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South Korea to Hold College Entrance Test Amid Pandemic 'Third Wave'

Jason Strother

   SEOUL - As nearly a half-million South Korean students prepare to take
   an all-important college entrance examination later this week, health
   and education officials are stepping up efforts to prevent test sites
   from becoming coronavirus hotspots.

   On Thursday, much of South Korea will quiet down as students in their
   third and final year of high school complete a test that is widely seen
   as having an oversized impact on one's academic, professional and even
   marital prospects. Officials say that roughly 490,000 people have
   applied for this year's one and only College Scholastic Ability Test
   (CSAT), better known in Korean as the suneung.

   Like on nearly every previous test day, airplane flight patterns will
   be diverted away from some 1,300 testing locations nationwide, the
   country's stock market will open late and all nearby construction will
   come to a grinding halt in hopes of eliminating potential distractions.
   But, unlike in any other year, all students will be wearing masks,
   plexiglas barriers will be installed between desks and anyone
   presenting possible COVID-19 symptoms will be quarantined at an
   alternate testing center.

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