The results of the September mock exam for the 2027 college entrance exam have been released, revealing a significant trend of students switching from science exploration to social studies, a phenomenon referred to as 'social studies shift.'
With the number of students taking science exploration exams halving compared to last year, securing top grades has become critical. This year, the exploration area is expected to be a major battleground in the natural sciences for college admissions. Additionally, the Korean language section was notably difficult, while the English section was among the easiest ever, necessitating thorough preparation for the actual exam.
According to an analysis of the September mock exam results by the Ministry of Education, the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, and major admissions companies, the most striking feature of this exam is the 'social studies shift.'
The number of students taking only science exploration, once considered a mandatory subject for natural science students, dropped to 51,461, a decrease of 43.8% (40,148 students) from last September's mock exam, which had 91,609 participants. In contrast, the number of students taking only social studies increased by 13.3% (31,738 students) to 270,301.
This reduction in participants directly correlates with a decrease in the number of top grades. According to an analysis by JinHakSa, the total number of students achieving the highest grade in the eight science exploration subjects fell dramatically from 14,324 last year to 8,311 this year, a drop of 42.0% (6,013 students).
Yoo An-cheol, head of JinHakSa's admissions strategy research center, noted, "While the overall number of participants decreased by 3%, the number of students taking only science exploration dropped by over 40%, leading to a significant reduction in top grades. If this trend continues into the actual exam, it could introduce considerable variables for top-tier natural science programs at universities like Seoul National University, which require two science exploration subjects."
Lee Man-ki, head of the education evaluation research center at Yuhak, also pointed out that the weakening preference for calculus among natural science students has led to a substantial number opting for combinations like 'calculus + social studies' or 'calculus + social studies/science exploration.' He emphasized that for universities requiring science exploration or offering bonus points for it, the reduced number of science exploration candidates will be a significant factor in the results.
In terms of subject difficulty, the highest standard scores were 144 for Korean and 137 for math, indicating that Korean was more challenging than math. According to Kim Byeong-jin, head of the education evaluation research center at Etoos, only 75 students achieved a perfect score in Korean, while 2,741 students did so in math, making the number of math perfect scorers 36 times greater than that of Korean.
Im Seong-ho, head of Jongno Academy, remarked, "A significant gap in difficulty has emerged between the relative evaluation subjects of Korean and math. With nearly 100,000 repeat students expected to participate, the overall academic level will likely increase, leading to greater score fluctuations in the actual exam. Students should thoroughly review their incorrect answers, especially on difficult questions."
In the absolute evaluation of English, the percentage of students achieving the highest grade (raw score of 90 or above) reached 15.54% (61,457 students), indicating that the exam was very easy. This marks the third easiest exam since the introduction of absolute evaluation in 2018, across all June, September, and actual exams.
Compared to last year's September mock exam, where the English 1st grade rate was only 4.5%, this represents an increase of over 11 percentage points in just one year.
In response, Lee Man-ki cautioned that the recent fluctuations in the percentage of students achieving the highest grade in English have been significant, suggesting that the difficulty level of the September mock exam is unlikely to be maintained for the actual exam. Im Seong-ho also emphasized that students should prepare for a higher difficulty level in the English section of the actual exam and ensure thorough final review.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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