Boys outscore girls in math, while girls lead in English on Suneung: data
Male students outscored their female peers in math on the national college entrance exam, or Suneung, in 2024, a trend that has continued for four consecutive years, data shows.
In contrast, female students continued to lead in English, while performance in Korean remained nearly identical across genders.
According to the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation on Sunday, which oversees the annual College Scholastic Ability Test, male students had a higher average score of 102.7 in math, compared to 97.1 points for female students. The average standard score in Korean was higher among female students, at 100.8 points, compared to 99.1 points for male students. These figures are not raw scores, but are weighted and adjusted to reflect performance relative to other test takers.
The institute's analysis also showed that a higher percentage of male students ranked in the top two performance levels in math. Specifically, 5.9 percent of male students were in Level 1 and 9.4 percent in Level 2, compared to just 2.2 percent and 5.3 percent of female students, respectively.
In Korea's college entrance exam, students are ranked in nine levels based on their relative performance, with Level 1 representing the top 4 percent of test takers and Level 2 roughly covering the top 11 percent.
In English, a higher percentage of female students placed in the top two levels. Among female test takers, 6.3 percent scored in Level 1 and 16.6 percent in Level 2, slightly higher than the 6.1 percent and 16.1 percent recorded for male students.
In Korean, the proportion of top-performing students was nearly the same between male and female students. In Level 1, 4.3 percent of male students and 4.4 percent of female students were represented — a difference of just 0.1 percentage point. The gap was equally narrow in Level 2, with 7.1 percent for male students and 7 percent for female students.
A total of 463,486 students took the College Scholastic Ability Test in 2024, up 4.18 percent from 2023. Of them, 238,346 were male and 225,140 were female.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Korea Herald
5 days ago
- Korea Herald
Sweet pumpkin sikhye
Sikhye is a traditional Korean drink made by fermenting cooked rice, often prepared for special occasions such as holidays and banquets. With floating rice grains in a sweet, cool liquid, it not only quenches thirst but also aids digestion thanks to the enzymes found in malted barley. Especially during festive meals, when heavy or greasy foods are served, this naturally fermented beverage serves as a gentle digestive aid. Try this recipe by Jjilae. Jjilae is a digital creator specializing in traditional Korean desserts. Find more recipes on the YouTube channel Jjilae. Main ingredients: (Serves 4) Soak the malted barley in water by wrapping it in a wet cloth for about 1 hour. Squeeze the soaked barley 30 to 40 times to extract barley water. Let it sit for 1 to 2 hours so the sediment can settle. Place the cooked glutinous rice and clear barley water (avoid the sediment) into a rice cooker. Add 1 tablespoon of sugar and ferment using the 'keep warm' function for 4 hours. Cut the sweet pumpkin, remove the seeds, and steam it in a steamer for 10 minutes. Peel the skin and blend the pumpkin with water. Add the blended pumpkin and sugar to the fermented sikhye mixture. Cook in the rice cooker using the 'cook' function, or boil in a pot for 5 minutes. Cool and store in the refrigerator.
Korea Herald
09-06-2025
- Korea Herald
Exhibition focuses on early Joseon art
First 200 years of Joseon shaped Korean identity, National Museum of Korea says For the next three months, an exhibition at the National Museum of Korea will look at how the first 200 years of Joseon (1392-1910) formed what is quintessentially Korean identity today through exceptional artworks. The exhibition 'Art of Early Joseon: Masterpieces from the 15th and 16th Century' illustrates the initiative and vibrancy the Joseon people projected as they fostered what would become Korea, according to Kim Jae-hong, the NMK director general, during a preview tour Monday. 'Joseon's early years were pivotal to Korean history because the social fabric as well as physical borders of Korea were established by then,' Kim added, saying artworks on display would help people recognize the continuity of society over centuries. A total of 691 ceramics, calligraphy and Buddhist paintings are on view, 40 of which are on loan from 24 institutions in the US, UK, Germany, France and Japan. Of the 40 items, 23 are being shown in Korea for the first time, an NMK official said, adding that 79 items on display are state-designated National Treasures and Treasures. Some 300 ceramics, which account for almost half of the entire objects featured, testify to Korea's shifting focus on white porcelain from the celadon of the preceding Goryeo Kingdom (918-1392). Buncheong, a type of stoneware that bridged the transition in the 15th century, uses a greater range of decorative techniques than Goryeo celadon, and is more colorful than white porcelain, the museum said. White porcelain replaced buncheong in the following centuries. Calligraphy and paintings by Joseon officials, who doubled as scholars promoting Confucian values and teachings, shed light on Joseon aesthetics, chiefly expressed in ink wash paintings that stress various tonal effects employing just black ink and water. 'Through ink-wash landscape paintings rendered in deep tones of black ink with masterful shading, the scholar officials of Joseon depicted the ideal world envisioned by the newly established Confucian ideology,' the museum said. Buddhist objects, from paintings to statues, add context to the exhibition dedicated to the deeply Confucian state. The Wooden Seated Buddha at Jogyesa, the main temple of Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, shows the influence Buddhism still held over the people even after the state adopted Confucianism as its ruling ideology, a museum official said. Hunminjeongeum Haeryebon, a book annotating Hangeul, the Korean writing system created by King Sejong the Great in 1443, which will be on display until July 7. The exhibition comes 20 years after the museum's reopening in Seoul's Yongsan-gu. It runs through August, and admission fees are waived from Tuesday to Sunday.
Korea Herald
08-06-2025
- Korea Herald
Boys outscore girls in math, while girls lead in English on Suneung: data
Male students outscored their female peers in math on the national college entrance exam, or Suneung, in 2024, a trend that has continued for four consecutive years, data shows. In contrast, female students continued to lead in English, while performance in Korean remained nearly identical across genders. According to the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation on Sunday, which oversees the annual College Scholastic Ability Test, male students had a higher average score of 102.7 in math, compared to 97.1 points for female students. The average standard score in Korean was higher among female students, at 100.8 points, compared to 99.1 points for male students. These figures are not raw scores, but are weighted and adjusted to reflect performance relative to other test takers. The institute's analysis also showed that a higher percentage of male students ranked in the top two performance levels in math. Specifically, 5.9 percent of male students were in Level 1 and 9.4 percent in Level 2, compared to just 2.2 percent and 5.3 percent of female students, respectively. In Korea's college entrance exam, students are ranked in nine levels based on their relative performance, with Level 1 representing the top 4 percent of test takers and Level 2 roughly covering the top 11 percent. In English, a higher percentage of female students placed in the top two levels. Among female test takers, 6.3 percent scored in Level 1 and 16.6 percent in Level 2, slightly higher than the 6.1 percent and 16.1 percent recorded for male students. In Korean, the proportion of top-performing students was nearly the same between male and female students. In Level 1, 4.3 percent of male students and 4.4 percent of female students were represented — a difference of just 0.1 percentage point. The gap was equally narrow in Level 2, with 7.1 percent for male students and 7 percent for female students. A total of 463,486 students took the College Scholastic Ability Test in 2024, up 4.18 percent from 2023. Of them, 238,346 were male and 225,140 were female.
