Students file lawsuit seeking 'millions' after teacher ends college admission exam 90 seconds early

A group of South Korean pupils have filed a lawsuit against the government after a teacher allegedly ended an exam 90 seconds early.

To many of us other students across the globe, an exam ending 90 seconds early sounds like heaven - who wants to be stuck in an exam hall any longer than you need to?

And by the last 90 seconds, you've either smashed it or you're so out of your depth not even a minute-and-a-half can do much to save you.

However, for other students, every second really counts - particularly when you're taking part in an exam known as one of the hardest in the world.

The Suneung - an abbreviation for College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) in Korean - comprises of back-to-back exams across an eight-hour period.

The exam not only rules where students end up going to university and subsequently their job prospects, income and potentially where they end up living, but also their social standing and thus future relationships.

The exam is taken incredibly serious not only by students undertaking it, but the whole country - shops closed, planes halter and parents often going to pray, according to the BBC.

Alas, during the first session of this year's Suneung, on November 16, a teacher at Kyungdong High School in South.

Getty Images/ CHUNG SUNG-JUN/ POOL/ AFP

Korea's capital of Seoul allegedly broke the peace, ringing the bell signalling the end of the test 90 seconds too early.

The teacher is reported as having accidentally set off the alarm too early, according to authorities.

When they realised what they'd done, the teacher tried to compensate for the lost time by giving the test papers back to students on their lunch break, BBC reports.

However, the students argue they were given the papers and instructed they were only allowed to add to blank columns, not allowed to go back over any questions already written down to change answers.

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Myungjin - the law firm representing the students - states the 90-second bell error impacted the rest of their exams too, with Yonhap news agency even reporting that some students simply walked away from the rest of the Suneung and returned home because of the incident.

Myungjin law firm has also accused the education authorities of not offering any explanation or apology, and subsequently a minimum of 39 students filed a lawsuit with the Seoul Central District Court yesterday (December 19).

The students are seeking a whopping 20 million won ($15,377) each - the cost of how much it would take them to study for a year and retake the exam.

UNILAD has contacted Kyungdong High School for comment.