On the day of the unified exam in South Korea, not a fly nor an airplane will fly by
As reported by BBC, this year the unified exam was scheduled for November 16 but was postponed by a week due to an earthquake. Tremors of magnitude 5.4 were recorded on the southeastern coast of Korea. For the first time in history, the unified exam was postponed due to a natural disaster: the Ministry of Education was concerned that it would be unsafe to sit in school buildings in the earthquake zone and that equal conditions for all would not be ensured.
Usually, even without an earthquake, the government on the day of the unified exam throws all its efforts into creating a comfortable environment for students. All agencies, from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Transport to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Justice, are on special duty. Private businesses also get involved, including the Korea Exchange and the Korea Federation of Banks—all for the children on this most important day of their lives.
The South Korean College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) is one of the toughest in the world. It is composed as a single block covering all subjects and is taken in one day. The score obtained can open the door to a prestigious university, which is a ticket to a more affluent life with a more successful career. It is believed that on the day of the unified exam, the future of a young man or woman is decided.
Moreover, the exam is one of the largest events in the country: on Friday, November 24, 593,000 students arrived at 1,180 exam centers. For each, materials, meals, heating, safety, and silence must be ensured.
The most radical measure on exam day is the ban on takeoffs and landings of all aircraft except for emergencies. It is in effect for 35 minutes while students take the listening section: they listen to an English text and answer questions. This part of the exam requires complete silence, and it descends across the entire country.
By order of the Ministry of Transport, airliners that were in the air during those minutes were not allowed to descend below 3 km. Passengers on 62 domestic and 36 international flights had to wait. Seoul officially notifies all aviators of these restrictions via NOTAM (Notice to Airmen), a system of operational international alerts about the air navigation situation.
How is the secrecy of exam tasks maintained? Each year, those who prepare the tasks and exercises for the tests are isolated from the outside world. The location of the rooms where exam tasks are compiled is kept secret. Technical workers and support staff also remain locked in—because the examiners need to eat, wash, and sleep.
To prevent information leaks, all communication channels in the exam material preparation centers are disconnected. Any person who enters the building—even a cleaner—can leave only in the most urgent case: for example, if a close relative has died and they need to go home. But even to a deathbed, the person is not released alone; they are accompanied by special agents, and they must return by the appointed time.
This year, the preparation of exam materials began on October 13, and 700 people became prisoners of the education system. Since the unified exam was originally scheduled for November 16, they were preparing to be released on that day. When the government postponed the exam by a week due to the earthquake, they all had to remain locked up. In total, they had no contact with the outside world for more than a month, and the only news from "outside" that reached them during this time was the message that they would have to stay in isolation for another week.
Retaking the unified exam in the same year or taking it on another day is not allowed for any reason, no matter how valid. A student must enter the exam center before the doors close and the test text is opened. Tens of thousands of police officers and firefighters monitor order. But they are called upon not so much to stop violations as to help students.
In case any student gets lost on the way, forgets at home or loses somewhere the registration confirmation slip (identifying the student), on the morning before the exam, the traffic police deploy a special vehicle unit: patrols are ready to take a student in trouble home for the document or quickly deliver them to the exam site. Every year, television shows some high school student running from a police car to the gates of the exam center. As a rule, they make it in time—that's what the state machine works for.
More than 18,000 police officers this year guarded the exam venues, the routes for transporting envelopes with tasks, the routes for transporting completed papers, and the rooms where tests are checked and grades are assigned. But even that is not enough—the police activated a state of emergency, and special forces were on high alert.
In the areas where tremors occurred a week earlier, soldiers and medics were deployed—in case of new earth tremors. The fire department sent thousands of service vehicles onto the streets, ready to transport students and protect their peace.
Public transport also operated in enhanced mode: the Seoul Metropolitan Government ordered trains and buses to start routes earlier than usual so that all children could get there in time. Additional taxis were on duty, and hundreds of government and private cars were brought to major transfer stations and railway stations, ready to take examinees for free.
Even financial markets, where millions of dollars can be lost or earned in a second, held their breath. The Korea Exchange, where stocks worth $1.6 trillion are traded under the KOSPI index, opened trading an hour later that day.
The Korea Federation of Banks, anticipating that the flow of passengers on public transport would noticeably increase on Friday morning – as children, teachers, observers, and parents would be traveling en masse to the exam – shifted the working hours of bank employees from nine in the morning to ten. Many private enterprises did the same.