The Suneung: The Korean College Exam
Every year on December 18, young people across the country descend on testing sites to sit for an exam that could determine their path for the rest of their lives. This exam is called the College Scholastic Ability Test, or Suneung (수능). Unlike the SAT or ACT offered in America, this exam is only offered once a year. While a majority of examinees will take this during their senior year of high school, some opt to delay taking it until the following year.
Leading Up to the Exam
The week leading up to the exam, advertisements begin to pop up around the city for special gift sets for exam takers. These can vary from sweets to pens and pencils. All of these presents are meant to raise the spirits of the students and graduates who are taking the exam. Those sitting for the exam begin taking measures to ensure they are in the best condition for the exam. A few days before, students are informed of where in the city they will be taking the exam and receive their admissions ticket. Test takers are encouraged to enjoy foods like rice cake to encourage their studies to stick and to avoid seaweed soup as it could cause their hard work to slip from their brain.
Day of the Exam
On the day of the exam, everything stops. The entire country works together to ensure that exam takers not only make it to their exam without any issues but have the best testing conditions possible. Nothing opens until 10 a.m. to make sure the commute is smooth. During the listening portion of the English exam, all planes are grounded and traffic near the test site is stopped to avoid any chances of interruption. If test takers happen to forget something, they have police escorts that will help them return home to retrieve their missing items and back to the test site without any traffic issues. Test takers are greeted at the gates of the testing site by younger students and family members. They are gifted taffy and rice cakes for them to enjoy on breaks so things they studied “stick” in their brain.
Once test takers are safely in their exam rooms, parents and family members spend all day at temples praying for the test takers to successfully complete the exam in order to get into a top university.
The Exam
The exam has six separate tests: Korean, mathematics, English, Korean history, subordinate subjects (vocational, science, social studies), and a second foreign language or classical Chinese. Of the six separate exams, the only required test for all students is Korean history, however most examinees sit for five of the six tests with the exception of the second foreign language or classical Chinese exam.
For the math test, examinees can choose from two types of exam, the Ga or the Na. The Ga type is for those looking to go into STEM careers and focuses on things like calculus and geometry. The Na type is for those going into the humanities and focuses on probability and statistics.
The subordinate subjects are broken down into three areas: science, social studies, and vocational studies. Only examinees who graduated or will graduate from a vocational high school are allowed to take the vocational tests. Examinees are able to pick two subordinate tests within the same subject. You cannot choose two tests in two different subjects.
The exam starts at 8:40 and is split into five sections. Here is the exam schedule as listed on the official Suneung website.
8:40-10:00 Korean
10:00-10:20 Break Time
10:30-12:10 Mathematics
12:10-13:00 Lunch Time
13:10-14:20 English
14:20-14:40: Break Time
14:50-16:32: Korean History and Subordinate Subjects
16:32-16:50: Break Time
17:00-17:40 Second Language and Classical Chinese
Students not taking a section of the exam wait in a separate waiting room.
When it comes to grading the exam, with the exception of the English and Korean history test, it is graded on a curve.
It’s Done...Now What?
About a month after the exam, the exam results are released on an official website for students to see if they made the cut for their target university. This is a time of celebration for some or of heartbreak for others. For the students who pass the exam, they begin to apply to universities around the country. For those who didn’t pass or didnt get the score they needed to apply to their dream school, this sparks the beginning of year-long preparation to take the exam again the following year. Every year, about 20% of exam takers are retaking the exam for a second time.
The CSAT has received criticism over the years for the stress it inflicts on students. There have been talks about reformatting the college entrance system; however, no real change has been seen that benefits the students who fight for a spot in top universities each year.