Under the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 academic year Korean college entrance examination will be held simultaneously throughout the country from 8:40 a.m. local time on the 3rd.
Although the number of applicants for the college entrance examination is the lowest in history, due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the number of examination classrooms has increased to 1.5 times the previous year.
The number of applicants for the college entrance examination was 493,433, a decrease of 10.1% (55,301) compared with the 2020 academic year a year ago.
Since the introduction of the college entrance examination system in the 1994 academic year, the number of applicants has reached an all-time low. Although the number of candidates decreased, the examination room and examination room increased.
On December 2, a total of 1,383 examination rooms were prepared in 86 examination areas across South Korea. This is an increase of 198 compared with last year (1,185). There are 31,291 examination rooms, an increase of 1.5 times compared with last year (21,000).
In order to prevent the spread of the pandemic, the number of candidates in the general examination room has been reduced from 28 to 24. In addition, there are special examination rooms for confirmed, self-isolation and suspected symptoms.
On the day of the college entrance examination, candidates must wear masks, go to the pre-arranged examination room for fever examination, and then enter the ordinary examination room.
Candidates with a temperature of more than 37.5 degrees Celsius with suspected symptoms such as fever or cough will be arranged for a separate examination room examination. The policy of the Ministry of Education of South Korea is that even if candidates diagnosed with COVID-19 in the early morning of the college entrance examination, they can take the examination in hospitals and life treatment centers, and those who are quarantined at home can take the examination in a separate examination room far from the ordinary examination room.
According to statistics, as of the 2nd of this month, 39 candidates have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and 430 have been quarantined at home.
This year’s Korean college entrance examination was originally scheduled to be held on November 19, but due to the outbreak of the pandemic, the start of the first semester was postponed from March to April, and the examination schedule was postponed to two weeks later.
