While the news nowadays in the world consists of terrible things, such as the Paris attacks. However, to the students in Korea, there is nothing more stressful than college entrance exams. In the Republic of Korea, these standardized college exam (College Scholastic Aptitude Test) is taken extremely seriously. On the day of the English listening portion of the exam all flights to Incheon International Airport were delayed for 20 minutes so as not to disturb the exam takers.
Planes circled around Korea for 20 minutes when the exam was going on, as shown in this picture from flightradar24.com
In a highly competitive society, as that of the Republic of Korea, it is understandable that the primary and secondary education system focuses entirely on attending the three top universities in Korea, also called SKY (for Seoul National University, Korea University, Yonsei University). The CSAT determines who goes to which university. However, this focus on the final test does not contribute to the overall learning of the students. In schools, the students are being taught to memorize concepts rather than understanding and therefore, the CSAT merely tests how well students have memorized their subjects. Schools in Korea extend to the evening and Saturdays. In the end, those who are accepted into SKY are those who scored full points on their CSAT. This really does not show universities how capable these students are. In fact, in a recent study, English majors at Oxford University in the UK were asked to take the CSAT. Their scores were much lower than a typical Korean student. Verbally, they stated that the exam was extremely difficult as well.
Two things arise from this. First of all, is the Korean curriculum that hard? Secondly, are Korean students really understanding what they are being tested on? If the answer to these questions were, respectively, yes and no, then is it worth the sacrifice of delayed flights to create the optimal exam condition? Should institutions, such as the airport, be investing their time and efforts to support students to take CSAT?
n.p. “An Exam So Stressful that Even Planes Are Banned to Avoid Noise.” abc News. 13 November 2015. Web. 15 November 2015.
