Vocabulary Enrichment 3

(1) In Seoul’s affluent Gangnam district, it is not unusual to see parents lining up on a Saturday morning with children barely out of preschool.

• poor

• famous

• wealthy

• popular

(2) Dubbed the “4-year-old exam” and “7-year-old exam” in local parlance, these tests have become the latest escalation in Korea’s education frenzy.

• mode of understanding

• way of using words

• mode of explaining ideas

• way of describing concepts

(3) The “medical school craze” is a prime example, with medicine seen as the pinnacle of social and financial success.

• highest point

• start of a decline

• beginning of a journey

• most difficult challenge

(4) Hagwons have become more widespread, rapidly moving from niche to mainstream, especially in Seoul.

• finite

• limited

• normal

• general

(5) Years before reaching South Korea’s notorious university admission process, children face cumulative mini-exams and level tests.

• infamous

• unwanted

• prominent

• well-known

(6) Each change, often announced with little warning, jolts families into recalculating the “optimal” strategy.

• calms

• moves

• startles

• reassures

(7) South Korea’s unrelenting emphasis on early academic feats also affects higher education.

• varying

• habitual

• constant

• wavering

(8) Many undergraduates, having been groomed for tests since preschool, arrive at university academically strong but creatively stifled, hesitant to explore beyond rigid study routines.

• free

• repressed

• unrestrained

• underrepresented

(9) Yet even the best-intentioned reforms will struggle to gain traction if families continue to view private education as the only hedge against an uncertain future.

• fence

• shelter

• safeguard

• enclosure

(10) For cultural change to happen, policymakers must reckon with broader structural pressures, particularly stagnant economic growth, rising youth unemployment and narrowing pathways to social mobility.

• ignore

• confront

• disregard

• approximate