WORLD-HISTORY · CSAT (대학수학능력시험)
WORLD-HISTORY/11
World History
World History · 2023 · Variant 1
Relative difficulty
Analysis source: Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE)
Analysis aligned to the official syllabus and assessment design.
4.0 / 5
50
30 min
Period identification, revolution/imperialism causation, and map-based regional comparison.
Cohort performance
Session statistics from official examination reports
Total marks
50
Duration
30 min
Session difficulty
4.0 / 5
Calculator policy
No calculators in any CSAT section. All arithmetic must be done by hand. English includes a listening section with broadcast audio.
Key examiner messages
Top priorities from the principal examiner before you revise
KICE World History assesses major civilizations, empires, religions, revolutions, imperialism, wars, and contemporary global change across regions and periods. The 2024 CSAT inquiry format is 20 questions, 30 minutes, 50 points, with candidates selecting up to two inquiry subj…
KICE designs World History items from the national curriculum achievement standards and publishes all questions and answers after the exam.
EBS-linked items about 50% means concepts, source themes, or problem types are linked, but wording and contexts are commonly transformed.
The official timing is 30 min for 20 questions; pacing practice should match the actual OMR marking burden.
KICE publishes annual test-design directions (출제 방향) emphasising syllabus-faithful items, EBS textbook linkage (~50% of Korean, Mathematics, and English items), and post-2024 exclusion of extreme “killer” items outside public-education scope.
Question difficulty map
How candidates performed on each question in this series
No data available in official reports
Assessment objectives
Skill and AO weighting from official examiner commentary
Skill weighting
Cognitive skills emphasised in official test design.
Conceptual understanding
Weight: 30100%Source and data interpretation
Weight: 30100%Application Tourism unfamiliar contexts
Weight: 2583%Chronology and comparison
Weight: 1550%
Method marks watchlist
Where working, steps, or method marks were commonly lost
No data available in official reports
Recurring mistakes across years
Themes examiners flag in multiple recent sessions for this subject
Periodization: Answering from memory before checking the condition in the stem. — Underline the limiting condition and restate it in your…
Revolutions and imperialism: Treating a familiar source, graph, or scenario as identical to a past EBS example. — Compare variables and w…
Global interaction: Losing marks on easy items because time was spent on one high-difficulty question. — Use a two-pass strategy and mark…
Ideology comparison: Eliminating options based on a keyword match rather than the full causal relationship. — Check subject, time period,…
Question choice intelligence
Mean scores and popularity for optional questions (HKDSE electives)
No data available in official reports
Level exemplars
What candidate scripts at each grade level looked like
No data available in official reports
Grade & admission context
How marks relate to grade thresholds and entry standards
Official body
Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE)
Grading system
KICE standard score (mean 50, SD 10; range 0–100) with percentile and Grade 1–9 bands
Scale band
Std score
Scale band
Percentile
Scale band
1
Scale band
2
Deep insights
What top candidates did
Techniques and approaches examiners rewarded in this series
1. Build a concept map first
World History rewards understanding relationships among concepts. Before timed practice, connect definitions, causes, effects, and examples for civilizations and global interactions.
2. Read sources before options
Many items begin with documents, maps, graphs, or dialogues. Identify the period, actor, region, or policy in the source before looking at answer choices.
3. Compare similar ideas
Create two-column comparisons for easily confused pairs in similar revolutions, empires, and ideologies; KICE distractors often swap one condition or consequence.
4. Drill graph and table language
For maps, documents, and chronology tables, state what increases, decreases, stays fixed, and which variable is controlled before calculating or choosing.
5. Keep a wrong-answer notebook
Record each mistake as concept, source clue, calculation, or time-pressure error. Revisit the same domain after 48 hours with a new item.
