The appellate court upheld a ruling that the state must compensate test-takers over an incident during the 2024 College Scholastic Ability Test in which the test center bell signaling the end of the exam rang about one minute early.
The Seoul High Court's Civil Division 14-1 (High Court Judges Nam Yang-u, Hong Seong-uk, and Chae Dong-su) recently ordered the state to pay an additional 2 million won per person, compared with the first trial, in a damages suit filed by 42 test-takers who took the CSAT at Kyungdong High School in Seongbuk District, Seoul, in 2023.
In Mar. last year, the first-instance court awarded 1 million to 3 million won per test-taker, and the appellate ruling increased that to 3 million to 5 million won per person. In the first trial, 41 of the 43 test-takers were awarded 3 million won and two were awarded 1 million won, and on appeal, the awards were increased for the 42 test-takers who appealed.
The court said, "Given the importance of the College Scholastic Ability Test and the plaintiffs' ages at the time, the confusion the plaintiffs suffered due to this unlawful act appears to have been considerable," but added, "Based on the evidence submitted, it is difficult to recognize that specific additional damages occurred, such as having to repeat the test after failing to gain admission to the desired university because of this incident."
Earlier, during the first-period Korean section of the CSAT held on Nov. 16, 2023, at Kyungdong High School, an incident occurred in which the end-of-exam bell rang about one minute early. Kyungdong High School used a manual bell system, and the proctor in charge at the school misread the time. After the second period, the school redistributed the Korean test papers and provided an additional 1 minute 30 seconds to copy answers onto the answer sheet.