{"id":103068,"date":"2025-11-13T02:09:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T02:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=103068"},"modified":"2025-11-13T02:09:00","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T02:09:00","slug":"13-hours-by-touch-inside-one-of-the-worlds-longest-exam-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=103068","title":{"rendered":"13 hours by touch \u2013 inside one of the world\u2019s longest exam days"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>6 Minute, 37 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Every November, South Korea comes to a standstill for its infamous college entrance exam.<\/p>\n

Shops are shut, flights are delayed to reduce noise, and even the rhythm of the morning commute slows down for the students.<\/p>\n

By late afternoon, most test-takers walk out of school gates, exhaling with relief and embracing the family members waiting outside.<\/p>\n

But not everyone finishes at that hour. Even once darkness has fully settled and night has set in, some students are still in the exam room \u2013 finishing close to 10 pm.<\/p>\n

They are the blind students, who often spend more than 12 hours taking the longest version of the Suneung.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, more than 550,000 students across the country will sit for the Suneung \u2013 an abbreviation for College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) in Korean. It is the highest number of applicants in seven years.<\/p>\n

The test not only dictates whether people will be able to go to university, but can affect their job prospects, income, where they will live and even future relationships.<\/p>\n

Depending on their subject choices, students answer roughly 200 questions across Korean, mathematics, English, social or natural sciences, an additional foreign language, and Hanja (classical Chinese characters used in Korean).<\/p>\n

For most students, it is an eight-hour marathon of back-to-back exams. They begin the Suneung test at 08:40 and finish around 17:40.<\/p>\n

Blind students with severe visual impairments, however, are given 1.7 times the standard testing duration.<\/p>\n

This means that if they take the additional foreign language section, the exam can finish as late as 21:48 \u2013 nearly 13 hours after it began.<\/p>\n

There is no dinner break; the exam continues straight through.<\/p>\n

The physical bulk of the braille test papers also contributes to the length.<\/p>\n

When every sentence, symbol and diagram is converted into braille, each test booklet becomes six to nine times thicker than the standard equivalent.<\/p>\n

\"BBC\/Hosu
The constant friction from reading braille for hours straight can make students\u2019 hands sore<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At Seoul Hanbit School for the Blind, 18-year-old Han Donghyun is among the students who will take the longest version of the Suneung this year.<\/p>\n

Last year, there were 111 blind test-takers nationwide \u2013 99 with low vision and 12 with severe visual impairments like Dong-hyun \u2013 according to data from the Ministry of Education and the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation.<\/p>\n

Dong-hyun was born completely blind and cannot distinguish light.<\/p>\n

When the BBC met him at his school on 7 November, his fingers moved quickly across a braille practice booklet of past exam questions.<\/p>\n

With just a week left before the test, he was focused on managing his stamina and condition. Dong-hyun will take the exam using Braille test papers and a screen-reading computer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really exhausting because the exam is so long,\u201d he said. \u201cBut there\u2019s no special trick. I just follow my study schedule and try to manage my condition. That\u2019s the only way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dong-hyun said the Korean language section is particularly difficult for him.<\/p>\n

A standard test booklet for that section is about 16 pages \u2013 but the braille version is roughly 100 pages long.<\/p>\n

Even with screen-reading software, spoken information disappears as soon as it is heard, unlike text that can be seen and re-read. Dong-hyun has to hold the details in his memory as he goes.<\/p>\n

The mathematics section is no easier.<\/p>\n

He must interpret complex graphs and tables that have been converted into braille, using only his fingertips.<\/p>\n

Still, he noted that things are better than they used to be. In the past, students had to do almost all calculations in their heads. But since 2016, blind test-takers have been allowed to use a braille notetaker, known as Hansone.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust like sighted students write out their calculations in pencil, we enter them in Braille on the Hansone to follow the steps,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Students like Oh Jeong-won must use Braille display devices during the exam<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another student at Hanbit School for the Blind, 18-year-old Oh Jeong-won, who will also sit the Suneung this year, said the late afternoon is \u201cthe hardest point\u201d of the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cUp until lunch, it\u2019s manageable,\u201d he said. \u201cBut around 4 or 5 pm, after English and before Korean History, that\u2019s when it gets really tough.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no dinner break,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe\u2019re solving problems during the time we would normally eat, so it feels even more exhausting. Still, I keep going because I know there will be a sense of accomplishment at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Jeong-won, the fatigue is compounded by the need to stay intensely focused with both his hands and his hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I\u2019m reading the braille with my fingers and also taking in information through audio, it feels much more tiring than it does for sighted students,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But the students say that the length of the exam and the long study hours are not the hardest part. What is most challenging is access to study materials.<\/p>\n

Popular textbooks and online lectures that sighted students rely on are often out of reach.<\/p>\n

There are very few braille versions, and converting materials into audio requires having text files \u2013 which are difficult to obtain. In many cases, someone has to manually type out entire workbooks to make them usable.<\/p>\n

Online lectures also pose difficulties, as many instructors explain concepts using visual notes, diagrams and graphics on screen, which cannot be followed through audio alone.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the Suneung exam, Han Dong-hyun and Oh Jeong-won solve past questions using a screen reader and braille<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the most significant barriers, however, is the delay in receiving braille versions of the state-produced EBS preparation books \u2013 a core set of materials closely linked to the national exam.<\/p>\n

Because of this delay, blind students often receive the materials months later than others.<\/p>\n

\u201cSighted students get their EBS books between January and March and study them for the whole year,\u201d said Jeong-won. \u201cWe receive the braille files only around August or September, when the exam is just a few months away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dong-hyun shared the same concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe braille materials weren\u2019t completed until less than 90 days before the exam,\u201d he said. \u201cI kept wishing the publication process could be faster.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National Institute of Special Education, which produces the braille version of EBS exam materials, told the BBC that the process takes at least three months for each book because it must follow relevant guidelines.<\/p>\n

The institute added that it is \u201cmaking various efforts to ensure that blind students can study without disruption, such as producing and providing the materials in separate volumes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Korean Blind Union said it has long raised this issue with authorities, and plans to file a constitutional petition demanding greater accessibility to braille versions of all textbooks.<\/p>\n

\"BBC\/Hosu
For blind students, the Suneung exam can last for more than 12 hours<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For these students, the Suneung is not just a college entrance exam \u2013 it\u2019s proof of the years they have endured to get where they are.<\/p>\n

Jeong-won described the exam as \u201cperseverance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s almost nothing you can do in life without perseverance,\u201d he said. \u201cI think this time is a process of training my will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their teacher, Kang Seok-ju, watches students go through the exam every year \u2013 and said the blind students\u2019 endurance is \u201cremarkable\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cReading braille means tracing raised dots with your fingertips. The constant friction can make their hands quite sore,\u201d he pointed out. \u201cBut they do it for hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Kang urged his students to value completion rather than regret.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis exam is where you pour everything you\u2019ve learned since the first grade into a single day,\u201d he said. \u201cMany students feel disappointed afterwards, but I just want them to leave knowing they did what they could.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe exam is not everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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