Command word playbook
How to match each command word to the expected response style
No data available in official reports
Time traps
Sections where candidates spent disproportionate time relative to marks
No data available in official reports
Syllabus traceability
Topics linked to questions and mark weighting in this session
Ancient civilizations, classical empires, religions, and cultural spheres
Official topic weighting
Medieval worlds, trade networks
Official topic weighting
Islamic world
Official topic weighting
Europe, and Asia
Official topic weighting
Early modern exchange, absolutism, revolutions, and industrialization
Official topic weighting
Imperialism, world wars
Official topic weighting
Cold War, decolonization, and globalization
Official topic weighting
Source-based chronology and regional comparison
Official topic weighting
MCQ trap analytics
Commonly chosen wrong options from examiner commentary
No data available in official reports
Topic heatmap across years
Mark concentration by topic and exam year for this subject
Mark intensity
Imperialism, world wars, Cold War, decolonization, and globalization
Ancient civilizations, classical empires, religions, and cultural spheres
Early modern exchange, absolutism, revolutions, and industrialization
Medieval worlds, trade networks, Islamic world, Europe, and Asia
Source-based chronology and regional comparison
Difficulty trend
How session difficulty has shifted across recent years
Paper comparison
Marks and duration breakdown across papers in this session
World History: 20 multiple-choice social inquiry questions
Marks you can still earn
Where valid approaches outside the mark scheme may still gain credit
No data available in official reports
Practise what examiners flagged
Target weak topics from this report inside the Revui app
Ancient civilizations, classical empires, religions, and cultural spheres
Official topic weighting
Practise in RevuiMedieval worlds, trade networks
Official topic weighting
Practise in RevuiIslamic world
Official topic weighting
Practise in RevuiEurope, and Asia
Official topic weighting
Practise in RevuiEarly modern exchange, absolutism, revolutions, and industrialization
Official topic weighting
Practise in RevuiImperialism, world wars
Official topic weighting
Practise in RevuiCold War, decolonization, and globalization
Official topic weighting
Practise in RevuiSource-based chronology and regional comparison
Official topic weighting
Practise in RevuiSelf-diagnostic checklist
Key actions before you sit this paper — copy and tick off as you revise
- 1Message
KICE World History assesses major civilizations, empires, religions, revolutions, imperialism, wars, and contemporary global change across regions and periods. The 2024 CSAT inquiry format is 20 questions, 30 minutes, 50 points, with candidates selecting up to two inquiry subj…
- 2Message
KICE designs World History items from the national curriculum achievement standards and publishes all questions and answers after the exam.
- 3Message
EBS-linked items about 50% means concepts, source themes, or problem types are linked, but wording and contexts are commonly transformed.
- 4Message
The official timing is 30 min for 20 questions; pacing practice should match the actual OMR marking burden.
- 5Message
KICE publishes annual test-design directions (출제 방향) emphasising syllabus-faithful items, EBS textbook linkage (~50% of Korean, Mathematics, and English items), and post-2024 exclusion of extreme “killer” items outside public-education scope.
- 6Pitfall
Periodization: Answering from memory before checking the condition in the stem. — Underline the limiting condition and restate it in your…
- 7Pitfall
Revolutions and imperialism: Treating a familiar source, graph, or scenario as identical to a past EBS example. — Compare variables and w…
- 8Pitfall
Global interaction: Losing marks on easy items because time was spent on one high-difficulty question. — Use a two-pass strategy and mark…
- 9Pitfall
Ideology comparison: Eliminating options based on a keyword match rather than the full causal relationship. — Check subject, time period,…
- 10Strength
1. Build a concept map first: World History rewards understanding relationships among concepts. Before timed practice, connect def
- 11Strength
2. Read sources before options: Many items begin with documents, maps, graphs, or dialogues. Identify the period, actor, region, or
- 12Strength
3. Compare similar ideas: Create two-column comparisons for easily confused pairs in similar revolutions, empires, and ideolog
Teacher briefing pack
One-page session summary for tutors and classroom review
2023 2023
World History
KICE World History assesses major civilizations, empires, religions, revolutions, imperialism, wars, and contemporary global change across regions and periods. The 2024 CSAT inquiry format is 20 questions, 30 minutes, 50 points, with candidates selecting up to two inquiry subject
KICE World History assesses major civilizations, empires, religions, revolutions, imperialism, wars, and contemporary global change across regions and periods. The 2024 CSAT inquiry format is 20 questions, 30 minutes, 50 points, with candidates selecting up to two inquiry subj…
KICE designs World History items from the national curriculum achievement standards and publishes all questions and answers after the exam.
EBS-linked items about 50% means concepts, source themes, or problem types are linked, but wording and contexts are commonly transformed.
Periodization: Answering from memory before checking the condition in the stem. — Underline the limiting condition and restate it in your…
Revolutions and imperialism: Treating a familiar source, graph, or scenario as identical to a past EBS example. — Compare variables and w…
- Total marks
- 50
- Duration
- 30 min
- Session difficulty
- 4.0 / 5
- Calculator policy
- No calculators in any CSAT section. All arithmetic must be done by hand. English includes a listening section with broadcast audio.
