By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter

The scores of the state-run College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), while important, are not the only criteria universities use when selecting students.

Colleges use their own means to select a number of students in advance of the CSAT, while they also use CSAT scores for the rest of their quota, together with recommendations, school records and essays.

A few universities require students who are accepted during early admissions to have a certain CSAT score before their admissions become final. In this case, the state-administered test scores are used as just a pass or fail test.

Therefore, the CSAT is critical for those who apply to colleges through regular admissions but less important for those who have already "almost" secured their slots. According to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, four-year colleges across the nation will admit a total of 379,153 students this year.

While 219,795 enrollments were open during the early admission period, 159,358 students will be admitted during the regular period. If those who earn early admission notices fail to gain the required score on the CSAT, colleges are allowed to replace them with successful applicants who are recruited through the regular session. The CSAT used to be the most critical factor in determining which university students could enter. Many have pointed out that the high pressure of preparing for the test caused costs on private education to soar and, also, the high suicide rates of Korean teenagers.

In addition, many critics have called for universities to recruit students based on their creativity and potentials rather than CSAT test scores.

Some 670,000 college hopefuls applied for this year's test. It continued for over nine hours from 8:40 a.m. through 6:05 p.m. on Thursday in seven sections: Korean language, math, English, social studies, sciences, vocational education, and either a second foreign language or Chinese characters and ancient Chinese literature.

CSAT is the latest version of a series of nationwide general exams for those who aspire to enter colleges and universities.

Once, it was left to the discretion of the institutes of higher learning on how to test and select batches of freshmen.

At that time, entering a good college was described as "picking a star from the sky" because of the difficulty students faced entering one and the financial burden his or her family had to endure. Then, the doors were opened wider, thanks to a higher standard of living amid the "fever" for going to college.

kswho@koreatimes.co.kr