The number of applicants for the mock evaluation of the 2026 College Scholastic Ability Test, scheduled for June, has recorded the highest number ever since the statistics began.
The Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation announced on the 27th that the number of applicants for the 2026 University Entrance Examination mock evaluation, which will be held on June 4, is 503,572, an increase of 29,439 from last year (474,133).
The number of applicants for this mock evaluation, including graduates, was the highest since the official statistics were announced for the 2011 academic year. There are 413,685 current students and 89,887 graduates and high school equivalency exam students. The number of current students increased by 28,250 from last year, while graduates and others increased by 1,189.
Lim Seong-ho, head of Jongno Academy, noted, "This year, while the number of medical school recruitment has reached a baseline, an unprecedented situation has emerged where the maximum number of examinees has applied," adding, "It is expected that the cut-off scores for top-tier medical schools and general departments will rise."
The proportion of current students among all examinees is 82.2%, which is an increase of 0.9 percentage points from last year (81.3%). The proportion of graduates and others decreased by 0.9 percentage points to 17.8%.
The number of applicants by subject area is as follows: Korean, 503,343; mathematics, 506,667; English, 503,079; Korean history, 503,572.
Additionally, the social studies area has 368,018 applicants, the science area has 248,642, the vocational studies area has 7,283, and the second foreign language and Chinese classics area has 25,243. Among these, the ratio of applicants for social studies has increased by 7.8 percentage points compared to last year (51.9%). This reflects a pronounced phenomenon known as "social studies shift," where students aspiring to enter science and technology fields are switching to the relatively lower-burden social studies.
The mock evaluation will be conducted simultaneously at 2,119 high schools (including education offices) and 511 designated academies across the country from 8:40 a.m. on June 4.
The test will start with the first session of Korean (8:40 a.m. to 10 a.m.), followed by the second session of mathematics (10:30 a.m. to 12:10 p.m.), the third session of English (1:10 p.m. to 2:20 p.m.), the fourth session of Korean history and social studies, science, and vocational studies (2:50 p.m. to 4:37 p.m.), and the fifth session of the second foreign language and Chinese classics (5:05 p.m. to 5:45 p.m.).
The mock evaluation has the same characteristics, testing areas, and number of questions as the actual College Scholastic Ability Test scheduled for November 13 next year. The Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation stated that it will provide students with diagnostic and supplementary opportunities for preparation, and will identify areas for improvement during the mock evaluation process to reflect in the actual exam.
Requests for re-evaluation of the mock evaluation questions and answers will be accepted from June 4 to 6 p.m. on June 7. After the review process, the final answers will be confirmed and announced at 5 p.m. on June 17. Scores will be notified on July 1.