TWO DAYS LEFT UNTIL NATIONAL CSAT

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Just two days are left before the annual state-administered college entrance exam for the 2022 academic year. Exam papers were delivered to 86 test districts across the nation Monday. Health authorities are planning to allow students showing COVID-19 symptoms to take the exam. They also asked parents to avoid gathering in front of testing sites to cheer for test takers.

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Boxes of exam papers for the science studies section of the CSATs are loaded onto trucks early in the morning. Security stickers are attached to the boxes in order to prevent a leak or loss of the exam questions. Transportation of test papers for the annual college entrance exam began on Monday three days ahead of the test date. This year’s test is the second one to be held since the COVID-19 pandemic began early last year. Students who have tested positive for the virus or are in self-isolation will also be allowed to take the exam. COVID-19-positive students can take the test at 383 designated hospitals and treatment centers across the nation. For students under self-isolation, 112 separate test venues have been prepared in 86 districts nationwide. Community health centers will extend their operating hours of their COVID-19 testing clinics until 10 p.m. on Wednesday, a day before the college entrance exam. The Education Ministry stressed that students who receive positive COVID-19 results early in the morning of the exam date can still take the exam, asking them to take the PCR tests if they have suspicious symptoms.

[Soundbite] Yoo Eun-hae(Education Minister) : "I am asking test takers to follow anti-virus rules and stay in good health until the exam. I am also asking parents and families to avoid using public facilities."

The number of students infected with the coronavirus has been on the rise since the nation began a gradual return to normal life. A daily average of nearly 300 students tested positive for the virus last week. It is quite a surge, compared to the same period last year. In Ulsan, a fully vaccinated high school senior was found to have been affected by a breakthrough infection. Since a week prior to the college entrance exam, high schools across the nation switched to online classes. Some middle schools designated as test venues are also holding virtual classes. In order to help prevent the spread of the virus, the Education Ministry is also asking test takers’ parents and family members to avoid gathering in front of test venues to wish good luck to the students.