Samsung digs deeper trench for job applicants with harsher exam

The latest Samsung Aptitude Test (SSAT) held Sunday across the nation was distinguished with a higher level of difficulty than the past exams.

By Ko Dong-hwan

The recent Samsung Aptitude Test (SSAT) held Sunday raised sighs from applicants it has cranked up a difficulty level to another fresh notch, Maeil Business Newspaper said Tuesday.

A change that stood out the most in the latest exam was more diversity in questions.

To the original four categories ― linguistic, deduction, math and general knowledge ― it added a new “space perception skill” category.

It also removed four Chinese character idiom problems, which could be mastered in a relatively short term, and instead expanded problems in sociology and national, and world history.

The report said applicants had hard times with increased numbers of problems in the history section.

They were especially flustered by the new space perception skill category, which challenged them to come up with right geometrical shapes using folded, perforated papers.

A Samsung official said the exam has been overhauled so that those with richer reading and field experiences and higher analytical and logical perceptions could score higher points.

He added the latest exam carries the company’s intention to alter its focus on applicants from certificates and specifications to executive abilities.

Some 200,000 applicants flock to 85 test locations across the nation to take the SSAT every year. Though the hiked difficulty level in the latest exam was apparently due to Samsung’s policy to cool down the ever-heated numbers of applicants, the toll wasn’t a complete success as the Sunday exam attracted still concentrated 100,000 applicants.