We’re only 24 hours left to soo-neung! The college scholastic ability test in Korea or more commonly known as “soo-neung” has earned itself a name for being notoriously difficult and tough to complete. It’s a standardised test held once a year, where third-year high school students sit through different examination papers for various subjects one after another, all in a day. Their total score for the exam is then tabulated to determine their eligibility for university in Korea. It has been said to be such a huge event that even planes are forbidden to land for 30 minutes during the listening test.
This major event runs, rain or shine. But for the first time ever in 24 years, it has been postponed for a week from it’s actual date. Here’s why.
1. Second strongest earthquake recorded in Korea
An earthquake measuring 5.4 in magnitude was recorded in Pohang just a week shy of the initial soo-neung date. It is the second strongest earthquake that has ever been recorded in Korea. The strongest was the 2016 Gyeongju quake, that measured a magnitude of 5.8.
2. Serious damage on school buildings
School buildings and state infrastructure were badly damaged, even more so because most buildings in Korea are not made to be earthquake shockproof. Schools were forced to stop revision sessions, and students were evacuated.
Due to overwhelming safety concerns, the Ministry of Education in South Korea decided to postpone the exam by a whole week, making it a first in history. There were multiple aftershocks after the initial earthquake and many were concerned that there might be an imminent earthquake on a much larger scale. The new exam date remains unchanged, on 23rd Nov 2017.
If you’re curious about the difficulty level of the exam, check out this video of English people trying the questions out.
Check out a video of English people giving the English soo-neung a go:
To all the students taking soo-neung, best of luck!
Article: Cass @ KAvenyou
Sources: 1 | 2