session exactly: Korean 80 minutes, Mathematics 100, English 70, Korean History 30, each Inquiry subject 30
3Build a personal error taxonomy and count which category costs the most points
4Complete EBS Suneung Wanseong for Korean, Mathematics and English
5Confirm your registration details for the 20 August to 3 September online pre-entry window at mycsat.re.kr

Week 17 (late August): Registration and the second full rehearsal

35-40 hours per week

1Complete online pre-entry at mycsat.re.kr, upload the photograph, select your areas and subjects, and pay the 37,000 to 47,000 won fee
2Visit the in-person reception point between 24 August and 4 September with your identity document to finish registration and collect the receipt
3Sit a full past paper across the whole day, 08:40 to 17:45, including the real break lengths
4Check that your analogue watch has hour, minute and second hands and no payment, communication or LCD display function
5Review the prohibited-items list and decide now what stays at home

Week 18 (early September): The September KICE mock evaluation

Exam week plus 20 hours of analysis

1Sit the September KICE mock evaluation, the last calibration point KICE provides before November
2Compare your area grades against the early-track applications you have already filed
3Decide the regular-track target range, remembering that only 68,134 of the 345,717 places for 2027 sit in that track
4Analyse pacing failures separately from knowledge failures
5Stop adding new Inquiry subjects or electives after this point

Weeks 19-21 (mid September to early October): High-frequency repair

45-50 hours per week

1Re-do every item missed across the June and September KICE mocks
2Drill Korean long reading sets at 10 minutes per set so a hard set cannot eat the paper
3Drill the Mathematics items ranked 14, 15, 21, 22, 29 and 30 in past papers, the positions that historically carry the highest difficulty
4Take one Inquiry subject to full-marks reliability before polishing the second
5Sit one full-day rehearsal each weekend

Weeks 22-23 (mid to late October): Consolidate rather than expand

40-45 hours per week

1Review the EBS linked material again, since 50 percent of items in every area connect to it indirectly through data, figures and passage sources
2Rehearse the English listening block specifically, since it is fixed inside the first 25 minutes and you cannot pause it
3Do a timed Korean History paper twice a week to keep grade 1 at 40 out of 50 secure
4Rehearse the period four sequence: Korean History paper collected, 15 minutes of changeover, then two 30-minute Inquiry papers with a two-minute gap
5Move your sleep schedule so that you wake at the time you will wake on 19 November

Week 24 (early November): Taper

25-30 hours

1Cut total study hours by roughly a third and stop starting new material
2Read only your own error log and summary sheets
3Do one timed set per area per day to keep the rhythm without exhausting yourself
4Attend the preliminary assembly held by the provincial education office the day before the exam, where the admission ticket and exam venue are confirmed
5Pack the night before: identity document, admission ticket, black computer sign pen, white correction tape, black pencil, eraser, 0.5mm black lead, analogue watch

Week 25 (exam week, 19 November 2026): Execute and then switch to admissions

Exam day plus admissions work

1Arrive early enough to complete room entry by 08:10; periods two to five require you seated ten minutes before the start bell
2Hand any prohibited electronic item to the invigilator before period one, because possession found later is treated as cheating and voids everything
3Write the handwriting-verification phrase at the start of each period as instructed
4Do not attempt to fill in the provisional scoring table printed on the back of the admission ticket after a period's end bell, since that itself counts as cheating
5Score reports are issued on 11 December 2026; use the gap to build regular-track applications against published grade-boundary standard scores

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Best Study Resources

KICE Suneung site (수능 홈페이지)

Official specification

Publishes the annual implementation basic plan, the detailed implementation plan issued on 6 July 2026 for the 2027 exam, the full guideline with the timetable, and three guidance documents released each March.

Free

EBSi Suneung Teukgang and Suneung Wanseong

Linked textbooks and lectures

The only material KICE formally links to the exam. Linkage is indirect and set at 50 percent of items per area or subject, delivered through reused figures, tables, source passages, core arguments and reworked items.

