Because tests given in high school (two times each semester) were almost as important in determining college entrance as the final entrance examinations, students had no opportunity to relax from the study routine. According to one contemporary account, a student had to memorize 60 to 100 pages of facts to do well on these periodic tests. It's not uncommon to see students walking home from their studies at very late hours (still dressed in their high school uniforms). Family and social life generally were sacrificed to the supreme end of getting into the best university possible.
Examinations are very serious times of the year and they change the whole pattern of society. In the days leading up to exams, newspapers post articles asking girls not to wear perfume or high heeled shoes to the examinations as these are seen to be distracting. Businesses often start at 10 am to accommodate parents who have helped their children study late into the night and on the evenings before exams recreational facilities, such as tennis clubs, close early to facilitate study for these exams.
The costs of the "examination hell" have been evident not only in a grim and joyless adolescence for many, if not most, young South Koreans, but also in the number of suicides caused by the constant pressure of tests.[citation needed] Often suicides have been top achievers who despaired after experiencing a slump in test performance.[citation needed] Also, the multiple choice format of periodic high school tests and university entrance examinations has left students little opportunity to develop their creative talents.[citation needed] A "facts only" orientation has promoted a cramped and unspontaneous view of the world that has tended to spill over into other areas of life than academic work.