June mock exam math section similar to or slightly easier than last year's CSAT

By Kim Yong-jae, The Herald Business

The mathematics section of the June mock College Scholastic Ability Test for the 2027 academic year was assessed as similar to or slightly easier than last year's CSAT.

According to EBS and college entrance industry analysts, the math section administered Thursday showed an overall drop in perceived difficulty, though key high-difficulty questions ensured clear differentiation among top-scoring students.

The EBS linkage rate for this exam held at around 50% — the same as in previous years — covering 11 questions in the common section and four in the elective section. EBS said questions that favor test-taking techniques or repetitive drilling through private education were excluded, and that students who diligently studied school coursework and EBS-linked materials should have been well prepared.

Jongno Academy said the exam was slightly easier than last year's CSAT, and that no extreme "killer questions" requiring highly complex calculations were included.

For test-takers, Question 22 in the common section emerged as a potential deciding factor. Jongno Academy said that while Question 22 in the June and September mock exams and the main CSAT last year all covered the exponential and logarithmic functions unit, this year's exam featured a problem on the inductive definition of sequences — a shift that may have caught some students off guard.

EBS also flagged several key questions: Question 22 on sequences, which required finding the rule of an inductively defined sequence; Question 14 on the use of cosine functions; Question 15 on the relationship between definite integrals and area; and Question 21 on differentiation, which asked students to reason about the relationship between cubic and quadratic function graphs.

Kim Byung-jin, director of the Etoos Education Assessment Research Institute, said that because the math section of the June mock exam covers a more limited range of elective topics than the actual CSAT, students should focus on gauging their mastery of the common section. He added that while the subject areas of high-difficulty questions sometimes differ from those on the CSAT, students should resist treating this exam as a definitive indicator of this year's CSAT trends, and instead use it to assess their own learning and identify areas for further study.