Books are low-cost; the linked lectures are free on EBSi

KICE past papers and answer keys

Official past papers

Every past Suneung and every June and September KICE mock evaluation, with official answers. From the 2027 exam onward KICE also publishes the curriculum achievement standard behind each item after the exam.

Free

June and September KICE mock evaluations

Official rehearsals

Two full-scale mocks written by the same institute that writes the exam. KICE states outright that they exist so candidates can adapt to the real instrument, which makes them the only reliable difficulty calibration available.

Included in school administration

mycsat.re.kr

Registration portal

Online pre-entry for the 2027 exam runs 20 August to 3 September 2026, with payment by card, virtual account or simple pay. Registration only completes after an in-person visit to the reception point between 24 August and 4 September.

37,000 won for four areas or fewer, 42,000 for five, 47,000 for six

Provincial education office mock exams

Practice tests

Run in March, May, July and October by metropolitan and provincial education offices. Less predictive than the KICE mocks but useful for pacing rehearsal and for tracking grade movement over the year.

Included in school administration

Megastudy, Daesung Mimac and Etoos

Commercial online platforms

The three largest online lecture platforms in Korea. Useful for a specific weak topic or elective, and expensive if used as a substitute for working past papers yourself.

Subscription, varies by package

Adiga (adiga.kr)

Admissions portal

The higher education admissions portal run by the Korean Council for University Education. Carries every university's admission plan, which is where you find how each institution weights your Korean, Mathematics, English and Inquiry results.

Free

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Believing the EBS linkage rate is 70 percent

KICE sets it at 50 percent of items per area or subject, and the linkage is indirect: reused figures, tables, source passages, core arguments and reworked items rather than repeated questions. Planning as if 70 percent of the paper will be familiar leaves half the exam unprepared.

Choosing an Inquiry subject purely because it is considered easy

Standard scores depend on the population that sits the subject. Society and Culture had 239,403 candidates in the 2026 admissions-year exam and Earth Science II had 4,264. A small, self-selected, strong cohort produces a brutal grade boundary for the same raw score.

Treating English like the relative-graded areas

English is absolute. A raw 90 out of 100 is grade 1 whether 3 percent or 30 percent of the country reaches it, and in the 2026 admissions-year exam only 3.11 percent did. Push English to a secure grade 1 and then stop, because further English points buy nothing.

Skipping Korean History because it carries no differentiating weight

Not sitting Korean History voids the entire exam and cancels your score report for every other area. It is 20 items in 30 minutes and grade 1 needs 40 out of 50, which 15.23 percent of candidates reached, so the cost of securing it is small and the cost of ignoring it is total.

Practising Mathematics without isolating the short-answer items

Nine of the 30 Mathematics items are short-answer and entered as digits on the OMR grid, so there is no partial credit and no chance of a lucky guess. Items also carry 2, 3 or 4 points, which means the arithmetic slip on a 4-point item costs twice what a 2-point miss does.

Rehearsing period four as three separate sittings

It runs as one 107-minute block: Korean History from 14:50 to 15:20, papers collected and Inquiry papers distributed from 15:20 to 15:35, first Inquiry subject 15:35 to 16:05, a two-minute changeover, second Inquiry subject 16:07 to 16:37. Candidates who never rehearse the changeovers lose items to administrative confusion.

Bringing a smartwatch, wireless earphones or a tumbler with an LED display

KICE bans all electronic devices regardless of whether you use them, including smartwatches, smart glasses, tablets, earphones, electronic dictionaries, power banks and vapes. Anything unavoidably brought in must be surrendered before period one, and possession discovered afterwards is treated as cheating.

Relying on a mobile identity document

Mobile resident registration cards, mobile driving licences and mobile foreign registration cards are prohibited items on exam day and cannot be used for identity verification. Bring the physical card. Failure to verify identity means the paper is not scored and no result is issued.

Filling in the provisional score table after a period ends

The 2027 admission ticket carries a provisional scoring table printed on the reverse, but writing on it after a period's end bell is classified as cheating. Record answers during the session or reconstruct them after the whole exam.

