The Education, Science and Technology Ministry has begun to distribute test papers and answer sheets ahead of the annual state-administered College Scholastic Ability Test this Thursday.

The ministry on Monday sent the forms to 84 zones across the nation. Some 693-thousand applicants will take the college entrance exam on Thursday at roughly 12-hundred sites nationwide. The number of applicants has fallen by about 18-thousand from a year ago.

The ministry said the distribution of exam and answer sheets by delivery trucks with police escorts will be completed by Wednesday.