Name: South Korea exam chief quits over 'insane' English test | BBC News
Uploaded: 2025-12-13T17:02:49.000Z
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The English section of South Korea's grueling college entrance exam or the sunyoung, is notoriously difficult, with some students comparing it to deciphering an ancient script.

To-infinitive

Well, so intense was the criticism around this year's test that the top official in charge of administering it has resigned to take responsibility for the chaos that it caused.

The superlative

Amongst the most daunting questions are one on Immanuel Kant's philosophy of law and another involving gaming jargon.

The latter were three points asked students to pick where a sentence should fit in a given paragraph.

A video game has its own model of reality internal to itself and separate from the player's external reality, the player's bodily space and the avatar's bodily space, the avatar's body space.

The potential actions of the avatar in the game world is the only way in which the reality, the external reality of the game world can be perceived as in the real world, perception requires action.

Well, let's speak to someone who's taken the test herself in the past.

Professor of Korean linguistics at Oxford University, June Care.

I don't know whether you saw that particular question that was was featured on our website.

Yes, I saw that the article and I tried to solve it myself and it was very hard.

I mean I took the exam 30 years ago but I think it's now becomes too difficult to the point like, you know, I don't.

I'm not sure how much I would get it from this exam.

Because it's obviously sort of caused huge stress, hasn't it in the process?

I think it's because sort of they think about English as a way because there's other exams but they kind of think about English as a way to sort of, you know, best tool to rank students and in this exam and you know, it's very easy to basically distinguish who are the top first person using English tool.

So I think this is way how every year it becomes the exam becomes more and more difficult to the point like even native speaker can't really find the right answer.

And what is the significance of passing it?

What does it count sort of hugely towards getting into colleges of your choice?

Yes, I think this exam is basically Korean people still, I mean even in my time, but

even now they think this one day this exam will determine your life.

Not only your own life, but your family's future.

So I think they put so much emphasis and practice drilling to find the best result for this exam.

The day basically when the exam happens, the nation stops.

So just tell me what happens on the day at home.

You start everybody goes to work an hour late and from 1 o' clock afternoon about 45 minutes even, you know, nothing should move because they have English listening test and the military actually even stops for the day.

So when you this year was 13th of November and basically people have to stay quiet for the entire for students not to be disturbed.

And so yeah, or every operation in South Korea stops or you know people Dubai low key for the students.

The amazing work ethic of Korean students is known of course in many parts of the world.

I think it's sort of to the point like you know, we learn how sort of hard working is almost like in DNA of South Korean people and they believe that education is the only asset we have as a nation.

And so, you know, recently there's been a case that kids as young as 4 year old have to take English tests in order to have better results in the swing exam later.

So I think this work ethics in my days, maybe not in age 4, but

now, you know, it's getting much severe and severe to the point like you know, even young children have to practice and for the exam.

I mean is this, is this a shortage of jobs?

Is it pressure on very good university places?

So yeah, I think it's sort of also the university because this exam good result will take you to the best university in South Korea like Seoul National University or Yonsei University or these top three universities or the medical school.

And they believe that you know, entering to these universities or medical school will determine your future, you know, your job prospectus and everything.

So I think this is, and of course it's highly competitive.

You can't get these universities and places easily.

So even if the population is decreasing, still there's high competition lies in this university.

And so as a result it's highly competitive.

We're seeing technology and AI starting to change the whole education field too.

Do you think this exam, but me as it stands will also adapt?

I do believe that you know, this doesn't fit, you know, the exam swindling exam, the highly, you know, the competitive exam worked well when we have many children and you have to rank students and to get you know, particular certain point to university.

But now, you know, the population is decreasing.

Also, you know, AI does not require education, you know, teaching education like this.

So I think, you know, it's a bit absurd that, you know, they have to sit down, 70 minute English exam, and

And that does not actually, I think, make your English better.

Rather, it makes you students, pupils to people have more language anxiety rather than, you know, incompetence.

So I think this is very sort of outdated and this practice or this way of testing English should stop and does not fit in our time, I think.

Professor Kier, thank you very much indeed for being with us today.