韓國60萬學生參加高考，不比中國高考殘酷

Today, almost 600,000 South Korean students sit the College Scholastic Ability Test, a gruelling, eight-hour set of university entrance exams.

今天，將近60萬名韓國學生參加大學修業(yè)能力考試，這是一項長達8小時的大學入學考試。

It is difficult to overstate the significance of the CSAT. Similar to other global standardised exams, CSAT scores open doors to prestigious universities. In Korea, however, social pressure and peer judgement not to attend local colleges cause many students to jockey for a few spots in three top universities located in Seoul (known as the ‘SKY’ colleges). Only 1% of students will be admitted.

CSAT考試的重要性難以夸大。與其他全球標準化考試類似，CSAT是學生進入著名大學的途徑。然而，在韓國，受到社會壓力和同學的眼光，許多學生不愿意不就讀當?shù)卮髮W，目光瞄準了位于首爾的三所頂尖大學(被稱為“天空”學院)，去爭數(shù)量極少的就讀機會。只有1%的學生將被錄取。

For a single day, the exam becomes the priority of the entire nation.

這一天，考試成為整個國家優(yōu)先考慮的事情。

Work starts an hour later, enabling students to get to their testing centres on time; planes are grounded during the listening portion so as not to create any extra noise. Younger classmates flood the streets to support upperclassmen. Parents pray together that the many hours of study their children have put in will pay off.

上班時間推后了一小時，以便學生準時到達考場;在聽力測試期間，飛機停飛，以免產(chǎn)生任何額外的噪音。低年級的同學涌上街頭，支持高年級學生。父母們一起祈禱他們的孩子的努力得到回報。

Without top scores, entrance into the highly desired SKY universities is nearly impossible – which leads many students to sit for the CSAT exams multiple times. The test can become a life-consuming endeavour.

如果你沒獲得最高分，進入爭相追捧的“天空”大學幾乎是不可能的。許多學生已經(jīng)多次參加CSAT考試。該測試可以說是一項耗費生命的努力。