Sample "killer" questions from the Suneung exam

You may have noticed that in the news this week, there was lots of talk about eliminating certain "killer questions" (킬러문항) from the Suneung (수능) exam -- the Korean college admissions exam, basically Korea's version of the American S.A.T.. See, for example, [here] or [here].

These are questions that are supposedly extremely difficult, and exist on the test only to weed out the well prepared from the even more well prepared, with some arguing that the only way a student would have a chance at getting these questions right is to pay vast sums for tutoring at private cram schools (hagwon). So it stands to reason that it might be beneficial overall and more fair to do away with these extra tricky questions.

But exactly what type of questions are these "killer" questions?

Well, you're in luck. The Korean Ministry of Education has just the handout for you. Earlier this week they released a PDF highlighting some of these supposedkiller questions for the key Suneung subjects:

• Math
• Korean language & literature
• English
• Science

I will save you some time and give you the direct download link to the entire PDF (2MB) here:

Examples of killer questions from the ministry of education

🔗 [교육부 06-26(월) 브리핑시(15시) 보도자료] [별첨 2] 최근 3년간 수능 및 ’23.6월 모의평가 소위 ‘킬러문항’ 사례.pdf

I can't even begin to understand the math and science sections. Maybe you will have better luck. I can sort of get the themes of the Korean passages but do not ask me to attempt to answer the questions.

But I do speak English so for your convenience I will reprint those questions for you here. See how many you can get right. I'll save the answers for the end.

Sample real-life "killer" questions from the Suneung exam English section

수능 모의평가 킬러문항 

#33 - Fill in the blank

Whatever their differences, scientists and artists begin with the same question: can you and I see the same thing the same way? If so, how? The scientific thinker looks for features of the thing that can be stripped of subjectivity―ideally, those aspects that can be quantified and whose values will thus never change from one observer to the next. In this way, he arrives at a reality independent of all observers. The artist, on the other hand, relies on the strength of her artistry to effect a marriage between her own subjectivity and that of her readers. To a scientific thinker, this must sound like magical thinking: you’re saying you will imagine something so hard it’ll pop into someone else’s head exactly the way you envision it? The artist has sought the opposite of the scientist’s observer-independent reality. She creates a reality dependent upon observers, indeed a reality in which _______________ in order for it to exist at all.

1. human beings must participate
2. objectivity should be maintained
3. science and art need to harmonize
4. readers remain distanced from the arts
5. she is disengaged from her own subjectivity

#34-1 - Fill in the blank

One of the common themes of the Western philosophical tradition is the distinction between sensual perceptions and rational knowledge. Since Plato, the supremacy of rational reason is based on the assertion that it is able to extract true knowledge from experience. As the discussion in the Republic helps to explain, perceptions are inherently unreliable and misleading because the senses are subject to errors and illusions. Only the rational discourse has the tools to overcome illusions and to point towards true knowledge. For instance, perception suggests that a figure in the distance is smaller than it really is. Yet, the application of logical reasoning will reveal that the figure only appears small because it obeys the laws of geometrical perspective. Nevertheless, even after the perspectival correction is applied and reason concludes that perception is misleading, the figure still appears small, and the truth of the matter is revealed _______________.

1. as the outcome of blindly following sensual experience
2. by moving away from the idea of perfect representation
3. beyond the limit of where rational knowledge can approach
4. through a variety of experiences rather than logical reasoning
5. not in the perception of the figure but in its rational representation

#34-2 (no relation to 34-1)

We understand that the segregation of our consciousness into present, past, and future is both a fiction and an oddly self-referential framework; your present was part of your mother’s future, and your children’s past will be in part your present. Nothing is generally wrong with structuring our consciousness of time in this conventional manner, and it often works well enough. In the case of climate change, however, the sharp division of time into past, present, and future has been desperately misleading and has, most importantly, hidden from view the extent of the responsibility of those of us alive now. The narrowing of our consciousness of time smooths the way to divorcing ourselves from responsibility for developments in the past and the future with which our lives are in fact deeply intertwined. In the climate case, it is not that _______________ . It is that the realities are obscured from view by the partitioning of time, and so questions of responsibility toward the past and future do not arise naturally.