Building the whole plan around the regular track

For the 2027 admissions year the regular track holds 68,134 of 345,717 places, 19.7 percent, while the early track holds 277,583, and 86.0 percent of early-track places are decided mainly on school records. Ignoring the early track narrows your options to a fifth of the market.

Exam Day Tips

1
Complete room entry by 08:10. For periods two through five you must be seated ten minutes before the start bell, and the venue is printed on the admission ticket issued at the previous day's preliminary assembly.
2
Bring a physical photo identity document: resident registration card, driving licence, an in-date passport showing the resident registration number, a youth card, or a student card bearing photograph, name, date of birth and the principal's seal. Foreign nationals may use the alien registration card, permanent residence card or domestic residence report card.
3
Surrender every prohibited electronic item to the invigilator before period one. Phones, smartwatches, smart glasses, tablets, earphones, electronic dictionaries, LED-display tumblers, power banks and vapes are all banned in the venue whether used or not.
4
The only watch you may keep is analogue with hour, minute and second hands, with no payment or communication function and no electronic display.
5
You may carry a black computer sign pen, white correction tape, a black pencil, an eraser and 0.5mm black lead. The centre issues sign pens and mechanical pencils anyway, and no other writing implement is permitted.
6
English listening starts by broadcast at 13:10 rather than by bell, after a sound-quality test and announcement from 13:07. All aircraft takeoffs and landings nationwide were suspended from 13:05 to 13:40 for the November 2025 exam, so the room will be quiet.
7
In period four you receive separate answer sheets for Korean History and Inquiry. Confirm you are writing on the right one before the first mark goes down.
8
For Inquiry, place only the one subject paper you selected on the desk and put the rest on the floor, cover included. The same rule applies in period five.
9
Write the handwriting-verification phrase at the start of each period exactly as instructed; it is part of the identity chain for your paper.
10
Check whether you hold the odd-number or even-number form of the Korean, Mathematics, English and Korean History paper and mark that form on the answer sheet, since it is distributed by candidate number.

Career Paths & Salary Ranges

Regular-track (정시) entry to a metropolitan-area university

The capital-region regular track is where Suneung scores carry the most weight. KICE does not publish salary outcomes by university, so the admissions counts are the honest number here.

43,275 Suneung-based places in the capital region for the 2027 admissions year

Regular-track entry outside the capital region

National and regional universities take a smaller regular-track intake than the capital region, and the grade boundaries required are correspondingly lower.

19,920 Suneung-based places outside the capital region for 2027

Early-track (수시) entry on school records

Most early-track routes still set a minimum Suneung grade condition, so the exam matters even when school records dominate the decision.

277,583 places for 2027, of which 156,403 are school-record-subject and 81,931 are school-record-comprehensive

Essay-based (논술) entry

Concentrated in capital-region universities, which hold 11,030 of those places. Most essay routes attach a Suneung minimum grade condition on top of the essay result.

12,711 places for 2027

Regional-talent medical school entry

Medical entry through the regional-talent route requires local schooling history alongside the Suneung result, and both quotas are set annually by the Ministry of Education.

1,250 non-capital medical school regional-talent places for 2027, plus 488 regional-doctor selection places

Repeating the year (재수 or N수)

A legitimate and heavily used path. There is no attempt limit on Suneung, so the constraint is a further year of cost and time rather than any rule.

160,794 graduates and equivalency-certificate holders sat the 2026 admissions-year exam, 32.6 percent of the field

Prerequisites & Requirements

There is no eligibility exam or qualification threshold. Any high school graduate, any student expected to graduate, and any holder of the equivalency certificate (검정고시) may register.
Registration for the 2027 exam runs as online pre-entry at mycsat.re.kr from 20 August to 3 September 2026, followed by an in-person visit to the reception point from 24 August to 4 September 2026 to verify identity and collect the receipt.
The reception point depends on your status: current students register through their school, graduates through the high school they attended or the district education office for their address, and equivalency-certificate holders through the district education office for their address.
A physical photo identity document is required at registration and again on exam day. Mobile identity documents are prohibited items and cannot be used.
The fee is 37,000 won for four areas or fewer, 42,000 won for five and 47,000 won for six, waived for candidates on national basic livelihood support, in the legally defined near-poor category, or receiving single-parent family support.
Vocational Inquiry has a real prerequisite: you must have completed 86 or more credits of the specialised vocational curriculum, or 80 units for candidates who graduated before 1 March 2016.
Candidates requesting testing accommodations, foreign nationals and candidates without a domestic identity verification method cannot use online pre-entry and must register in person with supporting documents.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I retake Suneung?

