The annual College Scholastic Ability Test(CSAT) is under way at some 13-hundred test sites across the nation on Thursday amid a resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The state-administered college entrance exam, known as "suneung," begins with a Korean language test at 8:40 a.m., followed by sessions on math, English, Korean history and science. The fifth and final foreign language exam will end at 5:45 p.m.

About 508-thousand people applied for the test this year, some 17-hundred fewer than last year.

It is the third CSAT the country has held since the outbreak of the pandemic and the first for which applicants who have tested positive are allowed to leave their homes and hospitals to take the exam on-site, with two-thousand-317 such test takers as of 12 a.m. Wednesday.

Those infected with the virus will take the test at separate test sites as the government prepared 827 rooms at 110 locations and some 100 beds at 25 hospitals across the nation for patients.

Everyone taking the test is required to wear face masks. They will be notified of their results on December 9.