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May 30, 2006
College Tests!!!
The Fountain column for tomorrow references a saying that HS seniors use when preparing for college entrance exams: 사강오�, Sadang Orak. Literally it means "Four pass, five fail," that is, if you sleep for five hours or more a night you will fail your entrance exams. I talked to Mina about it and learned a few weird and interesting things about the superstitions of Korean high school seniors. Apparantly students follow this rule compulsively, even if they don't spend the extra time studying.
Also, you're not supposed to pick up an eraser after it falls on the floor. If you do you'll fail. And don't eat seaweed soup (miyeokguk) because it's slippery and you'll slide into failure. And when you're going in to school, walk through the bigger gate for cars, not the smaller gate for pedestrains, because the smaller gate means lower scores.
These apply to hagwon tests, mock exams, standardized tests, entrance exams school tests and all the other tests a Korean high schooler has to take.
Crazy. And to think my home state has its undies in a bunch over one lousy high school graduation test.
Posted by b-applegate at May 30, 2006 5:18 AM
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Comments
Well, you followed the four/five rule for the past eight years, and it worked. Probably because you were fueled by chocolate milk and graham crackers - which are two perfect foods!
Posted by: Cheri at May 31, 2006 1:47 PM