Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Half a million South Korean students sit a college entrance exam despite rising Covid cases
For many South Korean high school students and their parents, the national college entrance exam is a lifetime event. The exam marks a significant part of the college enrollment process in a country where only prestigious college graduates can qualify for prospective job opportunities. Nearly half a million senior and gradated students took this year’s entrance exam on December 3, which had been postponed once due to the coronavirus outbreak.
On the exam day, offices start later to ease morning traffic and airplanes adjust flight schedules not to make noise during the English listening test. The police help exam takers to get to their exam sites by controlling the traffic and even give them a ride to get there on time. It is indeed a major national event.
This year, exam takers had to sit at the desks that are separated by plastic dividers. Also, students who had close contacts with Covid-19 patients took the tests from quarantine and those who tested positive had to participate from hospitals.
China had theirs in June and Japan will have their exams in January, both of which put significant emphasis on exams for the college enrollment process while the US canceled their SAT and the UK did too for their A-levels, the equivalent assessment tests for college enrollment.
Enjoy reading the article and learn about another challenge for students during the pandemic.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/02/asia/korea-exam-covid-intl-hnk/index.html
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