Anchor: The annual state-administered College Scholastic Aptitude Test took place on Thursday. As nearly half a million test takers sat for the exam at one-thousand-185 locations, the whole nation did all it could to create the most conducive test environment. 
Kim Bum-soo reports.  

Report: Nearly 500-thousand people wishing to go to college next year sat for the annual College Scholastic Aptitude Test, or CSAT, on Thursday.

High school juniors gathered in front of test sites to rally behind test takers as they entered.

[Sound bite: Cheering event by high school juniors (Nov. 14 in front of Ewha Girls' Foreign Language High School, Seoul)] 

[Sound bite: Cheering event by high school juniors (Nov. 14 in front of Seocho High School, Seoul)]

But as the CSAT began, the entire nation tried to keep quiet for exam takers. 

Drivers were advised not to honk their horns and live-fire military exercises were rescheduled to ensure the most conducive test environment.

Flight takeoffs and landings were banned during the 35-minute English listening tests in the afternoon, as well.

Government offices and corporations pushed back morning start times by an hour to ease traffic. Stock exchanges also delayed their trading by one hour. 

Meanwhile, many parents went to churches and temples to pray for their children as they take the crucial test, which will largely determine the future of its takers in South Korea's highly competitive educational environment.

CSAT scores will be released on December fourth, along with finalized data about the number of test takers. Preliminary statistics suggest that the number of people who sat for the test this year may have been below 500-thousand.

If so, it would be the first time the figure fell below the half-million mark since 1993 when the CSAT was introduced nationwide.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.

*Correction: Nov. 15, 2019
An earlier version of this report misidentified the number of test takers as nearly 550-thousand, as 548-thousand-764 registered for the exam beforehand. The actual number of test takers, based on preliminary government data, was close to 500-thousand.