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Is Korea’s Suneung the world’s most stressful exam?

Can you imagine sitting all of the most important exams of your life on one day?

Can you imagine sitting all of the most important exams of your life on one day? That’s the reality for Korean students, whose university-entrance exam, the Suneung, sees students sit an eight-hour marathon of exams, all on one day. Juna Moon, our reporter in Seoul, tells us why a record number of students are resitting the brutal exam this year. Plus Koh Ewe, a ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ journalist in Singapore, tells us which K-pop earworm students are trying to avoid to stop it from distracting them.

Julie Yoonnyung Lee, a ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ reporter from Seoul now in London, joins us in the studio, to give us her own experience of the exam, and the years of late nights and ‘cram schools’ preparing for it. We also discuss the mental health challenges that can come with such high academic pressure.

Plus we hear from our China media analyst Kerry Allen, who explains the Gaokao, China’s university entrance exam, which might be even harder.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld
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Email: whatintheworld@bbc.co.uk
Presenter: Hannah Gelbart
Producers: Emily Horler and Hayley Clarke
Editor: Verity Wilde

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16 minutes

Last on

Sat 16 Nov 2024 03:50GMT

Broadcasts

  • Fri 15 Nov 2024 18:50GMT
  • Sat 16 Nov 2024 03:50GMT

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