This study investigated the thematic and lexical characteristics of high-difficulty English reading items—commonly referred to as killer questions—in the Korean College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) between 2018 and 2025. Using text mining methods, including Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) and CEFR-based lexical profiling, the analysis reveals that these items disproportionately addressed abstract, academic topics such as cultural heritage, moral dilemmas, and cognitive science. Lexical analysis further indicated that over 30% of the words used are at the C1 level or above, reflecting substantial vocabulary demands. These findings point to a misalignment with the national curriculum, which is designed to target B1–B2 proficiency with more familiar and accessible topics. The combined challenge of abstract themes and advanced vocabulary raises concerns about the construct validity and fairness of these items, suggesting that they may measure background knowledge or test-taking strategies rather than genuine English reading proficiency. The study concludes by calling for evidence-based item development and closer alignment with curricular goals to ensure valid and equitable high-stakes language assessment.

This study analyzed the patterns of relative clauses (RCs) used on the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), a standardized test for college admissions in Korea. The researchers investigated the Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy and the impact of the antecedent’s animacy on RCs. Also, it was explored how NPs in the subject position of object RCs affected language processing, specifically, the condition where relativizers were omitted and the reasons for producing passive subject RCs. Data were collected from the CSAT and mock tests from 2019 to 2023. The analysis of 622 RCs yielded the following results: First, the frequency of RCs appeared in the following order: subject RCs, object RCs, then OBL. Second, the object RCs showed a preference for inanimate antecedents whereas the subject RCs used did not show a preference for animate antecedents. Third, NPs in the subject position with sentences containing object RCs predominantly took the form of pronouns, with common nouns used less frequently.

In this study, the continuity of reading passages from high school mock College Scholastic Ability Test (CAST) English exams across grade levels was investigated using Coh-Metrix. A corpus consisting of 525 reading passages, evenly distributed with 175 passages from each high school grade level, was compiled from the 2017-2023 mock CSAT English exams administered by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. Coh- Metrix measures included basic counts, word frequencies, word features, lexical diversity, personal pronouns, connectives, standard readability, syntactic complexity, coreference, and semantic cohesion indices. The analysis revealed significant differences among grade levels in the reading passages of the mock CSAT English exams in measures such as word counts, average word and sentence length, nouns, age of acquisition, second person pronouns, standard readability, and subject density indices. These findings highlight the potential for refining the design and construction of reading passages in mock CSAT exams to better prepare students for the linguistic challenges presented in the actual high-stakes CSAT.

This research investigated consistency of achievement levels stated in the 2015 revised national curriculum of English, high school English textbooks, and the Korean College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) according to CEFR Levels. Based on CEFR levels, this study compared levels of targeted achievement standards in the national curriculum, focusing on reading passages in High School EnglishⅡ and CSAT implemented for three consecutive years (2021-2023). Results indicated that the reading section of textbooks and CSAT included a considerable portion of passages whose text difficulty levels were higher than CEFR B2, exceeding the achievement standards required for high school graduates. These results suggest that difficulty levels in the national curriculum, textbooks, and CSAT should be adjusted according to target levels of language proficiency based on CEFR levels so that learning burden of students can be lessened and competency-based English teaching and learning finally can be performed.

The present study examines Korean high school English teachers’ and university students’ perceptions about the criterion-referenced assessment of English in CSAT. A total of 400 participants (149 teachers and 251 students) answered an online questionnaire. Teachers showed more positive attitudes than students in their perceptions about the reduction of excessive competition among students, more communicative English classes, and the use of Korean and mathematics scores of the CSAT for the admission materials. Students, on the other hand, were more positive than teachers in their perceptions about the effects of the criterion-referenced assessment of English in CSAT on the reduction of private education and more high scorers in the CSAT. Regarding the alternatives to current criterion-referenced assessments of English in CSAT, teachers seem to emphasize the development of new question types for a valid criterion-referenced assessment system while students seem to focus on improving the communication skills through the English test in CSAT, not on the validity of the criterion-referenced assessment.

The College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) has focused on relative ranks among students since it started from 1993. In December 2014 The Ministry of Education (MOE) announced that it would adopt an absolute grading system (AGS) for English scores in the CSAT, starting from November 2017, and discard the relative grading. The MOE hoped that the AGS of CSAT English would eventually serve to normalize English education by having teachers place more emphasis on improving students’ communication skills rather than on solving CSAT questions. This paper describes the rationale behind the implementation of AGS for CSAT English by the MOE and how the criteria and grades of AGS have been developed and set. Then current problems arising from the AGS for CSAT English are discussed by touching on its theoretical, practical and political issues based on relevant literatures, public hearings and news media reports, and informal interviews with contemporary teachers of English.

본 연구는 수능 영어 독해력 향상을 위한 다독 프로그램에 대해 교사와 학생들이 가지는 의식과 다독 프로그램에 대한 요구를 조사 및 분석하였다. 이를 위해 서울특별시와 경기도, 강원도, 충청도 소재 국·공립 고등학교 2학년과 3학년에 재학 중인 남녀 고등학생 309명과 동일 학교에서 근무 중인 영어교사 32명을 대상으로 요구조사를 진행하였다. 교사와 학생에게 주어진 설문 문항은 기초 설문 항목, 학교 수업 실태 조사 항목과 다독 실태 조사 항목 및 영어 다독 수업 모형에 대한 요구도 조사 항목으로 구성하였다. 교사의 요구 분석 결과를 종합하면, 교사들은 교과서를 제외한 영어 읽기 텍스트 부족과 읽기 교육 내용의 체계적 구성 결핍을 현재 영어 읽기 교육의 주된 문제점으로 인식했다. 다독을 통해 영어 읽기 능력을 향상할 수 있기 때문에 대다수의 교사들은 교육 여건이 충분하지 못한 상황에도 불구하고 다독 교육이 필요하다는 의견을 보여주었다. 학생 설문 분석의 경우, 지나치게 난해한 표현들이 수능 영어 지문과 EBS 교재에 다수 포함되어 학생들은 영어 읽기 문제 해결에 많은 어려움을 겪고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 대부분의 학생들은 현재 다루고 있는 수능 지문과 EBS 교재 이외에도 읽기 능력 향상과 수능 영어 시험에서 높은 점수를 획득하 기 위해 추가적인 읽기 자료를 원하고 있으며 이러한 교사와 학생의 의식 조사를 통해 수능 영어 독해력 향상을 위한 다독 프로그램의 요구를 확인하였다.