EARLY EDITION 18:00 Korea on hold as students take college entrance exams

Early Edition 18:00 Title: Headlines Coming up on Early Edition at Six. Hundreds of thousands of students across the nation take what will be the most important test of their lives: the college entrance exam. President Park Geun-hye′s trip overseas continues. She is in Myanmar now, where she discusses bilateral ties and economic cooperation with the prime minister of India. The European Space Agency celebrates the historic touchdown of a lander on a speeding comet,... opening the possibility of learning more about the origins of the solar system. Stay with us for these and more. It′s 6 in the evening on Thursday, November 13th here in Korea. Live from Seoul, I′m Laah Hyun-kyung. And I′m Daniel Choy. Thanks for joining us. Title: Korea on hold as students take college entrance exams It was a big, big day for high school seniors here in Korea. More than 6-hundred-40-thousand students took what will probably be the most important test of their lives on this Thursday. They sat down for a grueling 8-hour college entrance exam that will play a primary role in determining which college they′ll get into. Today they were tested over subjects like Korean literature, English language skills and mathematics. Perhaps it′s a culture unique to Korea. but because the exam is deemed so important... airplanes are grounded for a 35-minute period in the afternoon... while students do the listening portion of the test. Many companies advised their employees to get to work an hour later, by 9 a.m., so that students could get to the exam site on time at 8:40 a.m. The answers for the test are already out... but students will have to wait until December 3rd for their official scores. Title: Superstitions surround Korea′s college entrance exams If you are Korean, you′d probably already know a number of superstitions related with exams. Mothers used to stick taffy on the front gate of the school while waiting for their kids to get done with the exam. It was a symbolic gesture hoping that their kids would "stick to" their first college choice. And there′s more. Our Connie Lee explains some of the fun - and at times even ridiculous beliefs. So how far would you go to ace your college entrance exams? "I won′t be washing my hair." "To do well on the exam, I am eating taffy and chocolates..." Um. Not your typical study habits... but the exam is deemed so important that students… will do whatever it takes for that high score even taking part in some superstitions. One of the biggest ones,... is that students eat the right snacks. It′s either taffy or rice cakes. Why? Because they′re sticky. These come in neat gift sets this time of year... as they say eating these snacks will help the study material "stick" in the students′ minds... And, help them "stick to" their top college choice from their high scores. While these snacks are okay to eat... one superstition says that test-takers should avoid