"Early admission is 80 per cent, so go for early admission" is only half right, because the national average and the numbers at a target university differ sharply. This article addresses that gap first, then sets out what the comprehensive track actually assesses.

Why 80 per cent nationally and 40 per cent at leading universities are both true

On the Council's published implementation plan for 2027 admissions, universities nationwide fill 80.3 per cent of places through early admission. Regular admission is 19.7 per cent. On those numbers alone, regular admission looks like a narrow door.

But the CSAT-based share at leading Seoul universities is entirely different: 48.1 per cent at Kyung Hee, 47.9 per cent at Chung-Ang, 46.5 per cent at Konkuk, 40.8 per cent at Sogang and 40.5 per cent at Sejong. Most leading universities recruit more than 40 per cent through the regular CSAT track.

In other words, the national average is a figure that includes regional universities and junior colleges, and for anyone targeting the upper tier the felt ratio is closer to 40:60. What a strategy should be built on is not the national average but the intake table by track at the universities you intend to apply to.

The three things the comprehensive track looks at

The comprehensive track assesses documents qualitatively, which is why people say they cannot tell what is being looked at. But the common evaluation elements, set out by leading universities through joint research, are published, and from the 2023 cycle they were organised into three: academic capability, career capability and community capability.

Academic capability — not just the transcript

This means the academic ability needed to follow a university course. It covers not only attainment but also learning attitude, academic will and inquiry. That is why two students with the same bands can be assessed differently. A steady upward trend in attainment, a record of choosing harder subjects, and evidence of extending one's own questions in class are all read together.

Career capability — another name for fit with the field

This looks at the effort put into exploring one's intended path and field, and how far preparation has gone. Specifically: effort in taking subjects related to the field, attainment in those subjects, and career exploration activity and experience. What matters here is "effort in taking". Which of the subjects a school offers a student chose stays on the record, and how that choice connects to the intended field is what is assessed.

Community capability — the character section made concrete

The items assessed are collaboration and communication, sharing and consideration, diligence and rule-following, and leadership. They look abstract, but in practice they are read from concrete descriptions — group work in lessons, records of roles carried out within a class.

What is left now that extracurriculars have been cleared away

Awards, self-organised clubs, individual volunteering and reading activity records are no longer transmitted as admissions data. As a result, the space in which the three capabilities can show themselves has narrowed to subject attainment and the detailed ability and special notes section.

In practical terms it comes to this. Rather than chasing external activities, building a flow within the subjects you are already taking — question, research, presentation, follow-up study — and having it recorded in the teacher's description is close to the only route left. Which items are transmitted and which are not is covered item by item in the school record article.

Three things to check before applying

• Minimum CSAT requirements — minimums are attached to comprehensive and record-based tracks too. Whether you meet them has to be calculated on the June and September mock assessments, not on March results.
• Intake by track — the balance between tracks differs by department within the same university. Looking only at university-level ratios leads you astray.
• How documents are weighted — whether there is an interview, and whether the assessment is 100 per cent documents, differs by university.

In summary

The 80 per cent figure is a national average. If the target is a leading Seoul university, the regular admission share should be taken as around 40 per cent. And the comprehensive track is not a vague impression exercise — it is read through a published framework of academic, career and community capability. Knowing that framework and building the record inside lessons is the most reliable preparation the present structure allows.