Education minister vows to remove ‘killer questions’ from KSAT

Vice Minister and Education Minister Lee Joo-ho said in an interview with The Dong-A Ilbo on Thursday that the 2024 college scholastic ability test would not feature an increase in the number of high-level ‘killer questions’ or introduce new question types. As part of the specific measures, an incumbent high school teacher will be appointed as the commissioner of inspection of examination questions, whose responsibility will be to eliminate excessively difficult questions from the test while also having the authority to supervise the chief test writer. “We are considering the disclosure of the percentage of correct answers and discrimination ability for each test item starting the next year’s college entrance exam,” the education minister said.

“Our goal is to eliminate ‘killer questions’ from the current college entrance exam rather than introducing new question types,” stated the education minister, refuting claims made by private education organizations that “quasi-killer questions” would be introduced. He also advised students and parents not to be unsettled by anxiety-inducing marketing tactics employed by private education entities. Mr. Lee emphasized that data analysis would be conducted, starting with the mock exam scheduled for September, in collaboration with the Korea Institute of Curriculum and Evaluation and the Educational Broadcasting System (EBS).

“If we identify a test item created by a test writer as a ‘killer question,’ we will remove that writer from writing the test. This is our commitment to the Korean people,” the education minister emphasized.


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