Think we have it bad? Look at korean testing standards!

Applying to College
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<p>I can really say that the Korean system will never change in terms of college admissions. My father graduated from Seoul National and my mother graduated from Yonsei University. Korea's top three universities are called SKY (Seoul, Koryo (or Korea) and Yonsei), not in any particular order.</p>

<p>Koreans, as many other Asians, have an overemphasis on test scores. When we start to throw in subjective factors like we do in America such as essays and community service, it is mind-boggling to most Koreans that a Korean 1600/800 on everything kid (for arguments' sake) would not be accepted to Seoul National because he didn't have any community service or extracurriculars.</p>

<p>They are trying to revamp the system such as requiring one recommendation, but that isn't working out very well since many students hire a consultant to write the recommendation for them and having their teacher sign off on it. (I'm sure that happens in America, but in Korea, it's more like everyone does it more or less if you have the money.)</p>

<p>There are several universities that are still prestigious like the SKY schools but are fewer than those available in the US, such as Seo-gang University and Kyung-Hee University. Those are two wonderful schools, but only in certain fields, which are humanities and asian medicine (acupuncture, for example), respectively.</p>

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<p>Hey I lived in Korea for about 10 years. I even lived in Gangnam-gu that was mentioned, and went to a high school in that area. It is tough as the author describes it. There's a lot of private education compared to public. Although they changed the education policy, it's not that effective. I serious want to reform the educational policy set in Korea. There is a lot of emphasis on testing and GPA. There's a little interview and writing(actually arguing a point not like SAT writing for about 2 hours), but it's of minor importance.
I personally do think that if the educational system is like that in korea students will get higher scores on math and many subjects. However as I lived in korea, many lack creativity. They can't think outside the box. Their motto is memorize if you can't understand it. So basically it weakens the country's human resources' abilities. It's detrimental both to the individual and the nation. </p>

<p>@xjayz : I know Kyung-hee University is renowned for its acupuncture/oriental medicine but I don't know about Seo-gang University.Are you talking about the one that is affiliated with a religion? I'm saying this because there are two universities that have similar pronunciation when you say it in english although the difference is obvious when you say it in korean.</p>

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<p>They banned the use of foreign languages in the forum. I believe that "Suh Gang" is the correct phonetic pronunciation.</p>

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<p>My Chinese friend said she met a postman who got a 1520SAT (old!) and a 780 GMAT when she went to China during X'mas...........surprised me coz that postman is a HS dropout and is ONLY 18.</p>

<p>My conclusion: Standardized tests in East Asia are more "challenging" than SAT and maybe GMAT,lol.</p>

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<p>I feel bad for all the people that suicided over the test (yall are gonna say I'm caustic), but that is their deal. No one said for them to kill themselves. </p>

<p>I totally agree with xjayz.</p>

<p>Most Asian countries place too high of a value on test scores, and not on the intangibles, like extra curriculars and essays. The proof in this is the fact that yall said that the test decides their future. </p>

<p>It is what you make of it: Will you let this test take control of you succeeding in life, or will you do something about how you will turn out in life. </p>

<p>No one said you had to go to the equivalent of Harvard either, so a lot of people need to rethink that also. </p>

<p>On imiracle911's comment, I agree. My school is largely comprised of Asians, like 30%, or something like that, and the thing I noticed is that most of them, if not like all of them, can't really think outside of the box. Even though most of the Asian people get higher scores than tests on me, that doesn't mean they are smarter. </p>

<p>I don't hate the Asians, trust me, most are my friends! but the fact of the matter is that they take education TOO seriously, and don't enjoy life the way it was suppose to. Don't hate me...this isn't a racist report!</p>

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<p>White people don't take education seriously enough. I don't hate white people, trust me, most are my friends! but the fact of the matter is that they party too much and don't put much effort toward academics. Don't hate me...this isn't a racist report! j/k</p>

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<p>I'd just like to ask people to be careful about what they say. If some race names were changed on this page, then people would be up in arms. Stereotypes exist, but not everyone fits one. </p>

<p>That being said, I would like to know about the Korean College Entrance Exam--what does it cover? All of the core subjects, like an SAT II/AP super test? Or something more SAT I-like? I've gotten the impression that it tends to be basic fact-regurgitation, so not many essays?</p>

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<p>has anyone seen the series of comics created by 2 mit students that make fun of the traditional asian boy growing up in america lifestyle?</p>

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<p>"has anyone seen the series of comics created by 2 mit students that make fun of the traditional asian boy growing up in america lifestyle?"</p>