Yes, and there is no limit on attempts. The exam runs once a year, so a retake means waiting a full year. Repeat candidates are a large part of the field: 160,794 of the 493,896 candidates at the 2026 admissions-year exam were graduates or equivalency-certificate holders, 32.6 percent of everyone who sat.

What is the waiting period between attempts?

One year, because there is one administration per year. The 2027 admissions-year exam is on 19 November 2026 and the following one falls in November 2027. Registration for each opens in late August, so a candidate deciding to repeat must commit roughly nine months ahead of the next sitting.

How much does it cost, and does the fee change by region?

The fee is national and does not vary by region: 37,000 won for four areas or fewer, 42,000 won for five areas and 47,000 won for six. It is waived for candidates on national basic livelihood support, the legally defined near-poor category including disability pension and self-sufficiency work recipients, and single-parent family support recipients. A refund scheme also exists for candidates who do not sit, with applications from 23 to 27 November 2026.

What happens if I fail?

Nothing formally, because there is no pass mark. Every candidate who sits and completes Korean History receives a score report on 11 December 2026 showing standard scores, percentiles and grades. The consequence of a weak result is admissions, not failure: your grade band determines which universities you can realistically apply to in the regular track.

How does the score scale actually work?

Korean and Mathematics standard scores are scaled to a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 20, and Inquiry subjects to a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10. Percentile shows the share of candidates you outscored. The 1 to 9 grade is assigned sequentially by standard score for the relative-graded areas. In the 2026 admissions-year exam that put the Korean grade 1 cut at a standard score of 133 and the Mathematics grade 1 cut at 128.

Which areas are graded absolutely?

English, Korean History and the second foreign language or Classical Chinese. Their grades come from fixed raw-score cuts rather than from the field's performance, and the score report shows only the grade, no standard score and no percentile. English grade 1 is 90 out of 100 in 10-point bands. Korean History grade 1 is 40 out of 50 in 5-point bands. The second foreign language grade 1 is 45 out of 50.

Do wrong answers cost marks?

No. There is no negative marking, so every item should be answered. What varies is the value of the item: Korean, English, Korean History and Inquiry items are worth 2 or 3 points, Mathematics items 2, 3 or 4 points, and second foreign language or Classical Chinese items 1 or 2 points. Mathematics short-answer items also give no partial credit.

When do results arrive?

For the 2027 admissions-year exam, on 11 December 2026, which is 22 days after the exam. There is no unofficial early score from KICE. Candidates traditionally reconstruct a provisional score using the table printed on the back of the admission ticket, but writing on that table after a period's end bell is classified as cheating. Reports are collected from the place you registered.

What identification do I need on exam day?

A physical photo identity document plus the admission ticket. Accepted documents include the resident registration card, driving licence, an in-date passport showing the resident registration number, a youth card or its issuance confirmation, and a student card bearing photograph, name, date of birth and the principal's seal. Foreign nationals may use the alien registration card, permanent residence card or domestic residence report card. Mobile identity documents are prohibited items and are not accepted.

Is there an online or remote-proctored option?

No. Suneung is paper-based only, administered at designated venues with a maximum of 28 candidates per room. Papers are printed in odd-number and even-number forms distributed by candidate number, and answers are marked on OMR sheets, with Korean History and Inquiry receiving physically separate answer sheets.

What can I bring to the desk?

The identity document, the admission ticket, a black computer sign pen, white correction tape, a black pencil, an eraser, 0.5mm black lead, an analogue watch with no payment, communication or electronic display function, and a mask subject to invigilator checking. Sign pens and mechanical pencils are also issued by the venue. Every other writing implement stays in the bag at the front of the room.

