Typo in Civil Service Exam? Examinees Challenge, Demand "Accept Multiple Correct Answers"

Problem with writing 'Eungjinjeon' (應眞殿) as 'Ungjinjeon'
Personnel Office acknowledges typo... will reflect it in discussions

A typo occurred in the Korean History question of the national level 9th-grade civil service exam. Some of the test takers who took the exam have argued that multiple answers should be accepted. The exam administration department acknowledged the typo.

According to the Ministry of Personnel Management on the 9th, question number 8 of the national level 9th-grade Korean History exam held the previous day asked to select the incorrect statement about cultural heritage from the Goryeo Dynasty. Originally, the correct answer to this question was option 2: "The Woljeongsa Octagonal Nine-story Stone Pagoda was made by imitating a Yuan Dynasty stone pagoda." This is because the Woljeongsa Octagonal Nine-story Stone Pagoda actually imitates a Song Dynasty stone pagoda, not one from the Yuan Dynasty.

[Image source provided by the Ministry of Personnel Management]

However, a typo occurred in option 1, where the Dapo (多包) style building ‘Eungjinjeon’ (應眞殿) at Seongbulsa Temple in Sariwon, Hwanghae Province, was mistakenly written as ‘Ungjinjeon.’ Due to this typo, option 1 also became an incorrect statement in fact.

As a result, examinees argued that option 1 should also be accepted as a multiple correct answer. As of the morning of that day, there were more than 30 objections submitted by examinees on the Ministry of Personnel Management’s Cyber National Examination Center website. The examinees claimed, “Since the civil service exam is a race against time, if you think an answer is definitely correct, you might skip reading the other options thoroughly.” In the 9th-grade civil service written exam, candidates must solve 100 questions (20 questions each in 5 subjects) within a total time limit of 100 minutes.

On the other hand, there were also claims that “If the correct answer is not certain, it is appropriate to review other options and choose the more definite answer.” This means that if option 1 is read carefully, it can be judged as a simple typo.

Then, a Ministry of Personnel Management official in charge of the exam confirmed with the question setters and acknowledged that it was indeed a typo. The official stated, “This will be considered during the process of finalizing the correct answers.”

Examinees taking the Level 9 National Civil Service open competitive written exam at a school in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 8th [Image source: Provided by the Ministry of Personnel Management]

Meanwhile, question number 13 in the same subject is also causing controversy over multiple correct answers. The question asked, “Which of the facts promoted by the underlined ‘Na’ is correct?”

Here, ‘Na’ can be inferred to refer to former President Park Chung-hee.

The question setter intended option 4, “Signed the Brown Memorandum specifying the conditions necessary for dispatching troops to Vietnam,” as the correct answer, based on the period after Park was elected president in 1963.

However, some examinees argued that “Option 1, ‘Promoted the constitutional amendment for direct presidential elections,’ could also be correct.” This implies that Park’s rule could be considered to have started after the May 16 military coup in 1961, which marked the beginning of his military government.

The Ministry of Personnel Management will accept objections until 6 p.m. on the 11th, followed by a final answer confirmation meeting with subject selection committee members and experts. The finalized correct answers are scheduled to be announced at 6 p.m. on the 17th.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.