Student kills himself ahead of college entrance exam

As students prepared to sit the national university entrance exam yesterday, a 19-year-old high school graduate, who was due to take the test for the second time, committed suicide in Seoul at around 6. a.m., police said.

"His parents found his body on the ground after he jumped off the 16th floor of his apartment building," a policeman at Seoul Bukbu Police Station said. "We`re considering it as a suicide case due to his parents` testimony that Lim was under high pressure because of the exam."

The pressure became more intense this year as stricter exam conditions were enforced. Because of widespread cheating using cell phones in last year`s university entrance exam, candidates were searched with metal detectors for phones or other electronic devices that could be used to share answers.

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Candidates for the College Scholastic Ability Test had been warned that they could be sent to youth correction and detention centers if found cheating, and the Ministry of Education banned any cell phones from being taken into exam venues. Despite the ministry`s warning at least three applicants in three different cities who forgot to turn in their mobiles were evicted and sent home in the middle of test.

Other measures taken were reducing the number of examinees allowed in one room, while the number of test supervisors was doubled. Desks in exam rooms were arranged in zigzags instead of lines as a further measure to discourage cheating.

Testing began at 8:40 a.m. and ended at 6:15 p.m. The results will be posted on Dec. 19.

Many students arrived in the early morning to be cheered on by fellow schoolmates. At the main entrance of Poongmoon Girls` High School in Seoul girls chanted, "We wish you perfect scores," as seniors entered the school to sit the life-defining exam.

"I came here at 3 a.m., but many sophomores from my school came during lunch time on Tuesday, reserved their territory with green tape on the ground and stayed over night to hold the best spot for cheering," Kim A-ra, freshman at Baiwha Girls` High School, said. "It is very cold, but it`s a great feeling to cheer the seniors and wish them high scores."

It was a common scene at almost all of the 966 locations across the country where the university entrance exam took place.

Nearly 600,000 applied to take the exam but about 39,000 failed to show up, the Education Ministry said.

To allow students to arrive in time for the exam, the Education Ministry asked farmers` groups to abandon planned protests against the National Assembly`s vote on a bill to widen the nation`s rice market.

The subject areas covered by the test were largely similar to last year`s, said Lim Jong-dae, German language professor at Seoul National University who chaired the examiners` committee for the test.

"We tried to present core but basic problems that examinees could solve if they had accumulated knowledge in class," he said in a news briefing.

This year`s exam had similar questions to those dealt with by EBS, a nonprofit educational broadcasting corporation, Lim said.

(aibang@heraldm.com)



By Annie I. Bang