Prayers and peace as Sewol ferry survivors sit South Korea’s key college exam

Survivors from one of South Korea’s worst maritime disasters were among hundreds of thousands of high school students across the country who sat the high-pressure annual college entrance exam on Thursday.

Preparation for the crucial exam starts from primary school, and the relentless pressure to score well has been blamed for everything from early burnout to teenage depression and suicide.

In an ultra-competitive society, the test plays a large part in defining the students' adult lives, holding the key to a place at a top university and the elevated social status, as well as job and even marriage prospects that go with it.

More than 630,000 students turned out for the exam on Thursday and, as happens every year, the entire country went into hush-mode for the duration.

The extraordinary measures taken to ensure nothing affects the student’s concentration include a 35-minute suspension of all aircraft takeoffs and landings at South Korean airports to coincide with the main language listening test.

The Transport Ministry said 69 scheduled flights had to be readjusted because of the suspension with four domestic flights cancelled for the day.

All arriving flights that are in the air must maintain an altitude exceeding 3km until given permission to land.

The exam is a stressful rite of passage for any student - but for none more so this year than several dozen students from Danwon High School in Ansan, south of Seoul.