Are calculators or reference materials allowed?

No. There is no calculator on any paper, including the 100-minute Mathematics session with its nine short-answer items, and no reference material of any kind is permitted. Electronic dictionaries are on the prohibited list alongside phones and smartwatches.

What accommodations exist?

KICE provides braille papers and audio assessment material with 1.7 times the standard time for candidates with severe visual impairment, along with a computer running screen-reading software and a braille information terminal for the Mathematics and Inquiry sessions. Candidates with mild visual impairment or motor impairment such as cerebral palsy receive 1.5 times the standard time, and enlarged papers are available at 118 percent, 200 percent or 350 percent, with a 71 percent reduced paper for magnifier users. Candidates with severe hearing impairment take a written substitute for the English listening test. Accommodation requests must be filed in person during registration, not online.

What happens if I am caught with a banned item?

It is treated as cheating whether it is exam time or a break, and the entire exam is voided. Any prohibited item unavoidably brought to the venue must be handed to the invigilator before period one begins, and is returned after all your papers finish. Failing to hand it over is itself the offence.

How much does EBS material really matter?

KICE sets linkage at 50 percent of items per area or subject, using indirect methods: reused figures, tables and source passages, reused core arguments or themes, application of key concepts and principles, and reworked or restructured items. Only textbooks and lectures reviewed by KICE for the current year's candidates count as linked material, so a previous year's volumes do not carry the same value.

How do the June and September mocks differ from provincial mocks?

The June and September evaluations are written and scored by KICE, the institute that writes Suneung. KICE states they exist to give candidates a chance to adapt to the exam. Provincial mocks in March, May, July and October are set by metropolitan and provincial education offices and are useful for pacing, but their difficulty calibration and candidate pool differ from the real thing.

How does Suneung compare with the school-record track?

They are two different markets. For the 2027 admissions year, universities plan 345,717 places: 277,583 in the early track and 68,134 in the regular track. In the regular track, 63,195 places, 92.8 percent, are decided mainly on Suneung. In the early track, 156,403 places go to school-record-subject routes and 81,931 to school-record-comprehensive routes, though most attach a Suneung minimum grade condition.

How does Suneung compare with the SAT or the International Baccalaureate?

Suneung is once a year, paper-based, in Korean, with no attempt limit but no second chance within an admissions cycle. The SAT is offered several times a year and scores are portable across applications; the IB is a two-year school programme assessed across coursework and exams. Korean universities operate separate admission routes for overseas Koreans and foreign nationals that accept those qualifications, so the comparison matters mainly for candidates deciding which system to enter, not for domestic applicants.

Can I take two Inquiry subjects from different pools?

Yes. Since the 2022 admissions year, social and science Inquiry are treated as one pool of 17 subjects and you may pick any two. In the 2026 admissions-year exam, 284,535 candidates took only social subjects, 108,353 took only science subjects and 81,023 mixed the two. Almost everyone takes the maximum: 99.16 percent of Inquiry candidates sat two subjects.

Is the second foreign language paper worth entering?

Only if a target university's admission plan credits it. Just 50,144 candidates, 10.15 percent of the 2026 admissions-year field, entered it. It adds 5,000 won to the fee, adds 40 minutes and 30 items at the end of an already long day, and is graded absolutely with grade 1 at 45 out of 50. Check the university's plan on adiga.kr before committing.

Success Stories

“EBS 연계 is real. I studied every EBS passage multiple times. For math, solving past exams repeatedly until automatic was key. 기출분석 is more valuable than new problems.”

Minjun K.

Seoul National University

Score: Top 0.5%

“I took two attempts. First year taught me that smart study beats long study. Second year I focused on weak areas and timed practice. Mental preparation was equally important.”

Jihye P.

Korea University

Score: Top 2%

“English Grade 1 is achievable with consistent effort - I secured it early and focused on Korean and Math. Investigation subjects (탐구) selection was strategic - chose subjects with favorable grade conversion.”

Seojun L.

Yonsei University

Score: Top 1%

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