This college entrance exam was so hard an official had to resign. Could you ace these questions?

(CNN) — Imagine this: You’re a South Korean teenager taking a notoriously grueling 8-hour college entrance exam. You’ve been prepping for this for months, perhaps years. You reach the English portion, and you see this:

If you thought that was difficult, how about this?

These were among the questions students faced in the exam – known locally as the Suneung – this November, which prompted such intense outcry that the exam body’s top official stepped down last week, according to public broadcaster KBS.

The exam body even issued a formal apology earlier this month, saying it “takes seriously the criticism that it did not meet the appropriate level of difficulty… for the English portion.”

The body “deeply apologizes for causing concern to the test takers and parents,” the statement said, adding that administrators would consult schools to “create questions within the scope of school education.”

But many angry test-takers and parents say an apology isn’t enough to make up for the damage in test scores and college applications – which are often seen as the key to a successful future in hyper-competitive South Korea.

Only about 3% of test takers earned a top score in the English portion – the lowest since a new grading system was introduced in 2018, according to the exam body.

“The former head of the evaluation admitted the faults, as he resigned,” wrote one online user surnamed Choi on the Suneung’s website. “Is it not common sense to come up with a measure for test takers and parents, who are the victims impacted by the fault?”

“How can an investigation saying what they will do for next year’s entrance exam comfort the test takers that are discouraged this year?”

‘Killer questions’

The Suneung has long been famed for its difficulty and the intense pressure it places on young teenagers. For many, the education rat race begins before they can even talk, with parents racing to secure coveted spots in elite preschools.

By the time students are in middle and high schools, their days often revolve around studying – going straight from regular classes to after-school cram centers known as hagwons until late at night. All this hard work, families hope, can secure them a spot at a top university, and an advantage in the similarly ruthless job market.

It’s not just the families – the whole country takes this exam seriously.

On November 13, as more than half a million students nationwide sat down for the Suneung, all flights across the country were barred from taking off or landing for half an hour to make sure there were no noisy distractions during a listening comprehension section. Financial markets opened an hour late and police were mobilized to make sure candidates could make it to their test venues on time.

But there’s a danger to such highly competitive tests: they are often viewed as both a symptom and contributor to wealth inequality, with richer students able to access more resources that could give them a leg up.

There’s also an illicit market involved. Police booked 126 people earlier this year on suspicion of selling Suneung questions to hagwons and tutors, according to Yonhap News Agency.

The heavy burden on students is frequently blamed for poor mental health in the country, which had the highest suicide rate among OECD nations in 2020, the latest figures available.

It may influence the country’s steeply falling fertility rate, too.

Experts believe the staggering tuition expenses are a major factor behind South Koreans’ reluctance to have children – along with other burdens like long working hours, stagnant wages and sky-high housing costs.

The government has tried to crack down on hagwons to even the playing field, and to lower the difficulty of the entrance exam.

In 2023, it announced it would remove so-called “killer questions” from the Suneung, which sometimes included material that isn’t covered in the public school curriculum – which, the then-education minister argued, gave an unfair advantage to those who can afford private tutoring.

Clearly, however, even the questions that remain may be too much.

“I’m so angry,” wrote a commenter surnamed Jung on the exam body’s website. “What are you going to do with the kids’ lives?”

CNN’s Marianna Kim contributed to this report

The-CNN-Wire
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