How to Prepare for Suneung Physics I, and What Changes in 2028

The 2027 CSAT (2027학년도 대학수학능력시험) is on Thursday 19 November 2026. That date, the timetable and the subject list below come from KICE's official 2027 CSAT guide (실시요강), published in August 2026 by the Korea Institute of Curriculum and Evaluation (한국교육과정평가원). It is also the last CSAT with Physics I (물리학Ⅰ). From the 2028 CSAT, the elective science subjects disappear and every candidate who takes the inquiry area sits Integrated Science (통합과학).

So this guide has two readers. If you sit Physics I next month, the first half is for you. If you are in the next cohort, skip to the section on 2028.

Physics Zen's Physics I path is independent exam-style practice. It is not official material, it is not affiliated with KICE or the Ministry of Education, and its problems are not past CSAT or mock-exam items.

What the Physics I Paper Looks Like

The official guide fixes the shape of the paper, and it is worth knowing exactly.

Subject choice. Physics I is one of 17 subjects in the social and science inquiry area (사회·과학탐구). You may choose up to two of them, and the area is optional: only Korean history is compulsory.

Items and time. Each inquiry subject has 20 items, worth 2 or 3 points each, in 30 minutes. That is ninety seconds per item on average. Items are five-option multiple choice, and inquiry papers are printed in a single form.

The fourth period. Korean history runs from 14:50 to 15:20. Fifteen minutes later the inquiry area starts: the first chosen subject from 15:35 to 16:05, two minutes to collect that paper, and the second from 16:07 to 16:37. If you chose only one inquiry subject, you sit it in the second slot. The order of your two subjects is the order on your application.

Grading. Inquiry subjects are graded relatively. Your report shows a standard score, a percentile and a grade on the nine-grade scale. Scores are released on 11 December 2026. Questions and answers are published on the KICE site after each period on the day, and objections can be filed from 19 to 23 November.

One rule people miss. The back of the admission ticket carries a self-marking grid (가채점표). You may copy your answers onto it during the period, but writing on it after the end bell counts as cheating.

The guide also states the design principle: items stick to basic concepts and principles, measure reasoning, analysis, synthesis and evaluation, and exclude items that favour problem-solving tricks drilled in private tutoring. For physics that is a clear signal. A memorised formula is not enough; you have to know which situation it belongs to.

The Three Units and What to Drill

Physics I is built on three units of the 2015 revised curriculum. The table maps each one to the practice it needs and to what the Physics Zen path does and does not drill.

The right-hand column is the honest part. Unit Ⅱ includes semiconductors, energy bands and magnetic materials, and questions on them are about how materials behave, not calculations. Physics Zen does not generate them. Study them from your textbook and EBS materials.

Two features of the paper shape how you should practise.

Statement bundles. Many items give three statements, ㄱ, ㄴ and ㄷ, in a 보기 box, and the five options are combinations of them. In the path, some exam-style items include a 보기 part with five combinations in KICE's printed order. General problems in the path ask for one number instead.

Ratios rather than values. A typical question asks how many times larger one mass is than another, not what the mass is in kilograms. When you solve a problem with numbers, finish by asking what would change if one quantity doubled. For impulse, for example, $F\,\Delta t = \Delta p$ tells you directly that halving the stopping time doubles the average force.

The path uses $g = 10\,\mathrm{m/s^2}$. Use whatever value an item states.

The Final Weeks Before 19 November

If you are reading this with weeks rather than months left, do not start a new textbook. Use the time for three things: the weakest unit, the exam's form, and the clock.

First, rank the units by lost points. Look at your last two or three mock exams. Count where the points went. Many students find one unit that costs more than the other two together, and it is often not the one they feel worst about.

Second, drill that unit in short daily sets. Ten to fifteen problems, then read the worked solution of every one you missed before you do the next set. In the app the values are regenerated on every attempt, so you cannot memorise the answer, only the method. If special relativity is the weak spot, the Special Relativity topic asks which observer measures the proper time or length. If it is collisions, the Momentum & Collisions topic is where the impulse and conservation skills live.

Third, rehearse the period. At least once a week, sit 20 Physics I items in 30 minutes, ideally starting at 15:35. On the first pass, skip any item that is still unclear after a minute and come back. Ninety seconds is an average, not a budget per item: a direct 2-point item should take less, so the 3-point items get more.

In the last few days, stop adding content. Re-read your own error notes, check your exam-day kit against the official guide, and sleep at the times you will need to be awake on the day.

For the Next Cohort: Integrated Science from 2028

The Ministry of Education has scheduled the 2028 CSAT for Thursday 18 November 2027, with scores on 10 December 2027. It is the first CSAT under the 2028 admissions reform, and there is no Physics I paper in it. That applies to anyone sitting in November 2027, including students retaking the exam.

KICE's 2028 example-item guide (April 2025) sets out the new paper. Integrated Science is based on Integrated Science 1 and Integrated Science 2 (통합과학1, 통합과학2) of the 2022 revised curriculum. It has 25 five-option items worth 1.5, 2 or 2.5 points, 50 points in total, in 40 minutes. Anyone who takes the social and science inquiry area must sit both Integrated Social Studies and Integrated Science, scored separately. Grading stays relative.

Physics is only part of that paper. The guide's appendix lists the achievement standard behind each of the 25 example items, and that list is the clearest picture available of how much physics to expect. The table below groups the physics content elements of the two courses and adds what the Integrated Science path drills.

Read the table in two directions. First, physics is about a quarter of the example paper, so it is worth taking seriously but it is not the whole subject. Second, the physics that is examined is broad and light. Several elements are about measurement, materials and energy use rather than calculation, and the app does not drill measurement, signals or the electrical properties of materials at all.

A sensible start for the 2028 cohort, a year out:

1. Learn the content element list of both courses. It is short, and it is the syllabus.
2. Practise the physics that does compute, such as projectile time of flight, impulse and average force, and the efficiency chain from fuel to electricity, until it is automatic.
3. Spend the saved time on the qualitative elements and on chemistry, life science and earth science, which make up most of the paper.

Using Physics Zen for Either Exam

Both Korean paths are Premium, and the Kinematics topic is free end to end. Inside a skill, every attempt gets new values, checking is instant, and a full worked solution opens after you answer. The theory for the skill, with diagrams, stays on the same screen. Five mastery levels per skill tell you when to move on.

If the problem is how you revise rather than what, read how to study physics effectively first. And whichever paper you sit, keep the KICE guide for your year next to your plan: it, not any app, decides what is on the exam.