Dec. 15 (UPI) -- South Korea's annual College Scholastic Ability Test, known as the Suneung, has drawn international attention after British media outlets highlighted complaints over the difficulty of the 2026 English section and raised broader questions about the country's high-stakes admissions system.
The BBC described the Suneung's English section as "notoriously difficult" and cited reactions from South Korean test-takers who likened the reading passages to "deciphering ancient scripts." British coverage also pointed audiences to specific questions that became a focus of controversy, prompting criticism that the passages were more obscure than educationally meaningful.
Britain's Daily Telegraph also questioned whether readers could pass what it characterized as an unusually difficult college-entrance English exam. The Guardian reported that Oh Seung-gul, head of the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, stepped down amid the controversy.
According to South Korea's Education Ministry, 3.11% of test-takers earned the top grade in the English section, down from 6.22% the previous year.
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