From lucky pencils to lunch boxes, Suneung prep drives secondhand boom
Students are making sure they have all their gear ready for Thursday's Suneung, South Korea’s university entrance exam often regarded as a life-or-death test.
According to data released Tuesday by the secondhand trading platform Bungaejangter, “Suneung mechanical pencil” was the most searched keyword between August and October.
The pencil, specially made and distributed at test sites by the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation and the Ministry of Education in a different color each year since 2006, has become a must-have item for test takers.
Bungaejangter explained that some students want to buy the pencil in advance to get used to it before the exam, while others look for ones previously used by high-scoring students, hoping a bit of their luck will rub off.
Other Suneung-related items have also seen a surge in searches.
Searches for “insulated lunch containers,” used by students to pack warm meals on test day, jumped 107 percent in October compared to September.
As free school lunches are the norm in Korea, many families do not own lunch boxes. Since it is needed for just one day, parents are turning to the secondhand market to find one.
Searches for “Suneung watch” also rose 59 percent over the same period.
Only analog watches without Bluetooth or digital display functions are allowed in exam rooms, and the increase in searches appears to reflect students getting ready to buy compliant watches ahead of test day.
Other popular secondhand items include handwritten notes from perfect scorers and workbooks used by students admitted to top universities.
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