Foreign language and international high school admissions are often assumed to come down to the interview, but in practice more than half of applicants are cut before they ever sit for one. Stage one uses only the middle school 2nd- and 3rd-grade English grade, worth 160 points, plus an attendance deduction, to narrow the field to 1.5 to 2 times the final quota. Only then does stage two add a 40-point interview to produce the final admits. Here is what each stage actually measures, based on the official self-directed learning admission manual.

What the 'Self-Directed Learning Admission' Actually Is

Foreign language and international high schools admit students through what's called the self-directed learning admission. Schools are barred from holding their own written exams or oral interviews that test academic knowledge, and foreign-language interviews, debates, or questions beyond the middle school curriculum are all off-limits. Every applicant who applies is covered, including students who weighed which type of high school to choose among general, private, specialized, and vocational schools before settling on a foreign language or international school, and those applying under the social integration track, which reserves 20% of each school's quota. That track covers children of basic livelihood recipients, near-poverty households, and national merit recipients, among others.

Stage One -- A 160-Point English Grade and an Attendance Deduction Cut the Field to 1.5-2x

Stage one runs entirely on 'English grade (160 points) plus an attendance deduction.' This alone eliminates enough applicants to leave only 1.5 to 2 times the quota standing; everyone else never reaches stage two. The English score isn't calculated the way you'd expect. Schools exclude raw scores, class averages, and standard deviations from grades 2 and 3 entirely and use only the achievement level (A through E). That means two students who both scored an A show no difference, whether their raw score was 98 or 90. Each achievement level converts to a fixed score: A=40, B=36, C=32, D=28, E=24 points, applied the same way every semester.

How Free-Semester Terms and Tiebreakers Are Handled

A semester in which a student took part in the free-semester program can't be used for the English score calculation, so it's replaced with the score from the opposite semester of the same grade. For example, a student who did the free-semester program in grade 2, semester 1 has that replaced with the grade 2, semester 2 score instead. When stage-one scores tie, schools break the tie by comparing achievement levels in this order: grade 3 semester 2 Korean -> grade 3 semester 2 social studies -> grade 3 semester 1 Korean -> grade 3 semester 1 social studies -> grade 2 semester 2 Korean -> grade 2 semester 2 social studies -> grade 2 semester 1 Korean -> grade 2 semester 1 social studies. Because the order alternates between Korean and social studies going backward from the most recent semester, families effectively need to manage those two subjects' grades too, not just English.

The Attendance Deduction's Weight Varies by School

The attendance score is calculated as '-(number of unexcused absence days x a weight).' The catch is that this weight isn't fixed by any single national rule. It's decided independently by each school, subject to approval from its provincial education office, so there's no way to know how many points a single unexcused absence costs without checking the specific school's admissions guidelines. Only unexcused absences count against a student; excused absences for illness or family events aren't included in the calculation.

Stage Two -- Stage-One Score (160) Plus Interview (40) Decides the Final List

Passing stage one isn't the end. Stage two adds up the 'stage-one score (160 points) plus the interview (40 points)' to determine who is finally admitted. Because the stage-one score carries over as-is, a gap opened up by English grades is hard to fully close in the interview. On the other hand, even a comfortable stage-one pass can be undone by a low interview score out of 40, so neither stage alone guarantees a spot. Applicants thinking about what comes after admission may also want to look at how to calculate whether you've met a 'sum of 2 subjects = 5' CSAT minimum requirement yourself.

The Interview Splits Into 'Dreams and Talents' and Character

The interview score is made up of the self-directed learning area ('dreams and talents') plus the character area. The self-directed learning area covers the process of setting goals, planning, carrying out, and evaluating one's own learning, along with club activities or career exploration, plus the applicant's motivation for choosing that particular school and career plans. The character area looks at a middle schooler's record of core character traits -- consideration, sharing, cooperation, respect for others, and rule-following -- as documented in the self-introduction letter and school record, along with what the student learned from those experiences. Self-introduction letters must be run through a similarity-detection system to check for plagiarism, and admissions officers are barred from altering interview questions on their own.

Regional Admission Zones, With Exceptions for Vietnamese and Arabic Tracks

Foreign language and international high schools generally admit within their own region. That said, a student graduating from a middle school in a province with no foreign language or international high school of its own can apply to one in another region, and Vietnamese-language and Arabic-language tracks can, depending on the school and region, admit nationwide as an exception. The exact eligibility details vary by each provincial office's admission plan and each school's own guidelines, so it's worth checking a target school's notice directly alongside the fact that high school admissions timelines already start as early as August.

What to Check Right Now

1. Look at your child's grade 2 and 3 English report cards and note the achievement level (A-E) for each semester, not the raw score.
2. If any semester involved the free-semester program, work out in advance which semester's score will replace it.
3. Check the target school's admissions guidelines directly for its unexcused-absence weight and its stage-one selection ratio (1.5-2x).
4. Prepare for the interview around the self-directed learning process and character-area activities, not academic content.
This article is based on the Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education's published "2027 Self-Directed Learning Admission and High School Admission Impact Assessment Manual." Check your target school's admissions guidelines directly for its specific point weights and deductions.