Last 5 Minutes of Intense Korean Exam Cut Short by Power Outage... Students Rush to Move Classrooms

Power Outage in 2 Classrooms at Jeju Namnyeong High School
Suspected Cause: Fire at Nearby Utility Pole

During the 2024 College Scholastic Ability Test held at Jeju Namnyeong High School, a sudden power outage occurred, forcing examinees to move to different classrooms to continue the exam, creating a chaotic situation.

According to the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Office of Education on the 16th, around 10 a.m., with 5 minutes remaining in the first period of the CSAT at Namnyeong High School, a power outage occurred in two classrooms.

On the 16th, when the 2024 College Scholastic Ability Test was held, a test taker was doing last-minute studying before the exam started at Yongsan High School in Seoul. Photo by Joint Press Corps

Since there were 24 students taking the exam in each classroom, up to 48 students experienced confusion during the test. In response, the Jeju Office of Education moved the examinees to pre-prepared classrooms to allow them to finish the first period exam within 5 minutes.

Afterward, due to the delay in the exam time in the two classrooms, it was confirmed that the second period exam in all classrooms started 7 minutes later than scheduled, at 10:37 a.m.

According to the Jeju Office of Education, from the third period onward, exams have been conducted normally starting at the scheduled time of 1:10 p.m. The power outage is presumed to have been caused by a spark from a switchgear on a utility pole near Namnyeong High School.

The power outage on that day was reported to have occurred due to a fire at a utility pole near the school, which cut off the electricity supply.

A representative from the Jeju Office of Education stated, "We promptly followed the manual to ensure that examinees could continue the exam without major inconvenience."

Meanwhile, the CSAT is currently being held at 16 test sites in Jeju. The total number of examinees in the Jeju area is 6,855 (5,070 current students, 1,594 graduates, and 191 including those who passed the qualification exam).