introduction

Part 1: Hacking the CSAT: The CSAT Has Become an Anti-Educational Test

Chapter 1: The College Scholastic Ability Test
Chapter 2: The Puzzle of the College Scholastic Ability Test
Chapter 3: The Black Comedy of the College Scholastic Ability Test
Chapter 4: There is no easy way
interlude

Part 2: The Perceptual Shift in Private Education: The Emergence of Test-Taker Communities and the Coevolution of Private Education

Chapter 1: The Dichotomy of Author and Instructor
Chapter 2: Play Culture and Perceptual Change

Part 3: A Tectonic Shift in the Entrance Exam Landscape: The Consequences of the Universalization of Online Lectures and the Expansion of Rolling Admissions

Chapter 1: The Illusion That Online Lectures Resolved the Gap
Chapter 2: "Monkey Shoes" and the Red Queen
Chapter 3: Who is responsible?

Part 4: The Emotions of Private Education: Desire and Anger

Chapter 1: The Problem of Calculation and Aspiration
Chapter 2: A Community of Desire and Anger
Chapter 3 To break the chain

Part 5: Hacking the College Entrance Exam: Compromise in Public Education and the Self-Centeredness of Universities

Chapter 1: Don't Run Away from School
Chapter 2: University Autonomy and Cost Passing

Part 6: Finally, Education Again: The Tie-Up and the Remaining Words

In closing the book

The current college entrance exam is anti-educational!
Puzzle-style solving and outsourcing of thinking

Few people would strongly disagree with the two authors who call the CSAT a “black comedy.”
This is because they are aware of the harmful effects of the CSAT, which is a test for lining up students for college entrance exams, far removed from true education, with its standardized patterns, rote memorization knowledge, and special techniques solely for problem solving.
But how much do we really know about the gravity of this situation? Through the interplay between the evaluation institute and the private education market, the CSAT has been distorted in a far more bizarre and distorted way than in the past.
To avoid nationwide criticism for failing to adjust the level of difficulty, the evaluation institute's exam questions became increasingly difficult and, at the same time, failed to avoid becoming entrenched. Private education took advantage of this gap and began mass-producing various techniques, such as so-called "puzzle thinking" and "outsourcing of thinking."
As a result, no matter how much you study, it is impossible to get a high score on the CSAT without receiving private tutoring, and the minimum learning ability verification that the CSAT used to perform has long since become meaningless.

For example, the correct answer rate for the 2022 College Scholastic Ability Test Korean language passage titled "Hegel's Aesthetics," which was reported in the media several times for being so difficult that even majors expressed difficulty, surprisingly reached 45%, nearly half of the test takers.
Even if you don't know the 'absolute spirit' or the 'philosophical meaning of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis', or even understand the text itself, you can solve the problem by properly exercising your trained skills.
The process of explaining in detail the process of solving actual past exam questions and proving it right before your eyes is shocking, beyond surprising.
The authors point out that the technology for hacking the CSAT has advanced by leaps and bounds over the past decade, leading to a sharp increase in students' reliance on private tutoring.
The reality that you can't do well on exams without learning this useless skill is problematic, but even if you score high on the current CSAT and get into a popular university, you'll just end up being a student who "asks the professor for the answer sheet."
This is why the authors assert that the CSAT has degenerated into an anti-educational test.


The educational privileged class, shrouded in aspiration and anger
The result of endless N-study and private education

Kim Dong-chun, author of “Testing Ability,” said in his recommendation of the book that it is “more vivid and concrete than any other book that has so far criticized Korean education,” and that it reminds us that “current test takers and students are living in a completely different world from the one that the general public, education scholars, and policy makers know about.”
As the mechanics of the CSAT became impossible to understand without the hacking techniques of private education, the CSAT became a sort of "cult" and became a major culture among test-takers.
The central roles within it are played by the test-taker community and large entrance exam prep schools, including a specific academy in Gangnam.
Students who are unable to achieve high grades without private education are influenced by communities that promote medical school preference and retaking the exam multiple times, so they easily decide to retake the exam multiple times, shouting "one more time" and ultimately becoming unable to escape the CSAT and the private education market.
The analysis in "Hacking the College Scholastic Ability Test" shows that the degree of "over-immersion" in the exam is on a different level than in the past, and that rather than considering the college entrance exam as a stage in life, the college entrance exam itself has become one's identity.
The actual number of repeat test takers has been increasing, reaching 35.2% of test takers in 2024.


The worsening educational gap is also pointed out as a problem.
According to the results of the survey on the ratio of student grades by city and province, officially announced by the Evaluation Institute every year, the ratio of Seoul/non-Seoul students who received the highest grade in math on the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) reached 3:1, and the ratio of Seoul/non-Seoul students who received the highest grade in Korean, where the theory of "uselessness of private education" was dominant in the past, also exceeded 2:1.
Considering that nearly 50% of recent medical school admissions are from a specific academy in Gangnam, the gap becomes even wider for students with extremely high CSAT scores.
This gap, which has become noticeably wider since the mid-to-late 2010s, as the CSAT exam questions became increasingly difficult and the private education market was reorganized and sophisticated, suggests that private CSAT education is a benefit only available to those in certain regional and socioeconomic positions.
The authors say they cannot easily hide their concerns about the human race created by the current college entrance exam and the private education industry.
It is difficult to be optimistic about whether those who have been focusing on the CSAT and honing their hacking skills within their own world, centered around those who can afford private education, will be able to play a healthy role in society.
"Hacking the College Scholastic Ability Test" meticulously argues that the recent evolution of the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) is not only inherently harmful, but also a problematic phenomenon that has a fatal negative impact on the private education and public education systems, and even the future of our society.


The first full-scale exploration of the 'CSAT'
Accurate and clear diagnosis from a doctor and novelist

Author Moon Ho-jin, a practicing physician who also co-authored a mock college entrance exam, said he began to notice the negative impact of the absurdity and inequality created by the college entrance exam on other areas of society, and that he became concerned about the phenomenon of medical school entrance exams becoming a channel for the inheritance of wealth and the reproduction of class.
Danyo, a science fiction novelist who keenly captures aspects of reality through fictional stories with a bizarre imagination, also participated in this reportage project, drawing on his experience in the field of creating numerous non-literature questions for the Korean language private mock exam and his interest in social functioning and the distribution of power and resources.
The two authors' expertise is reflected in extensive and vivid interviews and meticulous analysis with current and former private education professionals, including test-takers, repeat test takers, academy instructors, and teaching assistants.
Above all, no other book has examined the entire Korean education system so thoroughly, starting with the single keyword of the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT).


"Hacking the College Scholastic Ability Test" meticulously examines the corruption of the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), the private education technology that has followed suit, and the reality of public education that has helplessly neglected it. It raises questions about the CSAT and the education system, and then seriously considers solutions.
The two authors argue that the education system can only function properly when resources are distributed fairly, illusions are dispelled, and transparency and democracy are guaranteed. They believe that change can begin in all processes, above all else, by incorporating voices from the field and reorganizing public institutions and systems to transform the CSAT from its current state.
With private education costs reaching record highs and the number of repeat exam repeaters soaring, it's time to consider new study methods that will take charge of our society's future, starting with "Hacking the College Scholastic Ability Test" before it's too late.