Essay Test of SNU Depends on Creativity

Seoul National University (SNU, President: Jeong Woon-chan) exposed the marking standards and the results of the trial examination on April 22 ahead of the restored essay test for the 2005 SNU entrance examination.

SNU conducted a trial essay test in 1993, the previous year of first essay test, but it is the first time that they opened the results to public.

Opening Answers—

SNU conducted the trial test in which 93 students from 47 high schools took with the recommendation from 55 high schools in the Seoul and Gyeonggi area, and it was marked and analyzed by professors as if it were a real test.

The president of the Entrance Administration Office, Kim Wan-jin, said, “We decided to open the data so that students can prepare for the exam by themselves and not have to depend on private education such as private tutoring or an institution,” and explained, “If they form habits to write an essay and discuss it with other students according to the evaluation lists, they will be able to achieve good results.”

SNU displayed six example answers and their detailed evaluation and analysis on its internet homepage (www.snu.ac.kr) in the evening, and they are scheduled to soon have a presentation meeting about the essay test and the pick-up of an equally distributed region based on the result.

Increased Amount of Answer Sheet, Importance of the Creativity—

The number of words in paper of this trial test amounted to 2,500 letters (±300) from the existing 1,600 words, and it was conducted for three hours.

A specialized member of Entrance Administration Office, Kim Kyoung-beom said, “We increased the number of words and the testing time in order to check the deep thinking and the creativity of the students, not simply memorizing,” adding, “In the actual test in 2005, the number of words and the testing time will be expanded compared to previous exams.”

The sections of the evaluation are the following: analyzing (20 points), proving (30 points), creating (40 points), expressing (10 points) and cutting in marks for not fulfilling instructions. The average mark was 63 (out of 100) and the best mark was 86, the worst was 17.

The creating section was the most deviated, and SNU mentioned, “The level of examinees didn’t reach the expectation.”

SNU said that the majority of students repeated the same argument with similar sentences and made an instructive finish, and also there were many cases that they didn’t show their own thinking and just memorized answers for expected problems.

In proving, which evaluates the logic connection between the insistence and the ground, the flow was not consistent and the assertion frequently was provided without any grounds.

Also in expressing, colloquial expression, frequent use of obscure demonstrative pronouns, and spacing words were indicated as typical mistakes.

Meanwhile, original essays, which made attempts for multilateral approaches by adding literatures into necessary parts or had an original point of view to handle the issue, were given better marks.

The head of the marking committee and the vice president of the School of Humanities, Seo Kyoung-ho, advised, “Even if it is rather rough, essays which have their own thinking in a logic way get better marks.”

Seo said, “Frequent exercise of writing boosts one’s own thinking and expressing skill,” and added, “Referring to the evaluation of good essays, writing and discussing with friends will be more helpful than relying on private education.”

Ji-Won Jun podragon@donga.com