Latest news with #Suneung
Korea Herald
a day ago
- General
- Korea Herald
Boys outscore girls in math, while girls lead in English on Suneung: data
Male students outscored their female peers in math on the national college entrance exam, or Suneung, in 2024, a trend that has continued for four consecutive years, data shows. In contrast, female students continued to lead in English, while performance in Korean remained nearly identical across genders. According to the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation on Sunday, which oversees the annual College Scholastic Ability Test, male students had a higher average score of 102.7 in math, compared to 97.1 points for female students. The average standard score in Korean was higher among female students, at 100.8 points, compared to 99.1 points for male students. These figures are not raw scores, but are weighted and adjusted to reflect performance relative to other test takers. The institute's analysis also showed that a higher percentage of male students ranked in the top two performance levels in math. Specifically, 5.9 percent of male students were in Level 1 and 9.4 percent in Level 2, compared to just 2.2 percent and 5.3 percent of female students, respectively. In Korea's college entrance exam, students are ranked in nine levels based on their relative performance, with Level 1 representing the top 4 percent of test takers and Level 2 roughly covering the top 11 percent. In English, a higher percentage of female students placed in the top two levels. Among female test takers, 6.3 percent scored in Level 1 and 16.6 percent in Level 2, slightly higher than the 6.1 percent and 16.1 percent recorded for male students. In Korean, the proportion of top-performing students was nearly the same between male and female students. In Level 1, 4.3 percent of male students and 4.4 percent of female students were represented — a difference of just 0.1 percentage point. The gap was equally narrow in Level 2, with 7.1 percent for male students and 7 percent for female students. A total of 463,486 students took the College Scholastic Ability Test in 2024, up 4.18 percent from 2023. Of them, 238,346 were male and 225,140 were female.
Korea Herald
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
How this 20-year-old landed on J-Hope's project
Raised on Lego and Reddit, Kim Onew adds new dimension to K-pop If you're a BTS fan, you might recall the floating house in J-Hope's recent music video, 'Sweet Dreams (Feat. Miguel).' That surreal vision wasn't crafted by a veteran artist with decades of experience, but by Kim Onew, a 20-year-old 3D visual effects artist already making waves in the K-pop industry. Kim has already built an impressive resume at a young age. In addition to J-Hope, he's created visuals for aespa, NewJeans and Stray Kids. His path is all the more remarkable in South Korea, where most students are expected to follow the route of preparing for the Suneung, the nation's notorious college entrance exam. 'I wasn't good at studying,' was Kim's response to how he found his way into a creative field so early. What he lacked in academic strength, he made up for with creativity. And the support of his parents who nurtured his artistic interests from a young age also helped. As a child, he would spend hours playing with Lego blocks, throwing the building instructions aside to design his own creations. 'While I built, my dad would film what I make,' Kim recalled. That's how he first became familiar with the language of video, a medium that would later become central to his career. While his peers were cramming for the Suneung, he worked on his first 3D short film, 'Jerry Beer.' It told the story of a hermit crab yearning to reach the ocean, only to find that goal obscured by environmental degradation. The film won a prize at the Korea Youth Media Festival and earned him admission to the Korea National University of Arts, from which he is currently on leave. More importantly, 'Jerry Beer' caught the attention of professionals in the industry. A career that began in DMs Kim's first professional gig began with a message from a stranger. 'One day, someone DMed me on Instagram,' he said. The direct message came from a staffer at his current company Aedia Studio. The staffer complimented 'Jerry Beer' and asked Kim if he'd be interested in joining a new project. Skeptical but curious, Kim responded. The next day, he found himself added to a group chat titled 'NewJeans x Musinsa Mujinjang Advertisement Collaboration Video.' That was the beginning. For that project, Kim created 3D fish that interact with NewJeans' Haein. It marked his official debut. Working on client projects, he said, is very different from student films. There are deadlines, expectations and detailed creative briefs. 'But I try to include something new in every project,' he said. For Stray Kids' 'Jjam' music video, Kim wanted to go about it differently by creating a rat using techniques he had seen in a making-of video for 'Avatar.' It showed how they built creatures from the bones up, layer by layer. A wall near his desk still displays his hand-drawn rat anatomy sketches. 'If you start from the skeleton and add muscles and skin, it just feels more alive,' he said. The process is demanding, but to him, it's essential. Taught by the internet and a mosquito Kim is entirely self-taught. 'I didn't have any formal education in 3D,' he said. Instead, he developed his skills through YouTube tutorials and advice shared on Reddit forums. 'On Reddit, professionals with years of experience explain how they work,' he said. 'Whenever I hit a wall, that's where I turn for solutions.' Armed with these self-taught skills, Kim continues to pursue personal creative projects alongside his client work. ROSÉ & Bruno Mars - APT [아파트 애니메이션 커버] His viral Lego parody of Rose's 'Apt.' music video, featuring a blocky version of the singer, has amassed more than 9.8 million views on YouTube. The idea came to him in the shower. 'As soon as I thought of it, I called two friends. One works in 2D, the other does calligraphy,' he said. 'They were immediately in, and we got started right away.' Inspiration sometimes comes from even stranger places. His most recent animated short, 'Champ," was sparked by an unexpected visitor: a mosquito. 'It flew into my officetel (a multipurpose building combining commercial and residential units), which has really high ceilings, and I couldn't catch it,' he said. 'I was stuck with it for three days.' That small frustration turned into the concept for a boxing-themed animated film, where a character steps into the ring to fight a mosquito. The video has amassed more than 81,000 views on YouTube. ssh@
Korea Herald
17-04-2025
- Korea Herald
126 booked after yearlong crackdown on hagwon irregularities: police