1. all our efforts prove to be effective and are thus encouraged
2. sufficient scientific evidence has been provided to us
3. future concerns are more urgent than present needs
4. our ancestors maintained a different frame of time
5. we face the facts but then deny our responsibility

#37 - Following this topic sentence, put the lettered sentences in the correct order.

The most commonly known form of results-based pricing is a practice called contingency pricing, used by lawyers.

(A) Therefore, only an outcome in the client’s favor is compensated. From the client’s point of view, the pricing makes sense in part because most clients in these cases are unfamiliar with and possibly intimidated by law firms. Their biggest fears are high fees for a case that may take years to settle.

(B) By using contingency pricing, clients are ensured that they pay no fees until they receive a settlement. In these and other instances of contingency pricing, the economic value of the service is hard to determine before the service, and providers develop a price that allows them to share the risks and rewards of delivering value to the buyer.

(C) Contingency pricing is the major way that personal injury and certain consumer cases are billed. In this approach, lawyers do not receive fees or payment until the case is settled, when they are paid a percentage of the money that the client receives.

1. (A)-(C)-(B)
2. (B)-(A)-(C)
3. (B)-(C)-(A)
4. (C)-(A)-(B)
5. (C)-(B)-(A)

#21 - Replace the underlined part with the most similar answer

Scientists have no special purchase on moral or ethical decisions; a climate scientist is no more qualified to comment on health care reform than a physicist is to judge the causes of bee colony collapse. The very features that create expertise in a specialized domain lead to ignorance in many others. In some cases lay people―farmers, fishermen, patients, native peoples―may have relevant experiences that scientists can learn from. Indeed, in recent years, scientists have begun to recognize this: the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment includes observations gathered from local native groups. So our trust needs to be limited, and focused. It needs to be very particular. Blind trust will get us into at least as much trouble as no trust at all. But without some degree of trust in our designated experts ― the men and women who have devoted their lives to sorting out tough questions about the natural world we live in ― we are paralyzed, in effect not knowing whether to make ready for the morning commute or not.

1. questionable facts that have been popularized by non-experts
2. readily applicable information offered by specialized experts
3. common knowledge that hardly influences crucial decisions
4. practical information produced by both specialists and lay people
5. biased knowledge that is widespread in the local community

#38. Where does this sentence belong?

"Retraining current employees for new positions within the company will also greatly reduce their fear of being laid off."

Introduction of robots into factories, while employment of human workers is being reduced, creates worry and fear. ( 1 ) It is the responsibility of management to prevent or, at least, to ease these fears. ( 2 ) For example, robots could be introduced only in new plants rather than replacing humans in existing assembly lines. ( 3 ) Workers should be included in the planning for new factories or the introduction of robots into existing plants, so they can participate in the process. ( 4 ) It may be that robots are needed to reduce manufacturing costs so that the company remains competitive, but planning for such cost reductions should be done jointly by labor and management. ( 5 ) Since robots are particularly good at highly repetitive simple motions, the replaced human workers should be moved to positions where judgment and decisions beyond the abilities of robots are required. 

Answer key

So how did you do? Although the texts are challenging, I think a decent number of educated English speakers could get these. I guess you have to consider this from a Korean point of view. A lot of the vocab here is extremely unusual, or has a specific meaning, or jargony. Some of the words you can just guess their meaning based on how their grammar was modified. I can see why these would be extremely hard to the average student. 

So here you go:

• #33 - 1
  
  
• #34-1 - 5
  
  
• #34-2 - 5
  
  
• #37 - 4
  
  
• #21 - 2
  
  
• #38 - 5

You can find the answers printed at the top of each page in the PDF file if you want to try your hand at the math and other sections. When I take a look at these tests I'm perfectly happy I grew up attending American school.