Suneung math exams translated to English — “SunEng.”
This is a personal passion project. I cannot guarantee that all exams will be translated.
Su-neung(수능, abbreviation of 대학수학능력시험) is the college entrance exam of South Korea. It is officially called the College Scholastic Ability Test in English.
It is quite an infamous exam, known for its difficulty as well as its effect on the lives of students. (BBC article)
Every year, Suneung is held once in November. It is taken in one day for 8-9 hours, comprising the following subjects.
- Language Arts (80 min.)
- Mathematics (100 min.)
- English (70 min.)
- Korean History (30 min.)
- Social Studies / Science (2 elective subjects, 30 min. each)
- Foreign Language / Classical Chinese (optional, 40 min.)
The institute in charge, KICE, introduces the exam as a 'reliable data for college admissions,' as well as a benchmark that 'impacts teaching and learning practices in high schools.'
All past Suneung exams can be found in the KICE database. Solutions to exams since 2006 can be found in EBSi, a government-owned service(requires sign-up). Note that EBSi is not KICE, so their solutions may not be the ones intended by KICE.
- Time: 100 minutes
- Total score: 100 points
- Number of questions: 30
- Multiple choice questions: 21
- Short answer questions: 9
Each multiple choice question has 5 choices. The answer to each short answer question is an integer from 1 to 999.
- No penalty for guessing wrong.
- No calculators.
- Pages 1 ~ 8: Questions 1 ~ 22
- Pages 9 ~ 12: Questions 23 ~ 30 (Probability and Statistics)
- Pages 13 ~ 16: Questions 23 ~ 30 (Calculus)
- Pages 17 ~ 20: Questions 23 ~ 30 (Geometry)
Students must select one of the three elective subjects (Probability and Statistics / Calculus / Geometry) and solve the according questions.
Suneung math is quite an assortment of carefully crafted problems. It would generally be a helpful resource if you study or teach math. Try it if you're a math nerd!
Well, the Language Arts exams are simply impossible to translate — how would I translate poems while maintaining rhymes? — and the English exams are already in English.
Science exams require a lot of work to translate, since they contain loads of diagrams with Korean text. I do want to translate a few of them, for example the hardest ever exam from each subject.