English section easier than CSAT and June mock exam, with questions 21 and 33 testing top students

The English section of the September mock College Scholastic Ability Test for the 2027 academic year was easier than both last year's CSAT and this year's June mock exam, according to an analysis released Wednesday.

EBS said in its assessment of English section trends that the test "appears to have been set at a lower difficulty level than last year's CSAT and this year's June mock exam," adding that it "maintained existing question formats without introducing new types and placed items requiring precise comprehension of passages and answer choices across a variety of question types."

Passages in this year's English section drew on topics likely to be familiar and engaging to test-takers — including the function of dopamine, the role of search autocomplete, reducing cafeteria food waste, a leader's capacity for empathy, and the mechanics of humor. EBS noted that passages containing content so abstract it would be difficult to understand even in Korean, or sentences that were excessively long and complex, were excluded.

The test comprised 17 listening questions and 28 reading questions. The listening portion was set at a similar format and difficulty level to previous exams. In the reading section, question 21 — which tests inferring implied meaning — along with blank-completion questions 33 and 34 and question 37 on text sequencing, were identified as the key differentiating items.

Question 33, based on a passage about how literary works describe place, was considered difficult because the wrong answer choices also contained key terms from the text, making it hard to select the correct answer simply by spotting familiar words. Question 34, which explains the effects of humor, was analyzed as a differentiator between upper-mid and top-tier students, as it required precise understanding of what the pronouns in the answer choices referred to and the metaphors used in the passage.

EBS-linked questions accounted for 25 of the 45 total items, a linkage rate of 55.6 percent. In the listening and indirect speaking sections, 15 of 17 questions were linked; in the reading and indirect writing sections, 10 of 28 were linked. The linkage took the form of reconstructed dialogues and passages from EBS textbooks, or the use of related topics, images, charts and texts.

EBS advised students preparing for the CSAT to "consistently practice finding in the passage not only the basis for the correct answer but also the reason each wrong answer is incorrect." It added that "rather than simply memorizing the meanings of basic vocabulary, students need to develop the habit of understanding words in an expanded sense according to the context of the passage."