Session analysis
KICE World History assesses major civilizations, empires, religions, revolutions, imperialism, wars, and contemporary global change across regions and periods. The 2024 CSAT inquiry format is 20 questions, 30 minutes, 50 points, with candidates selecting up to two inquiry subjects and EBS linkage around 50%. Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE) emphasises period identification, revolution/imperialism causation, and map-based regional comparison.. Priority revision: Ancient civilizations, classical empires, religions, and cultural spheres, Medieval worlds, trade networks, Islamic world, Europe, and Asia, Early modern exchange, absolutism, revolutions, and industrialization, Imperialism, world wars, Cold War, decolonization, and globalization. World History rewards understanding relationships among concepts. Before timed practice, connect definitions, causes, effects, and examples for civilizations and global interactions.
Updated 2026-07-03
Paper breakdown
World History: 20 multiple-choice social inquiry questions
Top chapters
Exam structure insights
Marks by syllabus topic
Revision priority from official test-design weighting.
Mark accessibility
Estimated difficulty spread based on official design.
Period identification, revolution/imperialism causation, and map-based regional
Paper structure
Official paper breakdown for this subject.
World History
50·10·100%
Official syllabus scope
KICE World History assesses major civilizations, empires, religions, revolutions, imperialism, wars, and contemporary global change across regions and periods. The 2024 CSAT inquiry format is 20 questions, 30 minutes, 50 points, with candidates selecting up to two inquiry subjects and EBS linkage around 50%.
Difficulty verdict
Rated 4/5 for November sessions. Period identification, revolution/imperialism causation, and map-based regional comparison.
What examiners measure
1. Identify civilizations, empires, revolutions, and ideological movements in context. 2. Interpret maps, documents, art, charts, and timelines. 3. Compare political, economic, social, and cultural developments across regions. 4. Explain global interactions through trade, conquest, religion, migration, and imperialism. 5. Connect modern conflicts and institutions to historical causes.
Where the marks are
Highest-weight syllabus areas: Ancient civilizations, classical empires, religions, and cultural spheres; Medieval worlds, trade networks, Islamic world, Europe, and Asia; Early modern exchange, absolutism, revolutions, and industrialization; Imperialism, world wars, Cold War, decolonization, and globalization; Source-based chronology and regional comparison.
Examiner notes & key calculations
- KICE designs World History items from the national curriculum achievement standards and publishes all questions and answers after the exam.
- EBS-linked items about 50% means concepts, source themes, or problem types are linked, but wording and contexts are commonly transformed.
- The official timing is 30 min for 20 questions; pacing practice should match the actual OMR marking burden.
- Distractors usually represent common misconceptions, not random wrong answers, so elimination must be evidence-based.
- High-discrimination items often combine two syllabus domains or require interpreting a new source, graph, table, or scenario.
- A full mock should include answer-sheet transfer and a post-test error log organized by domain and mistake type.
- World History often uses short source extracts or data displays to test whether concepts transfer to new cases.
- Because social inquiry subjects are selected competitively, small mistakes can strongly affect percentile ranking.
- Paper 1: World History · 50 marks · 30 min · 20 multiple-choice social inquiry questions.
Exam tips
Paper format
- Duration
- 30 min
- Total marks
- 50
- Weighting
- 100%
- Question types
- 20 multiple-choice social inquiry questions
- World History rewards understanding relationships among concepts. Before timed practice, connect definitions, causes, effects, and examples for civilizations and global interactions.
- Many items begin with documents, maps, graphs, or dialogues. Identify the period, actor, region, or policy in the source before looking at answer choices.
- Create two-column comparisons for easily confused pairs in similar revolutions, empires, and ideologies; KICE distractors often swap one condition or consequence.
Common mistakes
Periodization
Answering from memory before checking the condition in the stem.
How to avoid: Underline the limiting condition and restate it in your own words before selecting an option.
Revolutions and imperialism
Treating a familiar source, graph, or scenario as identical to a past EBS example.
How to avoid: Compare variables and wording; transformed linkage often changes the required inference.
Global interaction
Losing marks on easy items because time was spent on one high-difficulty question.
How to avoid: Use a two-pass strategy and mark unresolved items after 60-75 seconds.
Analysis is paraphrased for study purposes. Always verify against the official examiner report and mark scheme.