South Korea's Suneung Exam: Extended Duration for Visually Impaired Students
The annual South Korean College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), known as Suneung, is a nationwide college entrance examination. In November, the test involves over 550,000 applicants. While most students complete the exam within an eight-hour period, visually impaired students with severe impairments are granted 1.7 times the standard testing duration. This adjustment can extend their exam day to nearly 13 hours, with completion times approaching 21:48. These students take the test without a designated dinner break.
The physical volume of braille test papers contributes to the extended duration. Each braille booklet is six to nine times thicker than its standard print equivalent due to the conversion of sentences, symbols, and diagrams.
Student Experiences and Specific Challenges
Students such as Han Dong-hyun and Oh Jeong-won, both 18 years old and attending Seoul Hanbit School for the Blind, are among those taking the extended version of the Suneung. Last year, 111 blind test-takers participated nationwide, including 12 with severe visual impairments.
Key challenges for visually impaired students include:
- Physical Stamina: The extended duration, absence of a dinner break, and the continuous tactile reading of braille contribute to fatigue.
- Complex Material Interpretation:
- The Korean language section's braille version can be approximately 100 pages, compared to 16 pages for the standard version. Screen-reading software requires retaining auditory information in memory as it is not persistently visible.
- The mathematics section requires interpreting complex graphs and tables via touch. Since 2016, students have been permitted to use braille notetakers, such as Hansone, for calculations.
- Access to Study Materials: This is identified as a significant barrier.
- Limited Braille Textbooks: Popular textbooks and online lectures frequently used by sighted students are often unavailable in braille.
- Conversion Difficulties: Converting materials into audio formats often requires text files that are hard to acquire, sometimes necessitating manual typing of entire workbooks.
- Visual-Dependent Lectures: Many online lectures rely on visual notes, diagrams, and graphics that cannot be followed through audio alone.
Delays in Essential Preparation Materials
A major issue concerns the delayed provision of braille versions of the state-produced EBS preparation books, which are core materials closely linked to the national exam. Visually impaired students frequently receive these materials months after their sighted peers. While sighted students access EBS books between January and March, braille files may only become available around August or September, just months before the exam.
The National Institute of Special Education has stated that the production of braille materials takes a minimum of three months per book, adhering to relevant guidelines. The institute indicated ongoing efforts to provide materials in separate volumes to support blind students' study. The Korean Blind Union has raised concerns about these delays and intends to file a constitutional petition advocating for increased accessibility to braille versions of all textbooks.