Test-takers overcome glitchy networks, empty gas tanks, confused taxi drivers on CSAT day

Students nationwide overcame various hurdles, including frantic taxi rides and verification problems, to get to their exam sites on the morning of the country’s most important test for college hopefuls.

On Thursday morning, test-takers head toward the exam site at Taejang High School in Suwon, Gyeonggi, to take the 2025 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT). [YONHAP]

Students nationwide overcame various hurdles, including frantic taxi rides and verification problems, to get to their exam sites on the morning of the country’s most important test for college hopefuls.

On Thursday morning, one examinee faced trouble due to a shortage of taxi fuel on Jeju Island. Planning to take a taxi to take the day of suneung, or the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), the student’s driver found himself short on gas and requested help from the police.

According to the South Gyeongsang Provincial Police Agency, at around 7:38 a.m., a taxi driver carrying an examinee mistakenly dropped the student at Chirwon High School instead of their intended destination, Haman High School, 32 minutes before the deadline for entry into the CSAT test center.

After realizing that they were at the wrong location, with Haman High School and Chirwon High School approximately 21 kilometers (13 miles) apart — a distance that takes about 20 minutes by car — the test-taker called 112 for help.

“Since there is some distance from Chirwon High School to Haman High School, we quickly transported the student,” said a police representative. “After speaking with the student in the patrol car, we discovered there are three high schools in Haman. It seems the driver misheard and dropped the student at Chirwon High School instead.”

An examinee arrives via police vehicle at Yeouido Girls' High School in western Seoul, to take the 2025 College Scholastic Ability Test on Thursday. [YONHAP]

The student narrowly made it to the test site with less than 10 minutes to spare, arriving just past 8 a.m. The exam is run from 8:40 a.m. to 5:45 p.m., with examinees required to arrive at their testing sites by 8:10 a.m. sharp.

A parking lot of an academy in Seoul is filled with study material that test-takers threw away on Thursday, the day of the annual College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT). [NEWS1]

This year’s CSAT started simultaneously at 8:40 a.m. across 1,282 test centers nationwide. The number of applicants for this year’s CSAT increased by 18,082 from last year, totaling 522,670 students.

Students arrived on test sites by any means necessary, but problems with verifying their identites ensued as well.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education’s system for verifying the identity of examinees reportedly experienced disruptions on the morning of Korea's most prominent college entrance exam.

Nambu branch of Gyeonggido Office of Education in Suwon [GYEONGGIDO OFFICE OF EDUCATION]

According to the education office, access to the National Education Information System (NEIS) was disrupted on Thursday.

The first report of NEIS being unavailable came in around 7 a.m. The office then initiated restoration efforts, and normal operations resumed around 8:20 a.m.

NEIS is an educational information system used by 17 provincial and municipal offices of education and approximately 12,000 elementary, middle and high schools nationwide for handling grades, school records and other academic and administrative tasks for students, parents and teachers.

For the CSAT, NEIS access is necessary when examinees forget to bring identification, as it allows for the printing of school records.

On Thursday morning, a parent cheers on their test-taking child in front of the 2025 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) exam site at Dongsan High School in Incheon. [YONHAP]

"Currently, access is possible through an alternative system, and we are guiding users to proceed in this way," said a representative from the provincial office of education.

"Although NEIS access is needed to confirm the identity of students who did not bring identification to the test center, we are issuing alternative documents for identification or temporary ID, so there are no major disruptions to the CSAT."

Test-takers cheer as they exit Yeongbok Girls' Middle School in Suwon, Gyeonggi, after completing the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), the most important test for university hopefuls. [NEWS1]

Planes were prohibited from taking off and landing during the English listening section of the exam.

During the 35-minute listening session, from 1:05 p.m. to 1:40 p.m., all flights except emergency ones were grounded, while planes already in the air maintained an altitude of at least 3 kilometers.

Flight schedules for 156 flights — 58 international and 98 domestic — were adjusted. Airlines notified passengers of the changes in advance.

BY KIM MIN-YOUNG [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]