Students file suit to claim damages for 2013 CSAT

One hundred students whose world geography score from the 2013 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) was initially affected by a grading mistake filed a suit Monday seeking damages over 2.3 billion won ($2.1 million).

The lawsuit was filed against the government and submitted to the Busan District Court. Kim Hyun-cheol, the attorney leading the case, added that about 300 others are in the process of filing similar suits.

The hundred students are divided into five major divisions, with each seeking different compensations.

Forty-seven students who claim they applied to a lower-ranked college due to the missed question, and 11 others who studied a year extra for the following year’s CSAT, filed for 15 million won each.

Eleven students who belatedly gained admission to a university from which they were initially rejected - later refusing to accept the offer due to personal issues - asked for 20 million won each.

Nine who were granted the chance to transfer to their top school after initially being rejected are seeking 20 million won for mental harm.

Twenty-two who belatedly qualified for a school from which they were rejected last year but must start as freshmen due to a change in major are asking for 25 million won, as well as an additional 15.13 million won for the “lost year,” according to the suit.

Others who do not fall into any particular group asked for 15.13 million won each, while the rest individually calculated their compensation.

More than 18,000 students took the world geology section in the 2013 CSAT and were deemed to have gotten the eighth question wrong.

Late last year, the body responsible for the test admitted that the question was vague and the students who missed it were later given credit. Authorities said that based on the new results, universities that rejected those students in 2014 would be ordered to do a reassessment taking into account the new scores. As a result, 629 students were newly granted admission.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [selee@joongang.co.kr]