A Nation Where All the People Learn (4)

This special examination was completely different from all other civil service examinations.

A typical civil service examination consisted of two stages—the initial and second examinations—to determine who passed, followed by a final palace examination that ranked the successful candidates.

The initial and second examinations were each divided into first, middle, and final sessions, meaning an applicant effectively had to take six tests just to be allowed to sit for the final palace examination...

Even before one could discuss passing or failing, the examination procedure itself was extraordinarily difficult.

However, this special examination, personally presided over by King Sejong, was unusual in that a single palace examination would determine whether one passed or failed and even establish the rankings.

In short, it was an applicant-friendly civil service examination.

Kim Jang-ik could not contain his astonishment as he looked around the examination hall, packed with people like bean sprouts in a basket.

"I've never seen so many people gathered at an examination hall in my life. There must be ten thousand here from all eight provinces."

By the late Joseon period, the number of civil service examination candidates would sometimes rise as high as 100,000.

By contrast, there had been so few candidates in early Joseon that records even say fewer than five hundred sat for the examination in particularly lean years...