College Scholastic Ability Test

In the national-language section, candidates are assessed on their ability to read, understand and analyse Korean texts rapidly and accurately. Its 45 questions of the subject are classified into four categories:

• Speech and Writing (10 questions)
• Grammar (5)
• Reading (15)
• Literature (15)

This category consists of three written passages with 10 questions. The first passage is the script of a lecture or radio program (speech), the second is the script of a debate about an article (speech and writing), and the last one is an argumentative essay (writing). Although the category name contains the word "speech", candidates only read the written scripts.

This category consists of five questions, two of which relate to a given passage. Candidates are assessed on their ability to apply their knowledge of Korean grammar, Hangul, and Korean history from the 15th century to the present.

This category consists of three articles, each with four, five, or six questions. The long articles are about abstract, complicated topics such as physics, engineering, economics, law, philosophy, or aesthetics. Topics may be related. Candidates need to answer questions such as, "Of the five statements below, which one does NOT agree with the passage above?" or "According to the passage, which one is the correct analysis of the following example?"

This category consists of four texts, each with three to six questions. The first text is a comparison of a modern Korean novel and scenario or play. The second is a comparison of two modern Korean poems. The third is part of a Korean novel or pansori and the last is a Korean poem, both of which were written between the Silla and Joseon eras (the Western Middle Ages). Candidates must determine which answer is the most accurate impression of the given text.

The mathematics section is divided into two types: Ga and Na. Type Ga, usually taken by students applying for natural-sciences majors, is based on calculus, geometry, vectors, and probability and statistics, all of which are taught in high school. Type Na, usually taken by students applying for the humanities, is based on probability and statistics. Most candidates choose a when they take the CSAT.

Subordinate subjects[8]

Section	Field	Subject	Related major	Contents
Social studies	Ethics	Life and ethics	Philosophy	Introduction to ethics, teleological and deontological ethics, Thomas Aquinas, Stoicism, Immanuel Kant, utilitarianism, virtue ethics, John Rawls, Alasdair MacIntyre, Jürgen Habermas
		Ethics and thought		Eastern philosophy: Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Korean philosophy Western philosophy: Sophism, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicureanism, Stoicism, Hellenism, Christianity, Scholasticus, Protestantism, Empiricism, Rationalism, Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, David Hume, René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, utilitarianism, John Stuart Mill, Jeremy Bentham, Kant, practical ethics, existentialism, virtue ethics, communitarianism, democracy, social contract, natural law, capitalism, socialism
	Geography	Korean geography	Geography	Geography, ecosystem and climate of the Korean peninsula, Korean geography-based industrial structure, provincial specialties, North Korea
		World geography		World map, climate by latitude, unique landforms, distributions of ethnic groups, languages, and resources, globalization, regional conflicts
	History	East Asian history	History	History of Korea, China, Japan, and Vietnam
		World history		History of the world, especially Eurasia
	Political science	Politics and law	Law Political science International relations	Political and legal philosophy, electoral system, constitutional law, presidential, parliamentary and dual-executive system, history of Korean politics, civil, criminal and social law of Korea, international law
		Economics	Economics	Division of labor, supply and demand, unemployment, inflation, trade, exchange rate, asset management, history of Korean economics
		Society and culture	Sociology Anthropology	Structural functionalism, conflict theories, symbolic interactionism, social research, socialization, social groups, deviance, anomie, Émile Durkheim, Robert K. Merton, culture, social inequality, Marxian class theory, social stratification, poverty, gender, welfare, modernization theory, evolutionary theory, industrialisation, unemployment, globalization
Science	Physics	Physics I	Physics	${\displaystyle F=ma}$Classical mechanics in one dimension, theory of relativity, electromagnetism: electromagnetic induction and Faraday's law, wave properties, semiconductor principles, torque, Archimedes' principle, Pascal's law, Bernoulli's principle, laws of thermodynamics
		Physics II		${\displaystyle {\vec {F}}=m{\vec {a}}}$I. Classical mechanics: Classical mechanics in two dimensions, harmonic oscillator, laws of thermodynamics, proof of ideal gas law II. Electromagnetism: Electric dipole moment, Lorentz force, RLC circuit III. Waves and light: Mathematical expression of wave, Huygens' principle, superposition principle, lasers, polarization of light IV. Quantum mechanics: Black body, Wien's displacement law, Stefan–Boltzmann law, photoelectric effect, Compton scattering, matter wave, Davisson–Germer experiment, uncertainty principle, Schrödinger equation, wave function, quantum tunnelling, scanning tunneling microscope
	Chemistry	Chemistry I	Chemistry	Chemical formula, Avogadro constant, mole, periodic table, Bohr model, atomic orbital, spin, Pauli exclusion principle, Hund's rules, Aufbau principle, octet rule, covalent bond, ionic bonding, coordinate covalent bond, Bond dipole moment, acid-base, redox, DNA
		Chemistry II		Van der Waals force, hydrogen bond, ${\displaystyle PV=nRT}$ ideal gas equation, mole fraction, Dalton's law, cubic crystal system, Raoult's law, vapor pressure, ${\displaystyle Q=cm\Delta t}$ Heat of reaction, Hess's law, enthalpy, Gibbs free energy, Chemical equilibrium: phase diagram, solubility equilibrium, ionization equilibrium, buffer solution
	Biology	Biology I	Biology	DNA, genes, chromosomes, cell structure division and cycle, Mendelian inheritance, anatomy, Adenosine triphosphate, ecology
		Biology II		Deeper version of Biology I, Hardy–Weinberg principle, evolution
	Earth science	Earth science I	Geology Astrophysics	Atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, biosphere Terrain of Korean peninsula, earthquake, volcano, weathering, landslide, weather, tsunami, environmental pollution, climate change Universe: Star, Earth, Sun, sunspot, Moon, eclipse, extraterrestrial life
		Earth science II		Seismic wave, Earth's gravity and magnetic field, mineral, magma, sedimentary and metamorphic rock, hydrodynamic equilibrium, adiabatic process, Ekman spiral, sea water, atmospheric circulation, star, Milky Way, Big Bang, dark energy
Vocational education	Agriculture science	Understanding agriculture
		Basic technology
	Engineering	General engineering
		Basic drawing
	Commerce	Commercial economics
		Principles of accounting
	Oceanography	Understanding oceans
		Fishing and shipping
	Home economics	Human development
		Service industries

