Point me at the SKY 이코노미스트가 본 수능날 진풍경

Point me at the SKY

That harks back to gwago, a civil-service exam that flourished in the Chosun era, when the names of successful candidates were posted on government buildings.
(조선시대 과거시험 연상. 합격자들 명부 정부 건물에 부치고)

Suneung takers are therefore encouraged to “stick it”, (though the English wordfighting!, a Korean rallying cry, is now equally popular). The specific term used to pass the exam—keubchae—is from Chosun times too
(수능 응시자들은 파이팅하며 끝까지 버티도록 독려. 급제라는 용어도 나옴)

many deem the test the chief battle in ibshichonchaeng: entrance-exam war
(입시전쟁이라고 생각)

Every year, just 2% get into Korea’s prestigious SKY universities, whose nickname is an acronym for Seoul National University, Korea University and Yonsei University
(2%만 SKY대 진학)

They begin to take mock suneung at the age of 16 and by their final school year many sit them monthly.
(고1부터 매달 모의 수능실시하여 3년내내)

Mothers are the sole guardians of their children’s education (one rare father, caught praying for his son’s success at Jogyesa temple in central Seoul was proud to give his wife credit for “99% of the effort” involved in preparing their child). Many wait outside the school gates until the moment the exams begin, at which time they leave to pray.
아이들 교육은 전적으로 99% 엄마몫. 조계사, 시험장 학교문앞에서 엄마들이 하루종일 기도)

Won-sang’s mother planned to visit church, to spend the day in suneung prayer (the congregation’s prayers follow the exams and breaks of the students, to offer them mental support at the right time). She attended special prayers every day for 100 days in the lead-up to suneung.
(교회에서는 수능 100일 기도)

She had “simply prepared good meals”, splashing out a few times, she says, on pricey Koreanhanwoo beef
(잘 버티라고 비싼 한우고기 준비하는 엄마)

Despite its excesses, the system is appealingly meritocratic. A majority of Korean youngsters pin their hopes on the exam
(결국 일부만 일류대학 들어가는 엘리트식 선발)

EBS, began broadcasting extra tuitions specifically for suneung takers; Mr Lee stipulated that 70% of the test’s content be based on the EBS course (which is now available online too)
(이명박때 수능 문제가 70% EBS교재에서 나오도록 규정)

There are others that grant a lucky few an unconditional offer on the basis of their high-school record alone (the method is known as su-shi)
(고등학교 성적으로만 가는 수시)

The way the whole country mobilises itself for the future of its young can be arresting. Planes are rerouted or grounded for half an hour during the afternoon’s English-language listening test. Some taxi drivers escort suneung students to the test centres for free. Policemen are on hand to whisk laggards to school on time by motorbike. Stock markets, public offices and banks all opened an hour late, the army halted aviation exercises and police units marshalled traffic, as over 650,000 18-year-olds took the annual, state-administered suneung, or College Scholastic Aptitude Test (CSAT), aneight-hour-long exam that is their main ticket to study at one of South Korea’s top universities
(시험일 당일은 진풍경. 비행기 진로도 바꾸고, 택시 운전사들도 학생들을 무료로 데려다 주고, 러시아워가 일어나지 않도록 주식,은행,공무원들 한 시간 늦게 출근, 군훈련중지, 경찰 총동원)

A teacher of Korean literature from Paemoon high school in Seoul has travelled to test centres to support his students every year for the past 25 years. Younger siblings and pupils cheer them on, to the clamour of cymbals and drums. Students receive lucky gifts of forks (that they may “stab the right answer정답찍기”) and toilet paper, whose name in Korean is a homonym for solving questions (notice one young man has a roll on his desk in the picture)—but avoid seaweed and bananas, lest you slip up.
(매년 시험장앞에서 응원전, 엿등 선물 공세들, 바나나등은 미끄러지니 금물)

Hagwon, after-hours cram schools, persist in making it an unfair race to the top
(학원들의 기여에 대해)

...

지금 독과점이 지배하는 이 나라도 어려운데 이 기사를 보니 너무 맥이 빠지는군요. 왜 우린 한국에서 왜 이 지랄들을 하면 살아야 하는지.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2013/11/test-taking-south-korea?fsrc=scn/fb/te/bl/ed/testtakinginsouthkoreapointmeatthesky