A Total of 500 Candidates Passed This Year's Specialist Primary Exam... 18% of Last Year's Level

Amid ongoing legislative conflicts lasting for a year, a total of 500 candidates passed the first stage of the specialist qualification exam this year. This is less than one-fifth of last year's number.

Yonhap News

According to the medical community on the 17th, out of 534 candidates who took the '68th Specialist First Exam' held on the 14th, 500 candidates (pass rate of 93.6%) passed.

The number of candidates for this first exam is about 19% of the 2,782 candidates who took last year's specialist qualification exam, as compiled by the Korean Academy of Medical Sciences. The number of candidates sharply decreased as residents opposed the increase in medical school admissions and dropped out of training midway.

One year ago, 2,718 candidates (pass rate of 97.7%) passed the first specialist exam. This year's first-stage passers amount to 18% of last year's number.

Looking at the 500 candidates who passed this first exam across a total of 25 medical specialties, 15 specialties including Surgery (18), Pediatrics and Adolescents (24), Obstetrics and Gynecology (13), and Neurosurgery (14) showed a 100% pass rate relative to the number of candidates. In the Internal Medicine exam, considered one of the essential medical fields, 12 out of 95 candidates failed. In Family Medicine, 9 out of 91 candidates were also eliminated.

The 500 candidates who passed this time, along with 22 candidates who passed the first exam last year but were ultimately disqualified, are eligible to take the second exam held from the 18th to the 21st of this month. Unlike the first exam, which is directly set and administered by the Korean Academy of Medical Sciences, the second exam is conducted by each specialized medical society.