It’s difficult to overstate the significance of the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), otherwise known as the Suneung, and the impact it can have on a student’s life in Korea. Taking place on the third Thursday in November annually, it’s an essential component in assessing a student when applying to a university. Established in its current form in 1993, replacing earlier versions, it’s an all-day exam that consists of sections focused on Korean language, mathematics, English, Korean history plus an elective as well as an optional second foreign language. Students who take the optional foreign language subject will spend more than six hours in the exam hall (they are all given a one-hour lunch, and there are three breaks between the different sections).

Students spend years preparing for the exam attending private academies known as hagwons (private cram schools) after school; otherwise, they risk not keeping up with the fast pace. Owing to the importance placed on Korean, mathematics and English, these are particularly popular, and any residential area in Korea signified through apartment blocks will have these hagwons close by. Koreans spent KRW 29.2 trillion (about $21.6 billion) on private education in 2024, an increase of 60.1 percent compared to 2014, according to the Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS) for the Ministry of Data and Statistics. Some 71.1 percent of Koreans aged between 25 and 34 had completed higher education, the highest among OECD member countries.

Getting into top universities, especially to study subjects such as medicine, engineering and more recently semiconductors (due to the AI boom), is extremely competitive, with only a small percentage of applicants successful. It means that it’s common for students to retake the exam for a higher score, spending another year preparing for it. In other words, it becomes a make-or-break moment.

As such, measures are taken across the country to ensure students can take the exam in the best conditions possible. Many people leave for work later making the roads quieter, the local stock market opens one hour later, police and their sirens are on standby to take exam takers to schools if they are running late. Classes are canceled for the day so younger students can cheer on their peers for the big day. Aircraft at airports across the country also go quiet during the English listening exam with planes prevented from taking off and landing unless there is an emergency. Then, after the exam, it’s total gridlock as parents pick up their children as pre-exam anxiety turns to apprehensive reflection with some heading to restaurants to try and relax as they ponder how they did – and whether they have to retake it and repeat it one year later.

Suneung Documentaries

Parasite (2019)

One of the reasons Korean content has resonated in the way it has done is that it tackles growing social inequality highlighted through education and its highly competitive system. Both Parasite (2019) and Squid Game (2021-2025) delve into these themes and make reference to Korea’s top universities known as SKY (Seoul National University, Yonsei University and Korea University).

Reach for the SKY (2015)

A documentary that stands out for its focus on this college entrance exam is the aptly titled Reach for the SKY (2015) directed by Steven Dhoedt and CHOI Woo-young. As a Korea-Belgium co-production, it approaches the exam from an interesting perspective. Extremely well researched and executed, it’s told in a way that is accessible for international viewers as it follows retakers of the exam and we learn from them and their families about how the exam affects them. One of the subjects, Hyerim, talks about how she lost interest in studying in high school and then fell behind. It underscores how the exam requires relentless preparation over many years and that taking a break isn’t really an option for these students. We see students studying until late at night and getting up very early. They are often sleep-deprived.

Another retaker, Minjun, who attends a boarding school, mentions some of the statistics before he goes to bed: “For Seoul National University I should be in the top 0.01%.” Figures at the beginning of the documentary state less than 1 percent will eventually be accepted to one of the top three universities.

Of course, leading universities in other countries are extremely selective and seek to find the greatest minds with the most potential. Where the Suneung is different perhaps is the nature in which it can dictate where students end up socially and the fact that it all takes place on one day – and what this means for private education in the form of hagwons and real estate. Reach for the SKY also follows star teacher Kim Ki-hoon, who expresses concerns that the English exam was getting too easy and that the only option was to get a perfect score. He felt that there were attempts to limit private education.

Judy K. Suh’s short documentary ExamiNation (2011) also stresses the connection to the wider economy with streets full of these hagwons. The short centers on a student called Bitna taking the exam who points out, “I don’t think school education is enough to prepare students for Suneung. Going to hagwons is like going to school.” Interestingly, though, while the exam is evidently very tough, Bitna appears to take it in stride, describing it at the beginning of the film more as a “rite of passage.”

Ugly Duckling Ms. Maeng (2026)

Released ahead of the exam this month was the satire Ugly Duckling Ms. Maeng (2026) directed by LEE Yong-jae. It premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in October.

This film sheds light on the exam from the point of view of the exam writers. It follows high school teacher Maeng Bo-ram (played by LEE Sun-bin), who arrives at a complex in the middle of nowhere sealed from the rest of the country. She and a team of teachers, professors and writers are tasked with putting together the questions for the Korean language section of the Suneung. The committee is part of a wider group who have been brought in to discuss and ultimately create the next college entrance exam.

Ugly Duckling Ms. Maeng (2026)

The problem with this particular teacher is that she is not meant to be there. She was called in by mistake, but regardless, she takes on the role with much enthusiasm and tenacity. All those involved in writing the questions are locked away for 40 days. There are no phones, no internet access and no alcohol, and they have to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

An issue later arises with one of the questions as there are concerns that some students had access to a similar question, sparking a debate among the exam writers over whether they should return to the drawing board. The committee chairman (played by YOO Jae-myung), who has his own agenda, objects, leading to a confrontation between the two leading characters. The conflict relates to a wider social problem with the Suneung and whether children from more privileged backgrounds are able to attend schools and academies that put them in a better position to take the exam. Often these are in more affluent areas like Seoul’s famous Gangnam district. It speaks of the prominent theme of social disparity in Korean films and dramas that feels both local and universal as it reflects a problem also seen elsewhere and yet how it evolves in South Korea feels unique as a country that has gone from being one of the world’s poorest in the 1950s to one of the richest in the region within a span of a few decades. Education, indeed, has played a central role in its phenomenal growth but the sheer competitive nature of the Suneung also underlines that tangible connection to social class.

Written by Jason Bechervaise
Edited by KOFIC