Every November, the nation grinds to a halt for its well-known college entrance exam.
Shops are shut, flights are delayed to minimize noise, and the usual pace of the daily travel decelerates for the students.
By late afternoon, the majority of examinees walk out of school gates, breathing a sigh of relief and embracing the family members standing by.
But not everyone finishes at that time. After darkness has fully settled and night has set in, some students are still in the exam room – finishing nearly 22:00.
They are the blind students, who often devote over half a day completing the longest version of the college entrance exam.
The Endurance Test
This week, over 550,000 students across the country will take the Suneung – an abbreviation for College Scholastic Ability Test in the local language. It is the largest figure of applicants in almost a decade.
This examination not only dictates if students will be able to enter college, but may influence their job prospects, income, where they will live and including future relationships.
Depending on their selected disciplines, students answer roughly 200 questions across language, mathematics, foreign language, science subjects, an additional foreign language, and Chinese characters.
Typically, this constitutes an full-day marathon of back-to-back exams. They begin the examination at 8:40 AM and finish approximately 17:40.
Blind students with significant sight challenges, though, are allocated almost double the regular exam time.
Consequently, when completing the optional language section, the exam can end as late as 9:48 PM – almost thirteen hours after it started.
Without any evening meal; the exam continues straight through.
The physical bulk of the braille test papers also contributes to the duration.
When every sentence, mark and diagram is converted into tactile writing, every exam document transforms into six to nine times more voluminous than the standard equivalent.
Student Perspectives
At Seoul Hanbit School for the Blind, 18-year-old a student is among the students who are preparing for the longest version of the exam this year.
Last year, there were over a hundred visually impaired examinees across the country – ninety-nine with low vision and twelve with complete visual challenges like Dong-hyun – based on information from educational authorities.
Dong-hyun was visually impaired from birth and is unable to perceive light.
During an interview at his school, his hands moved rapidly across a braille practice booklet of past exam questions.
With just a week left, he was focused on managing his endurance and condition. He will take the exam using tactile materials and a screen-reading computer.
"The fatigue is significant because the exam is so long," he mentioned. "However, no unique method exists. I simply adhere to my preparation plan and try to manage my well-being. That's the only way."
Dong-hyun said the Korean language section is particularly difficult for him.
Regular examination materials for that section is approximately 16 sheets – but the braille version is roughly 100 pages long.
Despite using screen-reading software, spoken information disappears as immediately after it is heard, unlike written content that can be seen and reviewed. He has to retain information in his recall as he progresses.
Math component is equally demanding.
He must interpret complex graphs and data sets that have been converted into braille, solely through his touch.
Nevertheless, he observed that conditions have improved than they were previously. In the past, students had to do almost all computations in their memory. However, recently, blind test-takers have been allowed to use a tactile device, called Hansone.
"Just like sighted students document their work in writing, we enter them in braille on the Hansone to track progress," he explained.
Endurance Challenges
Another student at the institution, teenage Oh Jeong-won, who will likewise complete the exam this year, mentioned the late afternoon are "the hardest point" of the day.
"Before the midday break, it's tolerable," he stated. "But around 4 or 5pm, after English and before Korean History, that's when it gets really tough.
"There's no dinner break," he explained. "We're solving problems during the time we would typically dine, so fatigue increases. Still, I keep going because I know there will be a feeling of achievement at the conclusion."
For Jeong-won, the exhaustion is compounded by the need to stay intensely focused with tactile input and his hearing.
"When I'm reading the tactile information with my fingers and also taking in information through sound, it seems significantly more exhausting than it does for those with vision," he described.
Accessibility Barriers
But the students explain that the test duration and the extended preparation are not the hardest part. The main difficulty is availability of learning resources.
Popular textbooks and digital classes that sighted students rely on are often out of reach.
Limited numbers of braille versions, and transforming resources into audio needs having text files – which are difficult to obtain. Frequently, someone has to manually type entire workbooks to make them usable.
Digital instruction present additional challenges, as numerous educators explain concepts using visual notes, diagrams and graphics on display, which are inaccessible through sound only.
A major obstacle, though, is the postponement in obtaining tactile editions of the government-issued study materials – a essential collection of materials closely linked to the national exam.
Because of this delay, visually impaired examinees frequently obtain the resources months later than their peers.
"Sighted students get their EBS books early in the year and use them for the entire period," said Jeong-won. "We receive the tactile materials only around August or September, when the test is approaching quickly."
Dong-hyun expressed the same concern.
"The braille materials weren't ready until under three months before the exam," he mentioned. "I consistently hoped the publication process would accelerate."
The responsible organization, which produces the braille version of preparation resources, explained that the process takes at least three months for each book because it must follow relevant guidelines.
The organization added that it is "making various efforts to guarantee that visually impaired examinees can learn without disruption, such as creating and providing the materials in separate volumes."
An advocacy group said it has long raised these concerns with {author