650,000 students take college entrance exam

More than 650,000 high school seniors and graduates took the annual college entrance exam. College Scholastic Ability Test is the most important and crucial exam of their academic careers deciding in their choice of college and future professions. 650,747 people applied to take the nine-hour standardized CSAT. The exam is divided into five subjects; Korean language, mathematics, English, social and natural sciences and a second foreign language. The test started at 8:40 a.m. and was to run through 5 p.m., including lunch and breaks. Students who took the test had to enter the test site until 8:10 a.m. The government imposed traffic control and anti-noise measures for the most crucial test in a student's academic life. Transportation such as bus and subway train extended their rush hour services to help all exam-takers arrive at the test sites on time. The stock markets, government offices and enterprises in nearby test sites opened an hour later than usual to keep the roads are not rushed for students on their way to the test center. Police operated a call center for students who need a ride offering to transport them to the test centers by patrol car or on the back of a motorcycle. Flight landings and takeoffs were banned for 40 minutes in the afternoon. That period was a listening section of the English exam. This article is about just facts.