• Second foreign Language/Classical Chinese
  • German I
  • French I
  • Spanish I
  • Chinese I
  • Japanese I
  • Russian I
  • Arabic I
  • Vietnamese I
  • Classical Chinese I

Since CSAT problems are designed for all high school students, its overall difficulty is not too high. But some of them can be very tricky, which are so-called 'killer problems'. Here are some killer problems that were on the test.

The 30th problem in type Ga of the 2016 CSAT was:

A function ${\displaystyle f(x)}$ defined for ${\displaystyle x>a}$, where ${\displaystyle a}$ is a constant, and a quartic function ${\displaystyle g(x)}$ whose leading coefficient is ${\displaystyle -1}$ satisfy the three conditions below:

A) For all real numbers ${\displaystyle x}$, such that ${\displaystyle x>a}$, ${\displaystyle (x-a)f(x)=g(x)}$.

B) For two different real numbers ${\displaystyle \alpha }$ and ${\displaystyle \beta }$, ${\displaystyle f(x)}$ has the same local maximum ${\displaystyle M}$ at ${\displaystyle x=\alpha }$ and ${\displaystyle x=\beta }$. (${\displaystyle M>0}$)

C) ${\displaystyle f(x)}$ has more local extrema than ${\displaystyle g(x)}$ does.

${\displaystyle \beta -\alpha =6{\sqrt {3}}}$. Find the minimum of ${\displaystyle M}$.

The 29th mathematics problem in the 1997 CSAT had an all-time low correct-response rate of 0.08 percent:

If two equations ${\displaystyle P(x)=0}$ and ${\displaystyle Q(x)=0}$ have 7 and 9 solutions respectively and a set ${\displaystyle A=\{(x,y)\mid P(x)Q(y)=0,\ Q(x)P(y)=0\ and\ x,y\in \mathbb {R} \}}$ is an infinite set, ${\displaystyle n(B)}$, the number of elements in ${\displaystyle A}$'s subset${\displaystyle B=\{(x,y)\mid (x,y)\in A\ and\ x=y\}}$, varies according to the values of ${\displaystyle P(x)}$ and ${\displaystyle Q(x)}$. Find the maximum of ${\displaystyle n(B)}$.

