A topic of discussion in our cultural internship class this week was the Korean colllege entrance examination system, and I thought it might make an interesting topic to touch on. Officially titled the College Scholastic Ability Teset, or SuNeung in Korean, it is one of the most important events in a young Korean's life. Traditionally the university one goes to carries a lot of weight when looking for a job or career. This means that there is an extreme amount of competition between high school seniors to get into the most prestigious schools in the Republic of Korea. All located in Seoul, they are collectively referred to as 'SKY' - standing for Seoul University, Korea University and Yonsei University. Ehwa Women's University is considered to be mostly on par with these schools as well.

The SuNeung is such a major event in a student's life that countless hours are spent preparing for this one test. Students commonly attend private academies after their regular school day in order to study further in preparation for the exam. These academies, or hogwons, cost the students money for tuition, so not only time but money is being invested in perparations. Some students, like my roommate Jacob, save money by just studying at home. Some, again like Jacob, spend all 3 years of high school preparing for the exam; others only seriously begin prepararing a few months in advance. Still others, such as my language exchange partner SoonMin, began preparing in elementary school.

Many subjects are covered in the exam, and prep time is spent mainly learning facts and test-relevant information that may not be helpful to one's major in college. With as many as 600,000 seniors every year taking the exam, competition is so fierce that it is difficult to get into one's choice school. A large number of students at SoonChunHyang University didn't have SCH as their first or even second choice. Some aren't terribly happy to be here. What's more is that the test can be so stressful that some students commit suicide, thinking their score will not be good enough to get into a good school.

A student gets a police escort on the day of the SuNeung test.

The SuNeung is only held one day every year, so students have one shot at getting into the school they're striving for. If they don't make it on test day, they have to wait another full year before the opportunity comes around again. And then they'll be competing against a new class of seniors who may be gunning for the same school as them. On the exam day the police actually coordinate traffic to ensure students can make it on time. Students can even request a police escort in order to get to the examination site on time. Government offices and some companies have their employees start work late so as not to congest traffic on this all important date.

This seems like a lot of trouble, but given the importance of education in Korea and especially of the SuNeung, it makes sense. Compared to Korea's college entrance process, the USA is incredibly easy. One can take the SAT or ACT there, but it won't prevent you from getting to the college of your choice if you don't. I myself avoided the stress of the SAT and attended community college, then transferred to Portland State after getting my associate's. I can only imagine how terrible the stress must be for those students preparing for the SuNeung.

Students taking the SuNeung exam.

The exam itself is nine hours long, covering subjects ranging from Korean to English, Sociology to Mathematics and the like. All of the Korean students I've spoken to at SoonChunHyang believe that the SunNeung is an inefficient system. It fails to measure a student's real ability and bases one's future entirely on the one score they get on the exam. According to SoonMin, the Korean government will be instituting two test days beginning next year. Yet to me this seems like too little.

Even if a student can use their higher test result, it still will not have measured their real abilities. Perhaps if it were part of a process towards entering a school rather than the only way in. Apparently Korea does have 2-year colleges that a student can study at before transferring to a 4-year university or entering the workforce. If this path was presented as a respectable and viable option more enthusiastically, perhaps more stress would be removed from the examination process.