South Korean authorities took extraordinary measures nationwide to remove anything that could disturb the test-takers, while lakhs of students wrote a crucial national university entrance exam, on Thursday (Nov 15). Public offices, major businesses and the stock market opened an hour later than usual to help ease traffic and ensure students arrived on time for the exam, which began nationwide at 8.40am.
Any students stuck in traffic could get police cars and motorbikes to rush them to the exam centres. All takeoffs and landings at South Korean airports are suspended for 25 minutes to coincide with an English listening test. The Transport Ministry said 134 flights had to be rescheduled because of the exam.
The college entrance test is the culmination of South Korea’s highly demanding school system, and in an ultra-competitive society it plays a large part in defining students’ adult lives, holding the key to top universities, elevated social status, good jobs, and even marriage prospects. Nearly 5,95,000 students wrote the exam this year.