World #1 – South Korea holds grueling ‘make-or-break’ college entrance exam

(by Thomas Maresca, UPI) SEOUL– On Thursday morning (Nov. 14), all of South Korea seemed to be focused on one thing: the Collegiate Scholastic Aptitude Test (CSAT), the once-a-year, high-stakes college entrance exam that is seen by many as one of life’s most pivotal moments.

Offices across the country opened an hour late to keep traffic off the roads and extra trains and buses were put into service so the 550,000 students taking the exam this year could get to their testing locations on time.

Some parents accompanied their children to the test sites, giving them final hugs and handshakes before the big exam, while others made pilgrimages to churches and temples to pray for luck.

The test is so important that flights are even grounded for 35 minutes during the English-listening portion of the exam so as not to distract students.

The CSAT, also known as Suneung, is a grueling, eight-hour marathon standardized test covering a slew of topics, including Korean language, math, English, Korean history and social sciences.

Outside Kwangsung High School in Seoul, one of Thursday’s 1,185 testing locations in the country, groups of younger students clustered around the entrance on a bitterly cold morning to support the test takers.

They held signs reading “You’ll do great!” and chanted “Fighting!” a Korean term of encouragement, while passing out bags of snacks with goodies like yeot, a sticky, toffee-like confection that is a traditional good-luck snack for Suneung.

“We came out to cheer them on,” said 17-year-old Park Hye-sin, who will be taking the CSAT next year. “We know how stressful it is. I’ve already started studying for it.”

The test is a subject of intense focus throughout high school for most students in South Korea, as it remains perhaps the single most important factor in getting into a top university. …

While interviews, essays and grades are part of the admissions process, getting a top score on the CSAT is necessary to enter elite schools such as the so-called SKY universities — Seoul National University, Korea University and Yonsei University — which are seen as the stepping stones to the top echelons of government and corporate life.

South Korea places an enormous emphasis on education and it has the world’s highest level of college participation, with more than 70 percent of graduates moving on to tertiary education, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Private tutoring has become a massive industry helping to fuel the educational obsession, with almost 73 percent of students taking some form of private lessons, according to a study from the Ministry of Education and Statistics Korea. …

While the CSAT is nerve-wracking, it has also long been seen as commendably meritocratic, offering a chance for rich and poor alike to compete on a level playing field.  …..

The reform measures include raising the proportion of “regular admissions” — those heavily based on grades and the CSAT score — rather than “non-scheduled admissions,” which weigh extracurricular activities and other factors in an opaque system that favors students from elite schools. …

Published at UPI .com on November 14. Reprinted here on November 19 for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission from United Press International.