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A message wishing success on the 2026 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) is displayed inside a heart-shaped pattern made of ginkgo leaves at Ewha Girls’ High School in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Nov. 12, one day before the exam. / Source: Yonhap News

The 2026 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) began at 8:40 a.m. on Nov. 13 across 85 testing districts and 1,310 test sites nationwide. Students must be seated by 8:10 a.m., and the exam for general test-takers runs until 5:45 p.m.

This year’s test follows the same structure as last year: Korean in the first session, mathematics in the second, English in the third, Korean history and the elective subjects in the fourth, and a second foreign language or classical Chinese in the fifth. The integrated curriculum system combining liberal arts and science tracks, introduced in 2022, remains in place.

In Korean, students must take the common section (Reading and Literature) and choose one between “Speech and Composition” or “Language and Media.” Mathematics also consists of a common section (Math I & II) and one elective among Probability and Statistics, Calculus, or Geometry.

Korean history remains mandatory, and those who do not take it will not receive a score report. Students may select up to two subjects from 17 social and science electives regardless of track. For the vocational track, two elective subjects may be chosen from six, but if two are selected, the common vocational course “Successful Career and Life” becomes mandatory. For the second foreign language/classical Chinese section, students select one out of nine subjects. English, Korean history, and the second foreign language/classical Chinese are graded on an absolute scale.

The Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation reaffirmed that test questions would stay within the high-school curriculum. Last year’s CSAT removed “killer questions” while still maintaining score differentiation, and a similar direction is expected this year.

A key variable is the growing “social studies rush,” in which natural science applicants choose social studies instead of science subjects, driven by major universities increasingly accepting social studies as minimum qualification for natural science tracks.

A total of 554,174 students are sitting for the exam—an increase of 31,504 (6.0%) from last year and the largest cohort in seven years. The number rose sharply due to the large 2007 “Golden Pig Year” birth cohort, with 371,897 current high school seniors taking the exam—up 9.1% from last year.

Meanwhile, repeat test-takers decreased by 1,862 to 159,922. However, as medical school admissions return to the reduced quota of 3,016 this year, competition at the top is expected to intensify.

University admissions analysts predict that “the heightened competition among top scorers may lead to some challenging questions being included.” Score reports will be issued on Dec. 5.