Police punch it to get test-takers to CSAT on time

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Police punch it to get test-takers to CSAT on time

Published: 14 Nov. 2024, 13:51 Updated: 14 Nov. 2024, 19:12

An examinee arrives via police vehicle at Yeouido Girls' High School in western Seoul to take the 2025 College Scholastic Ability Test on Thursday. [YONHAP]

Students overcame various hurdles to get to their exam sites on the morning of the country’s most important test for university hopefuls.

On Thursday morning, one examinee faced trouble due to a shortage of taxi fuel on Jeju Island. Planning to take a taxi to take the 2025 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), the student’s driver found himself short on gas and requested help from the police.

The test-taker managed to safely arrive at Seogwipo Girls' High School, about 47 kilometers (29.2 miles) from Nohyeong District in Jeju in a patrol car.

According to the South Gyeongsang Provincial Police Agency, at around 7:38 a.m., a taxi driver carrying an examinee mistakenly dropped the student at Chirwon High School instead of their intended destination, Haman High School, 32 minutes before the deadline for entry into the CSAT test center.

After realizing that they were at the wrong location, with Haman High School and Chirwon High School approximately 21 kilometers apart — a distance that takes about 20 minutes by car — the test-taker called 112 for help.

“Since there is some distance from Chirwon High School to Haman High School, we quickly transported the student,” said a police representative. “After speaking with the student in the patrol car, we discovered there are three high schools in Haman. It seems the driver misheard and dropped the student at Chirwon High School instead.”

The student narrowly made it to the test site with less than 10 minutes to spare, just arriving past 8 a.m.

This year’s CSAT started simultaneously at 8:40 a.m. across 1,282 test centers nationwide. The number of applicants for this year’s CSAT increased by 18,082 from last year, totaling 522,670 students.

BY LEE HAY-JUNE, KIM MIN-YOUNG [[email protected]]