Every year, South Korea comes to a standstill for an exam marathon

South Korea has some of the most highly educated people in the world, according to data.

Silence. No hammering from construction sites. No planes taking off. Even the banks stay shut on the most important day of the year for South Korea’s students.

But crowds cheered and beat drums at the gates of some 1,190 test sites where more than half a million students were about to sit the national university entrance exams.

The ‘Suneung’ or College Scholastic Ability Tests (CSAT) take place on…