Test questions given in North Korean schools are all subjective and defectors living in the South encounter for the first time in their lives the objective test of selecting a correct answer in a multi-choice questionnaire when they take driving license tests. Needless to say, they are more unfamiliar with putting black dots on computer-processed sheets.

Questions given in primary, middle and high schools call for writing answers on a sheet of notebook paper. Suppose "Regarding the arduous march President Kim Il Sung undertook in his armed struggles against Japan" is presented as a test question. An exemplary reply must give the year and other particulars of the event correctly. On revolutionary history, literature and geography needing lengthy descriptions in reply, the teacher writes questions and answers on the blackboard in advance. Hence tested is the power of memory rather than creative thinking. Questions on mathematics and English, students' proficiency of which is better discerned than other subjects, often have only one right answer.

North Korean emigres taking objective tests for the first time here in the South, are first confused by ambiguous questions like "What is it that cannot be regarded as irrelevant to such and such?" But they soon find the merit of selecting the correct answer even without a thorough understanding of the question. Since one can hardly expect to give a correct answer purely out of luck in the North, they sometimes experience a sense of satisfaction in the South, arising from choosing the right answer by chance.

The biggest advantages of subjective tests in North Korea are the easiness with which teachers prepare test questions, and the fact that authorities don't have to prepare answer papers. Senior middle school students are required to bring to school blank answer papers, the size of which is pre-determined. Teachers write questions on the blackboard, the answers to which are written on papers the students themselves supply. Because the preliminary college entrance or scholastic aptitude test and final college entrance tests are also made up of subjective questions, questions are liable to be divulged and controversies develop from time to time as to the fairness in grading examination papers.

Examinations are troublesome to North Korean students, too. The stress of college entrance exam is no less severe than that in the South. Whether one chooses military service or academic courses is determined during senior middle school fourth grade, equivalent to senior high school first grade in the South. Teachers award generous assessments to those students who opt for military service, but Spartan courses are given to those students who aspire to enter colleges. Senior middle schools are often graded by the number of successful applicants they turn out who enter prestigious institutions of higher learning in the capital, such as Kim Chaek University of Technology, Kim Il Sung University, the University of Science and Kim Hyong Jik University of Education. Hence the students, teachers and parents involved make desperate efforts to get into prestigious universities. Some schools run classes accommodating college aspirants exclusively, some of whom, share boarding facilities, and some teachers provide individual tutoring. Prospective senior middle school graduates preparing for college entrance are exempted from rural area assignments and other miscellaneous extra-curricula work. Preliminary college entrance examinations are given in six subjects with English and mathematics included.

College courses are also arduous with students undergoing written and oral tests every term, the latter of which is most troublesome. Selecting at random one out of 50-60 question cards prepared in advance, they discuss the chosen subject in front of a panel of professors. Unless one is thoroughly prepared, he or she is apt to remain silent during most of oral tests.

Small groups of students, both male and female, are often observed under streetlights in Pyongyang and provincial cities engaged in examination preparations. They gather in circles around the Kim Il Sung Statue and the Revolutionary Ideology Research Institute in Pyongyang. It's quite a fun to study under streetlights, partially because they can date with the opposite sex, according to those who experienced this in their college days in the North. When professors announce before the class the results of tests given occasionally, however, some students are ashamed.

Instances of cheating often take place during examinations. Cheating is relatively easy because questions and answers are given in advance in many cases. Some conceal memos of answers in their sleeves, while others look at textbooks spread over chairs. Some resort to bolder tricks. "I once sneaked into the study room of the department head at night, and marked the oral test card I had thoroughly prepared for. I managed to get a favorable marking by discussing the subject given in that particular card prior to other fellow students," reminisced Jong Min-chol (alias), who attended a provincial engineering college. The trick he learned from his seniors, he said. But those discovered cheating are subject to heavy disciplinary actions, as well as having the text results involved invalidated.

(Kim Mi-young, miyoung@chosun.com )