Another asked students to consider the nature of time and clocks, while another probed how the idea of existence might apply to video game avatars.

These sparked significant backlash in a country where the exam is taken so seriously that flights are grounded nationwide for 35 minutes during the English listening test to eliminate any potential noise.

In response, Oh Seung-keol, the chief of Korea’s Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, stepped down.

He felt “a heavy sense of responsibility for the English section of the test, which did not align with the principles of absolute evaluation”, the institution said in a statement sent to AFP.

Apology

He also apologised for “causing concern to test-takers and their parents, and for causing confusion in the college entrance exam process”.

The agency also issued a separate apology, saying it “takes seriously the criticism that the test failed to meet the appropriate level of difficulty and the goal of reducing students’ academic burden”.

The use of the portmanteau “culturtainment” in the test was also the source of confusion - even from the academic behind the phrase.

Stuart Moss, a senior lecturer at Leeds Beckett University in the UK, said he was “very surprised” to see the phrase featured.

“I am also of the opinion that this word should never have featured in the exam due it not being in common English usage,” he said in an e-mail reply to a South Korean test-taker reported by local daily Munhwa Ilbo.

Pressure blamed for depression

Enormous pressure placed on students in South Korea’s ultra-competitive education system has been partly blamed for teenage depression and suicide rates that are among the highest in the world.

This month, South Korea’s National Assembly approved an amended law banning private English-language educational institutes from administering entrance tests to preschoolers.

And test scores have long been a highly sensitive and scrutinised issue.

This week, the nephew of Samsung Electronics chief Lee Jae-yong - one of South Korea’s most powerful and wealthy families - made headlines after he reportedly failed just one question on the exam, earning him admission to the nation’s top Seoul National University.

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