<p>LOL yes. It's absolutely hilarious, and kind of frightening, considering how eeriely similar the parents are to my mom.</p>

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<p>QuickLikeCat: Yes, it is a "super test" covering mathematics, Korean literature, English, athletics (yes there is an athletic component to the examination) and science.</p>

<p>Yes, your impression is totally correct. It is basic fact-regurgiation and most of the questions are multiple choice, I believe.</p>

<p>After the scores are tabulated and everyone is ranked nationwide (yes, nationwide, one of the perks of being a small country I suppose), each school has a cut-off score (just like the science high schools in NYC). Everyone who has a score above the cut-off score is accepted, and below are rejected until all the seats are filled in all the Korean universities.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
On imiracle911's comment, I agree. My school is largely comprised of Asians, like 30%, or something like that, and the thing I noticed is that most of them, if not like all of them, can't really think outside of the box. Even though most of the Asian people get higher scores than tests on me, that doesn't mean they are smarter. </p>

<p>I don't hate the Asians, trust me, most are my friends! but the fact of the matter is that they take education TOO seriously, and don't enjoy life the way it was suppose to. Don't hate me...this isn't a racist report!

[/quote]
Glucose 101, maybe you don't think this isn't a racist report, but it is a gross generalization. The fact that you don't hate Asians doesn't lessen the severity of what you said. For example, if you say that certain people are stupid, you're offending them even if you say that you don't hate them for being stupid.... The fact remains that you've insulted more than half of the world's population!</p>

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<p>Oh well...</p>

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<p>ec's, essays, volunteer work don't matter in asian universities</p>

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<p>"ec's, essays, volunteer work don't matter in asian universities" it should though.</p>

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<p>Gosh, those statistics are terrifying! I mean, at least if we don't all get accepted into an Ivy League, we can still find a job working as a telemarketer or reporter or chef...Even the 'average' students in Asia are brilliant by American standards. A large percentage of us have grown accustomed to living lazily and still receiving straight "A's." Imagine how much of a culture shock it would be if we were suddenly transplanted into Japan or Korea!</p>

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<p>Yes... It was like that in Asia
I studied my freshman and soph. year in Taiwan, and every month we have mid term for 12 subjects. We have 8 classes every day and 12 subjects to study. I took chemistry, math (believe me, everyone in Taiwan take pre cal level math in 9th grade!!! EVERYONE!!), physics, biology, english, chinese, history, geography, and other not-so-important subjects. Every one take 4 years of every thing in high school and then they have to be good at every subject in oder to get into colleges. (well, I mean good ones.) Life is just so tough in Asia...</p>

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<p>I think the situation has absolutely NOTHING to do with the test given/admissions practices. If these korean colleges started considering ECs, all the koreans would follow suit, resulting in the same situation.</p>

<p>It's about supply and demand. There simply arent enough spots for most people, breeding hypercompetition. If they had SATs, there would still be hyper competition. These are third world countries mostly, without the infrastructure to serve the entire population.</p>

<p>I thought of this when I first read the OP's post, and later someone mentioned it, that there probably just are not enough jobs, enabling companies to pick the top kids.</p>

<p>The only way to ameliorate the situation is by providing more university spots AND more jobs, a herculean feat. What is SK's unemployment rate? I found a site that said 3.4%. Is that right? Thats amazingly low. So how can people not find jobs?</p>

<p>I read in Thomas Friedman's The world is flat, that many of these grads from prestigious schools in India are doing CLERICAL work that is outsourced from America. Why? Simply because companies can, and can do so profitably. These grads are motivated, happy workers. He actually says in this book that before, it was better to be a B student in America than a genius in shanghai, but now, its the reverse. That doesnt seem to be the case here, still seems better to grow up in America.</p>

<p>The government takes the attitude, lets embrace the top 1% of society and leave the rest to wither. It is likely just a symptom of overpopulation. BTW, what percentage do the top universities take? Scoring 99th percentile on SATs here isnt that hard.</p>

<p>I learned in my WH course, that china came up with many inventions, but failed to see any the use of pursuing them.</p>

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<p>are you seriously saying that bruce lee was a good actor?</p>

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<p>I'm glad we don't have to take tests that determine our future, even if it means we are "undereducated"</p>

<p>There's no time limit on learning. There is a time limit on .. uh... BEING A KID. Yikes.</p>

60

<p>Wow. So your damn grades dont even matter if you get AUTO accepted into a korean university due to a TEST SCORE?</p>