Seoul Chief Proposes Ending College Entrance Exam by 2040

• Seoul proposes scrapping the Suneung (CSAT) entirely by 2040, marking the most sweeping overhaul of Korea’s university admissions in decades.
• Superintendent Jung Geun-sik unveils a phased plan to shift from test-centric admissions to holistic, absolute-grading-based evaluations beginning with the 2027 intake.
• By 2033-2040, student records, essays and interviews replace standardized testing, as Korea recalibrates its education system for declining student numbers and future-focused learning.

According to a bold proposal that Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Superintendent Jung Geun-sik unwrapped, this may be the most dramatic transformation to take place in Seoul's education landscape in decades: the phasing out of the College Scholastic Ability Test, or Suneung, by 2040 and rebuilding from scratch Korea's entire university admissions framework. He characterized the present test-centered system as obsolete and inconsistent with Korea's demographic and educational realities.

Jung said that with school rankings, vicious competition, and spiraling costs of private tutoring, an admission system centered around tests could no longer guarantee the future of young students. As long as universities rely on test scores, he said, meaningful innovation in primary and secondary education will continue to be suppressed.

Jung's plan spells out a three-phase transformation that would begin with the class of students applying to university in 2027. He wants to transform high school elective course evaluation from a relative grading system to an absolute one, so students can take subjects relevant to their interests and careers without fear of losing out in competition. This is consistent with the credit system that will be introduced in high schools in 2025, which allows students to create an individual academic track.

Jung also urged the abolition of the Ministry of Education rule that forces universities in the Seoul area to accept 30 to 40 percent of new students based on Suneung scores, on the grounds that it perpetuates the very score-based system the city is trying to eliminate. He also called for expanding Regional Balance Admissions to reduce regional disparities and tightening early admissions for students at autonomous private high schools, international schools, foreign-language schools and science-focused schools.

Looking to 2033, when today's primary school students enter university, Jung said he wants a more holistic and flexible admissions system. He called for expanding absolute grading to all high school subjects and areas of the Suneung and transforming the test into a short-answer/essay-oriented exam. Early and regular admissions would be merged into a single track, while high schools could enjoy more freedom in operating career-related semesters during students' senior year.

Student records would become the primary basis for evaluation, supplemented by a revamped Suneung that is scored on a five-tier absolute grading system. To prepare students for the change, high school exams across the nation will gradually increase essay-type and analytical questions from 25 percent in 2026 to 50 percent by 2030. To address concerns about fairness, the city is developing an AI-based grading system in which written answers will be graded by the system before teachers conduct a second review.

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Regional universities, Jung added, would be authorized to develop admissions criteria reflective of their missions as part of a national strategy to develop '10 Seoul National University-level institutions' around the nation. The changes are to be fully implemented in the 2033 admission year as schools and universities adjust curricula, standards for grading and frameworks of assessment.

By 2040, Jung hopes, Korea will rely on the Suneung not at all. As the number of high school students is expected to shrink to half of today's level, he said that a single standardized exam is no longer needed to allocate limited university seats. Universities would instead review students through comprehensive growth-based records, supplemented by interdisciplinary interviews or essays drawn from national question banks.

The plan would convert autonomous private, foreign-language and international high schools into general high schools offering specialized curricula in phases to prevent inequality among school types under absolute grading. Though his vision is sweeping, Jung recognized that final approval will have to be given by the National Education Commission.

The plan, formulated after year-long consultations with educators, researchers and admission officers, would be forwarded to the commission for deliberation. Jung hoped that the plan would serve to instigate a national debate capable of restructuring education toward serving future generations more-while Korea's longtime reliance on standardized testing gives way gradually to a more equitable, holistic system.