After 20 months of investigating irregularities linked to the Suneung college entrance exam, South Korean police have charged 126 individuals and referred 100 of them to prosecutors, according to the National Office of Investigation on Thursday. The investigation began following a request from the Ministry of Education in July 2023, leading to a full-scale probe in August. In June 2023, the South Korean government announced reforms to the Suneung exam, including the removal of so-called, excessively difficult 'killer questions.' As part of these changes, the Education Ministry began investigating misleading ads and instances of examiners leaking questions to private academies, which is prohibited to ensure fairness. The reforms were designed to strengthen public education, reducing students' reliance on cram schools for academic success. Of the 100 individuals referred to prosecutors, 72 were schoolteachers, three were private education company officials and 11 were cram school instructors. Nine were heads of private education institutions, and five were from the Korea Institute of Curriculum and Evaluation, which issues the Suneung exam questions. The police discovered that 47 schoolteachers had illegally created and sold Suneung-related questions between 2019 and 2023, earning up to 100 million won ($70,400) each. One teacher reportedly earned 260 million won from these transactions. Each question sold for 100,000 to 500,000 won and was typically sold in sets of 20 to 30. Nineteen administrators and instructors from private education companies, including a CEO, were also referred to prosecutors for buying leaked questions. Additionally, nine teachers, experienced in creating or reviewing Suneung questions, allegedly formed a 'question-making team' and sold up to 2,946 questions, earning up to 620 million won. The police also revealed cases of university admissions officials accepting up to 3.1 million won for providing guidance to high school seniors applying to university. 'The investigation was driven by the belief that the sale of Suneung questions had become a socially acceptable practice and aimed to eliminate collusion between teachers and private education companies,' the police said. 'We will continue to target illegal practices and support educational reforms to ensure fairness in the college admissions process.'
Korea Herald
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
SNU professors suggest multiple test-taking for college entrance
Proposal for comprehensive education reform includes combining middle and high schools Seoul National University professors' association on Monday suggested reforms to South Korea's education system that would allow students to take the college entrance exam multiple times a year, rather than just once as is currently permitted. The Suneung, or College Scholastic Ability Test, occurs on the third Thursday of November every year, the results of which largely dictate the college admissions process. The reform plan announced by the SNU Faculty Council seeks, among other things, to ease pressure on test takers by administering the Suenung 3-4 times a year. Other plans for reform presented by the SNU Faculty Council to the Ministry of Education include combining middle and high schools to provide students with a continuous course of education, which the professors said will help them identify their strengths and the best course for them to take for their futures. Professor Han Jae-yong of SNU's Department of Agricultural Biotechnology was quoted by the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper as saying, 'In a system where students are consumed by survival-driven competition, we need an admissions process that reduces the burden on test takers and allows them to demonstrate their true abilities.' Holding multiple Suneung exams has long been considered as away of reforming the education system. The National Education Commission under the presidential office last year was reported in September to be toying with the idea. The committee said it had not formally reviewed the change, and said it was merely a suggestion made by a few of its members. But the idea has been floated around the political circles for several years, with the conservative People Power Party's education policy debate in 2023 discussing it. Hong Joon-pyo, the conservative politician who stepped down as Daegu mayor to run in the upcoming June 3 presidential election, made holding two Suneung exams a year one of his presidential pledges on April 6. College admission exams in some countries, like the SAT in US, does not limit the number of times one can take the crucial test. Most colleges consider only the highest score one has gotten in the tests, and many education experts encourage taking multiple tests. SNU suggest more autonomy for colleges As part of the comprehensive reform plan, the SNU Faculty Council also suggested that each school should have more autonomy on their programs and be able to take more students without their majors being assigned at the time of admission. The SNU had previously attempted to pick 400 new students with undeclared majors for the 2025 school year, but the plan was postponed. The Korean government provides a wide-range of subsidies for colleges, which in turn limits the autonomy of individual schools to certain degrees. SNU, widely considered the most prestigious tertiary education institute in the country, has been among many schools that has called for more freedom in terms of their programs. Lim Jeong-mook, the chairperson of the SNU Faculty Council, told local media outlets that it was difficult for higher education institutes in the country to gain a competitive edge under current system, which requires government approval for each university's reform plans. Lim said he would make the suggestion to the political circles as well, so more politicians would make it part of their pledges in the upcoming presidential election.
Korea Herald
05-04-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
Presidential impeachment forces adjustments to school academic calendar
The Constitutional Court's removal of President Yoon Suk Yeol from office Friday has had many schools in South Korea adjusting their academic calendars. The reason? The nation must hold a snap election to select the next president, likely between late May and early June, and schools are used as polling stations. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, schools will have two options: canceling scheduled discretionary holidays, such as Labor Day on May 1 and Memorial Day on June 6, or delaying the start of vacation by one day. The specific method of adjustment is to be decided by each school. On top of this, high schools nationwide are closely monitoring the possibility that the snap election date will be set for June 3, which will then coincide with a mock exam date for the upcoming Suneung, or Korea's state-administered college entrance exam. The exact date of the presidential election is undecided as of now. Acting President Han Duck-soo is obligated to announce it by April 14. South Korean law stipulates that in the case of a president being incapacitated, a successor must be chosen within 60 days, which, in the case of Yoon's replacement, would be June 3.
