The annual College Scholastic Ability Test(CSAT) is taking place at some 13-hundred test sites across the nation on Thursday. 

The state-administered college entrance exam, known in Korean as the Suneung, begins with a Korean language test at 8:40 a.m., followed by tests on math, English, Korean history and science. 

The fifth and final exams of the day are set to end at 5:45 p.m.

More than 522-thousand people applied to take the CSAT this year, up 18-thousand from last year.  

High school seniors account for 65 percent of all applicants, while the number of high school graduates writing the CSAT is 161-thousand-784, the highest figure since 2004.

The higher medical school admissions quota for next year seems to have attracted a record number of graduates hoping to get into medical school. 

This year’s exam is expected to exclude so-called killer questions, in keeping with an earlier pledge from the education ministry.

The test results will be released December 6.