The 29th problem in mathematics subject type B (the former Ga) of the 2013 CSAT follows:

${\displaystyle P}$ and ${\displaystyle Q}$ are points on the sphere ${\displaystyle x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2}=4}$. ${\displaystyle P_{1}}$ and ${\displaystyle Q_{1}}$ are the foots of two perpendiculars from ${\displaystyle P}$ and ${\displaystyle Q}$ to the plane ${\displaystyle y=4}$ respectively. ${\displaystyle P_{2}}$ and ${\displaystyle Q_{2}}$ are the foots of two perpendiculars from ${\displaystyle P}$ and ${\displaystyle Q}$ to the plane ${\displaystyle y+{\sqrt {3}}z+8=0}$ respectively. Find the maximum of ${\displaystyle 2\left\vert {\overrightarrow {PQ}}\right\vert ^{2}-\left\vert {\overrightarrow {P_{1}Q_{1}}}\right\vert ^{2}-\left\vert {\overrightarrow {P_{2}Q_{2}}}\right\vert ^{2}}$.

The following question appeared on 2010 CSAT, and had a correct-response rate of 9.77 percent. The paragraph is excerpted from John Leofric Stocks' "The Limits of Purpose":

So far as you are wholly concentrated on bringing about a certain result, clearly, the quicker and easier it is brought about the better. Your resolve to secure a sufficiency of food for yourself and your family will induce you to spend weary days in tilling the ground and tending livestock; but if Nature provided food and meat in abundance ready for the table, you would thank Nature for sparing you much labor and consider yourself so much the better off. An executed purpose, in short, is a transaction in which the time and energy spent on the execution are balanced against the resulting assets, and the ideal case is one in which__________________. Purpose, then, justifies the efforts it exacts only conditionally, by their fruits.

1. demand exceeds supply, resulting in greater returns
2. life becomes fruitful with our endless pursuit of dreams
3. the time and energy are limitless and assets are abundant
4. Nature does not reward those who do not exert efforts
5. the former approximates to zero and the latter to infinity

The National United Achievement Test (NUAT, Korean: 전국연합학력평가,[11]; Hanja: 全國聯合學力評價) is administered in the same way as the CSAT, and was introduced in 2002 to relieve dependence on private mock tests. High-school students may apply to take the test, and local education offices decide whether it will be administered in their districts. Every office of education in South Korea normally participates in the NUAT to prepare students for the CSAT, and the number of applicants parallels the CSAT. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education,[12] Busan Metropolitan Office of Education[13] (freshmen and sophomores), Gyeonggi-do Office of Education,[14] and Incheon Office of Education[15] take turns creating the questions, and the KICE grades the test and issues report cards.

The basic structure of the exam is identical to the CSAT. For mathematics, social studies, science and second language, its range is determined by when it is conducted.[16][17] In the Korean and English sections, the questions are not directly from textbooks but are constructed in accordance with the curriculum.

As of 2014, there are four NUATs per year; it is not the same for every district,however, and some have only two exams per year for freshmen and sophomores. The NUAT for freshmen and sophomores is held in March, June, September and November; seniors are tested in March, April, July and October to avoid conflict with June and September, when the CSAT Simulation is given.

• March: Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (seniors; freshmen and sophomores, 2006–2009, 2014), Busan Metropolitan Office of Education (freshmen and sophomores, 2010–2013)
• April: Gyeonggi-do Office of Education (seniors, since 2003)
• June: Busan Metropolitan Office of Education (freshmen and sophomores, 2014), Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (freshmen and sophomores 2002–2004, 2010–2013; seniors 2002), Incheon Office of Education (freshmen and sophomores 2005–2009)
• July: Incheon Office of Education (seniors since 2007), Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (2005)[18]
• September: Incheon Office of Education (freshmen and sophomores since 2010), Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (freshmen and sophomores 2004–2008), Busan Metropolitan Office of Education (freshmen and sophomores 2009)
• October: Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (seniors)
• November: Gyeonggi-do Office of Education (freshmen and sophomores, except 2003)
• December: Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (freshmen 2003)[19]

The College Scholastic Ability Test Simulation (CSAT Simulation, Korean: 대학수학능력시험 모의평가[20]) is given by KICE. Unlike the NUAT, anyone who is eligible for the CSAT may also take this test. The CSAT Simulation was introduced after the CSAT failed to set the proper difficulty level in 2001 and 2002. First implemented in 2002, it was held only in September during its early years. The test has been given twice a year, in June and September, since 2004. It covers everything in the curriculum for the Korean- and second-language sections, and two-thirds of what the CSAT covers for the other sections. The September exam covers everything in every section, like the CSAT. The number of questions and test time per section is identical to the CSAT.