Wide reading enough to prepare for essay-style CSAT, no hagwon needed, education chief says

National Education Commission Chairperson Cha Jeong-in said Wednesday that students would not need to attend hagwon to prepare for essay and short-answer questions if they are introduced to the College Scholastic Ability Test, pushing back against concerns that the format would fuel new private tutoring demand. "Wide reading is sufficient," Cha said.

Cha made the remarks at a National Assembly Education Committee briefing Wednesday, responding to a question from Reform Party lawmaker Lee Ju-young about whether adding essay and short-answer questions to the CSAT would expand the private education market. "There is no need to go to a hagwon to learn essay-writing techniques," Cha said. "If the format is introduced, all that families and students need to do is read widely."

Cha said the technical aspects of the new test format could be fully taught within the public school system. "College admissions systems have the power to change education and to shift the direction of classroom instruction and learning," he said, "so that purpose must be considered at the same time."

The National Education Commission's special committee on college admissions is currently deliberating a package of reforms that would include introducing essay and short-answer questions to the CSAT, converting all subjects to an absolute grading scale, and expanding essay-format assessment in school-based grades.

On concerns about grading fairness for essay responses, Cha said AI technology could support a reliable scoring system even for a nationwide exam such as the CSAT. "The state of AI development in Japan a decade ago and in South Korea today are completely different," he said, adding that experts had confirmed it was feasible to build a system capable of grading a national-scale exam. "AI grading systems are already being piloted by regional education offices, and the results have been successful," he added.

Cha had earlier raised the issue in a briefing to President Lee Jae Myung, arguing that multiple-choice questions alone are insufficient to assess student competency in the AI era.

Concerns over fairness, differentiation and the risk of expanding private tutoring persisted in the Assembly, however. People Power Party lawmaker Lee In-seon invoked the so-called "triangle of death" — a period following the introduction of a grade-based CSAT system when universities expanded their own essay tests, forcing students to simultaneously prepare for school grades, the CSAT and separate university entrance essays. "Replacing the CSAT with essay questions and switching to absolute grading is something that needs to be examined carefully over time," Lee said.

Lee also noted that teachers have recently raised strong objections to a full shift to essay-format assessment. "The government has the authority to change education policy," she said, "but it does not have the authority to use students' lives as an experiment."