More than 500-thousand people applied for this year's state-administered college entrance exam slated for November 17.

According to the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation on Monday, 508-thousand-30 people applied for the 2023 College Scholastic Aptitude Test to be held later this year.

The figure is down by about 18-hundred or zero-point-four percent from a year earlier.

High school applicants accounted for 68-point-nine percent at about 350-thousand.

High school graduates and others taking the exam account for 31-point-one percent of the total, with the percentage exceeding 30 percent for the first time in 26 years.

Male applicants accounted for 51-point-two percent at around 260-thousand, with female applicants at some 248-thousand.

Source: KBS World Radio