Graduates retaking South Korea's college entrance exam, known as "N-su-saeng," outscored students still in high school by more than 12 to 13 points in Korean and math on the 2026 test.
Graduates averaged a standard score of 109.4 in Korean, 13.3 points higher than the 96.1 posted by enrolled students, according to an analysis of 2026 exam results released on the 16th by the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation. In math, graduates scored 108.6, ahead of enrolled students at 96.5 by 12.1 points.
The gap was also clear at the top of the scale. In Korean, 18.9% of graduates placed in the top two grades, compared with 8.1% of enrolled students. In math, the figures were 22.3% and 9.5%. In English, which is graded on an absolute scale, 25.3% of graduates reached the top two grades, against 14.2% of enrolled students.
By school type, private high schools posted higher averages than national and public schools in both Korean and math. By region, high schools in Seoul scored above the national average in both subjects.
The gap at the top has narrowed somewhat, however. According to Jongro Academy, the difference in the share of test-takers within the top two math grades shrank to 12.8 percentage points for the 2026 exam from 15.4 percentage points in 2023, while the Korean gap narrowed to 10.8 percentage points from 11.5 percentage points.
