Why NOW picked itWorth a read if you or your kid is sitting the CSAT on Nov. 19. Ordinary glasses are fine, but smart glasses stay at home.
Smart glasses are on the banned list for this year's CSAT on Nov. 19. Get caught wearing a pair during the test, used or not, and this year's exam is voided and next year's eligibility is suspended for a year.
Caught once, you lose two years
The Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation published the 2027 CSAT examinee notice on Oct. 15 and put smart glasses on the banned list. If you bring a pair, you must hand them to the proctor before period 1 and get them back when the section ends.
Wearing them during the test is cheating type 3: this year's exam is voided and eligibility for the 2028 CSAT is suspended for one year. Carrying them without handing them in is type 9, which voids only that year's test.
Yonsei was where it blew up
It began with university essay exams. On Oct. 10 at Yonsei's Sinchon campus a student passed the pre-exam check in ordinary glasses, then switched to smart glasses after the exam started and was caught. On Oct. 3 at the University of Seoul a proctor suspicious of thick-rimmed glasses had a student removed. Both schools began disciplinary steps that bar the students for three years.
At the National Assembly audit in early October, Rep. Kim Mun-su demonstrated cheating with smart glasses, and Education Minister Choi Gyo-jin said offenders would lose eligibility this year and next.
It comes down to proctors' eyes
Radio-wave detectors gave errors because every test site is different, and metal detectors were questioned in the Assembly. So the ministry has proctors check every examinee wearing glasses in every period by eye. If asked, you take the glasses off and put them on the desk; refusing a legitimate check can be treated like type 3 after review.
The ministry plans to give proctors a video showing how smart glasses differ from ordinary ones. The Korean Secondary Teachers' Union is running a signature campaign from Oct. 15 to 29, asking that proctors who followed the guidelines not be blamed for missed cheating.
What test-takers need to remember
Leave smart glasses at home. If a proctor asks you to take off even ordinary glasses, just do it. Phones, smartwatches and Bluetooth earphones are banned too, so read the full notice on the institute's website.
A pair of smart glasses on display that look like ordinary glasses (taken July 2025; not the product involved in these cases). Photo by Xuthoria, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
