How to Prepare for College Entrance Essay Tests for 2010 Occasional Admission
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Major universities of Korea finished receiving applications for 2010 occasional
admission. Since the number limit of students for admission increased by about
20 thousand, compared to that of the last year, students’ interest appeared to be
higher than ever.
The process of the occasional admission of college consists of GPA review, interview,
essay test, and so on, so candidates for the occasional admission should consider
selection criteria of the college they want to enter, such as criteria for GPA, essay
tests, in-depth interview and personality and academic aptitude tests before start
to prepare for a particular college admission.
In the case of the regular admission of colleges, even though GPA occupies a large part
in the admission, students’ success or failure to enter colleges depends on how they
do well in “essay tests”. Even high school records that are not good can be
compensated by results of essay tests.
Take a look at what the representative of Yu Hwang Wu Korean Language Classroom is
saying about how to prepare for essay tests after applying for occasional admission.
◆Check the ‘Difficulty of Essay Subjects’ and ‘Characteristics of the Subjects’
of the College You Apply for.
Assessment of a written essay is based on student’s ability to read critically given
statements, to think multidisciplinarily, to make creative solutions, to write
in a demonstrative style and the like. Since questions of essay tests are made
from these assessment factors, there have been few differences between subjects and
statements of colleges’ essay tests, but it will be very helpful for students
to understand previously the trend of test subjects of the universities they want
to enter in preparing for essay tests.
The major universities such as Seoul National University, Yonsei University,
Korea University and Sogang University have shown the trend of focusing on students’
in-depth and multi-dimensional originality. So, the essay tests the universities
gave tackled common subjects, but the given statements of the tests showed a higher
level of difficulty. Even though it was not easy to write creatively with a common
subject, students needed to think from a different point of view with their originality.
The universities that give essay tests including statements in English such as
Dongguk University and Hanguk University of Foreign Studies have presented essay tests
where the degree of difficulty of given statements was not high.
◆There is No Exception for Students of Liberal Arts Track in ‘Mathematical Essay Tests
Most of the universities are expected to give essay tests of a multidisciplinary type
like they did last year. It became hard to take no notice of mathematical essay writing
even when essay tests of the humanities are prepared. Mathematical essay writing,
although not being a large part in the essay tests for high school students of liberal
arts track, has effects on student's success in the entrance exam to college. Bear
in mind that the key point of essay assessment is how well a student reasons
mathematically about a social phenomenon and describes it logically, not how much
mathematical knowledge a student has.
The students should also be aware of the fact that the test questions consist of several
types like summary/comparison type, description/data interpretation type, and
critical/logical/alternative-suggesting type. To prepare for such types of questions,
it is necessary to practice interpreting data of tables and graphics on a variety
of social phenomena and accounting for results of the interpretation in their own way,
for students can score many points in these types of questions requiring them to present
creative writings by applying data.
◆A Key Point to Succeed in Scientific Essay Tests is Students’ Ability to
‘Give a Description’, not to Understand Mathematical Principals.
The purpose of essay tests is to test how much a student can write logically. That is,
expressing one's ideas or thoughts in a written language is the basis of essay tests.
That is true also of scientific essay tests. There have been increasing questions
in essay tests that require students to make a description logically.
Since various types of questions have been presented, like application by understanding
concepts, solution making, description of things in common and in difference,
description of concepts and processes, opinions of validity of research processes,
searching for errors in scientific reasoning, and prediction of test results,
students need to develop the ability to describe by practicing writing in a
differentiated way, not just by memorizing basic concepts or citing mathematical
processes.
◆See the Intention of Questions and Practice Like ‘Real Chance’.
A success or failure in an essay test depends on how well a student understands the
intention of a question. If the subject of a statement or the statement itself is
misunderstood and so a student gets sidetracked in writing, it may result in a cut
in marks. Students at first should check a question for its intention from which
the statement is folded and then start to write.
I recommend practicing, in a real situation, writing essays of the similar type
to the previous essay tests given by colleges. Also, it is helpful to refer
to postscripts universities reported after grading essay papers, which will help
students catch the scoring criteria of the universities they want. For students
themselves to make out questions of an essay test by setting intention, subject,
given statements and sample answers and then to write out the answers is also a method
of practicing.
“Unlike the regular admission of college where SAT occupies a large part, essay tests
are receiving an increasing attention in the occasional admission,” the representative
of Yu Hwang Wu Korean Language Classroom said, “and students have to check previous
essay tests carried out by colleges and select weighty ones, focusing on strategic
learning, and specifically, it is very important to practice writing steadily with
former essay test questions and expected questions of colleges they want to enter.”
An Interview with: The representative of Yu Hwang Wu Korean Language Classroom
Major universities of Korea finished receiving applications for 2010 occasional 
