Exam Skills Won’t Help You Survive Squid Game1凭借考试技巧无法打赢“鱿鱼游戏”

Last year’s Suneung2 had questions about Hegel’s dialectics3 and Bretton Woods. But do they really matter？ 去年韩国高考考了有关黑格尔辩证法和布雷顿森林体系的问题，但这些知识真的重要吗？

In the Netflix smash hit Squid Game， there is a line that resonates with most South Koreans： While boasting that she is street-smart and capable， the self-proclaimed silver-tongued4 Mi-nyeo says， “I’m totally smart. I just never studied.”

奈飞热剧《鱿鱼游戏》有一句台词引起了大多数韩国人的共鸣。剧中自诩能言善辩的韩美女夸自己精明能干时说：“我聪明透顶，从来就没学习过。”

The line stems from the widespread belief—not just here but in many other parts of the world—that being brainy and doing well on school exams are not necessarily the same.

这句话源自一个不只在韩国而且在世界很多地方都普遍认同的观点：头脑聪明和成绩优异未必能画上等号。

But in a country where 12 years of schooling can be summed up in a score on one crucial， potentially life-determining test， it resonates deeply with many.

但这句话引起许许多多韩国人深深的共鸣。因为在韩国，12年学校教育的成果可能会归结为一次有可能决定命运的重大考试的分数。

The art of picking the right answer

选出正确答案的艺术

On Nov. 18， slightly over 500，000 Koreans sat arguably the most important exam of their life： the College Scholastic Ability Test， or Suneung.

11月18日，50多万韩国人参加了可谓一生中最重要的考试：大学修学能力考试，或称韩国高考。

A day after the annual exam， a parents’ union held a protest in front of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education against the government’s ongoing education policies. The protesters were part of a growing movement that questions whether the country’s educational system can foster creative minds or equip young people with the skills they’ll need in the future， rather than just training them to do well on multiple choice tests.

在这一年一度的高考过后，一家长联合会在首尔市教育厅前抗议政府现行的教育政策。这一抗议活动代表一场持续升温的运动。该运动质疑韩国教育体系能否培养创造性思维或是让年轻人掌握未来所需技能，而不仅仅是训练他们做好选择题。

Among the biggest questions—both for the public educational system and the 9.3 trillion won （$8.1 billion） after-school hagwon5 industry—is how well English is being taught.

对于公立教育体系和规模达9.3万亿韩元（约合81亿美元）的校外培训行业而言，最大的问题之一是英语教学成效如何。

Critics say English education is often targeted toward acing6 standardized written exams， like the Suneung， rather than improving students’ practical communication skills.

批评人士指出，韩国英语教育的导向往往是顺利通过各种标准化笔试，例如韩国高考，而非提高学生的实际交流能力。

Kim Jae-joong， the head of a local English academy， said English studies at high school focus on rote memorization because of the Suneung.

当地一所英语学院的院长金在中（音）说，高中英语学习注重死记硬背以应付高考。

Problems had long existed， but they got worse in 2018 when the Suneung switched to an absolute grading system for its English section instead of grading students on a curve7.

问题存在已久，但在2018年韩国高考英语成绩由正态分布评分改为绝对评分之后更加严重了。

The move was intended to tackle the snowballing cost of private English education in the country， but the similarities between the Suneung’s English section and the English programs on the state-run educational TV channel EBS8 led students to learn what patterns to look for on the test.

改变评分体系是为了解决英语私教费滚雪球式增长的问题，但韩国高考英语试题与国营教育电视台EBS的英语节目内容有诸多相似之处，导致学生们都去研究考题中有哪些套路。

“Since （the students） can access similar questions and （Suneung） sample sentences， they focus more on memor-izing （the patterns） to ‘pick’ the right answers，” Kim explained， going on to say that he actually advises students against trying to understand what the text is about. “It takes much more than two minutes， so one needs instead to find clues that will help them pinpoint the answer.” Test takers are given 45 questions that need to be answered in 70 minutes.

“因为可以看到相似的考题和（高考）例句，所以学生更加注重死记（各种套路），以‘选出’正确答案。”金院长解释道。他接着又说，实际上他不建议学生费力理解文章内容。“要理解文章内容，两分钟远远不够，所以只需要找到那些有助于锁定答案的线索即可。” 毕竟考生须在70分钟以内完成45道题。

“We （educators） should consider the matters on the fundamental level， about why we learn English， and how English should be taught and learned well. This， of course， will take more than two minutes to solve.”

“我们这些教育工作者应从根本上考虑问题：为什么学英语？怎样才能教好和学好英语？当然，这些问题并非两分钟时间解决得了。”

As most students work hard to gain the skills to ace multiple-choice tests， exams have come to include “ridiculously difficult” questions to distinguish high performers from well-trained but average students. This has led to the Suneung becoming inconsistent with the secondary education curriculum.

正当大多数学生努力掌握选择题取胜技巧的同时，考试已经开始增加“地狱级”难题，目的是将高水平学生和仅掌握答题技巧的普通学生区分开来。这已导致韩国高考超纲。

A major complaint over last year’s exam concerned a passage on Hegelian dialectics， followed by six questions about the passage. Other passages are also said to have exceeded the reading comprehension level required of high school graduates—for example， one on the Bretton Woods international monetary system and one on optical lenses for automobiles.

对去年高考的一大不满涉及有关黑格尔辩证法的一篇阅读理解题，该题包含六问。人们认为，就高中毕业所要求达到的阅读理解水平来看，其他几篇考题也已超纲——例如一篇讲布雷顿森林国际货币体系的文章，以及一篇关于汽车光学镜片的文章。

YouTuber Korean Englishman9 recently posted a video of British students in their final year of high school taking the English portion of the Suneung. They struggled despite English being their native tongue， as the reading comprehension section contains excerpts drawn from philosophy， literature and technical manuals rather than everyday English.