Miss this year's exam and the rules change: How repeat test-takers and the regional doctor quota will reshape Korea's college entrance race

The College Scholastic Ability Test, or CSAT, is now 100 days away — and this year's exam will be the last before a sweeping overhaul of the university admissions system takes effect for the 2028 academic year. It is also the final CSAT under the current "common subjects plus elective subjects" format, and the first to include a regional doctor selection track. With more high-scoring repeat test-takers expected to enter the fray, analysts say students may gravitate toward safer, more conservative school choices.

According to education circles, this year's CSAT is scheduled for Nov. 19. Students will sit the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation's September mock exam on Sept. 2, then begin submitting early-admissions applications from Aug. 7 through Aug. 11.

This year's exam is the last in the elective-subject CSAT format in place since the 2022 academic year. Starting with the 2028 academic year, elective subjects in Korean language and mathematics will be eliminated, and the social studies and science exploration tracks will be replaced by integrated social studies and integrated science. High school internal grade ratings will also shift from a nine-tier system to a five-tier system.

With the admissions framework changing so dramatically, graduates and students retaking the exam while enrolled elsewhere are expected to concentrate on this year's test while the current system still applies. In practice, the number of such repeat test-takers who registered for the June mock exam reached 96,931 — 19.8 percent of all applicants and the highest figure since the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation began releasing the relevant statistics for the 2011 academic year. That was 7,044 more than the previous year.

The newly introduced regional doctor selection track is another variable set to affect top-tier admissions. Starting with the 2027 academic year, the government will select 490 students through the regional doctor track at 32 medical schools outside Seoul. Analysts say the expanded medical school enrollment is likely to draw more high-scoring repeat test-takers aiming for a medical degree.

The admissions industry expects the combination of uncertainty ahead of the system overhaul and the surge in repeat test-takers to push students toward prioritizing admission probability even in early-round applications. "Because high-achieving students may flood in, test-takers could see CSAT results that differ from what they experienced in mock exams," said Im Seong-ho, head of Jongno Academy.

Shifts in the exploration subject area also demand attention. In the June mock exam, 417,935 students registered for social studies exploration — about 50,000 more than the previous year. By contrast, science exploration registrations fell by more than 40,000 to 206,788. The trend reflects the spread of what has been dubbed the "social studies flight," in which science-track students opt for social studies exploration subjects instead of science ones.

That is why experts advise students targeting early-admissions tracks with minimum CSAT score requirements to manage their key subjects carefully in the time remaining.

Most major Seoul universities apply minimum CSAT score requirements to their school record-based admissions tracks, with the exception of a handful of schools such as Konkuk University and Dongguk University. Among comprehensive admissions tracks, minimum requirements apply at Seoul National University, Yonsei University, Korea University's academic excellence track, Hanyang University's recommendation track, Chung-Ang University's growth talent track, Ewha Womans University's document track and Hongik University, among others.

Whether a student meets the minimum requirement can dramatically reduce the effective competition ratio. "In the 2026 academic year, the initial competition ratio for Kyung Hee University's pharmacy department essay track was 95.6 to 1, but only 11.4 percent of essay applicants met the minimum CSAT requirement, bringing the effective ratio down to 10.9 to 1," said Nam Yun-gon, head of the admissions strategy research institute at MegaStudyEdu. "Students need to check the requirements of the schools they are applying to and build a study strategy around them."

English is another variable. In the June mock exam, only 4.13 percent of test-takers achieved a first-grade rating in English, which is assessed on an absolute scale. The figure was 3.11 percent in last year's CSAT for the 2026 academic year. The admissions industry advises students to prepare for a difficult exam even if the difficulty level is adjusted for this year's actual test.

Students with an eye on regular admissions should maintain their study level across all subjects rather than abandoning specific ones early. It is difficult to predict which subjects will carry higher difficulty on the actual exam and therefore yield a competitive standardized score advantage.

"Based on the June mock exam, 14.2 percent of test-takers scored 30 points or below in Korean language, and 35 percent did so in mathematics," said Im of Jongno Academy. "Korean language should be studied to the end regardless of grade level, and for mathematics, rather than giving up on certain units, students need a strategy of getting basic concept questions right without mistakes."

Students should also check the subject weighting each target university and department applies to CSAT scores. In the humanities track, Kyung Hee University for some departments, Korea University, Ewha Womans University, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Hanyang University for some departments, and Hongik University all place additional weight on Korean language or mathematics. In the science track, Korea University and Sogang University for some tracks, as well as Seoul National University, assign a relatively higher share to mathematics.

"To reduce mistakes caused by nerves on exam day, students should start practicing now by solving problems within the actual exam time limits," Nam said. "They should build the habit of tackling easier questions first and moving on decisively from any question that cannot be resolved within a set amount of time."

He added that as exam day approaches, students should also align their daily lifestyle with the exam timetable. "It is a good idea to work on Korean language problems in the morning and English problems after lunch, building real-exam adaptability," he said.