Self-directed study methods in the age of academic discipline, directly taught by Seoul National University admissions officers.

A study roadmap to SKY, starting from elementary school
Complete the integrated design of learning strategies, career exploration, and entrance exam preparation.

A first-class grade on your report card alone will no longer open the door to a prestigious university.
Even the most perfect report card cannot fully capture a student's true abilities.
In the past, grades were everything, but now it's different.
In the age of academic bells, universities value more the attitude of proactively designing one's own career path and life than academic scores.
Intellectual curiosity, a will to explore, and a passion for learning, which are considered key indicators of academic attitude at these prestigious universities, are not created overnight.
This is because study habits and learning environments are developed step by step from elementary school.


Author Jin Dong-seop, a former admissions officer at Seoul National University, presents a learning method that builds a solid foundation for self-directed learning in elementary school, establishes the foundation for study habits and career exploration in middle school, and naturally connects to the special subject tax system and the CSAT in high school.
From career planning to research activities, special education, reading, and college entrance exam study methods, we reveal study methods that will help you stay on track with the flow of elementary, middle, and high school studies and stay on track until the college entrance exam.
One of them is having the self-directedness to ask questions.
Questions are the starting point of intellectual curiosity and a key activity that connects the curriculum content to deep thinking rather than mere memorization.
It is also important to internalize the research activity.
Starting from the textbook, the child must practice and internalize the series of activities that lead to choosing his or her own research topic, collecting data, conducting experiments or presentations, and writing reports.
This is also a practical ability that prestigious universities carefully look at when selecting students.

The basics of self-direction are designing your own career path and finding and studying the subjects you need to study to achieve that path.
Students must first be able to clearly explain the subject knowledge, concepts, and principles they have learned in class, and then engage in in-depth research activities by applying the concepts and principles to topics of interest.
In the student matching process, students are selected by evaluating self-directed inquiry activities that appear during the learning process.
--- p.6, from “Prologue”

Universities do not assess students' community competencies in all admissions processes.
However, when evaluating documents in the comprehensive student admissions process, the community competency revealed in the student record is evaluated, and in the interview process, the community competency is evaluated.
Especially in the medical and education fields, a sense of community is confirmed during interviews.
In particular, in medical school interviews, personality interviews present situations and observe how the applicant responds. Therefore, it is necessary to have community skills on a regular basis; brief practice alone will not suffice for this.
--- p.29~30, from “Attitude is the foundation of studying”

The textbooks in the current curriculum are structured to be studied through learning activities, so a lot of time must be spent on learning activities.
However, if a child learns in advance what he or she will learn in the distant future at the academy, he or she will not be able to focus on studying centered on current learning activities.
So, preparation is more important than prior preparation.
Especially when studying online, if you don't do some advance study, you'll often end up thinking about something else at an important point.
I enjoyed the interesting introduction, but I lost track of the boring main point.
--- p.65, from “Preview and review come before doing.”

In school, from the third grade of elementary school to the third grade of high school, students study for 10 years to summarize (summarize thoughts), criticize (share thoughts), and form their own opinions (organize thoughts).
The vocabulary gets increasingly difficult, so I tell them to look up the words in a dictionary while reading.
The length of the text also gradually increases, so later on, we read the single-volume book and do post-reading activities.
Keep in mind the saying that if you don't read a book even for a day, thorns will grow in your mouth, so you should read for a certain amount of time every day.
Background knowledge is also important, so you should also work hard to study social studies and science.
--- p.105, from “How to Get Ahead from the First Period of the College Scholastic Ability Test”

To create an environment where you can concentrate on your studies, you need to keep away from things that distract you from studying.
You should keep the books and materials you need for studying close by, and keep cosmetics, game consoles, smartphones, and other things that may distract you from studying away.
If you put the bed close, you will want to lie down.
It is also important to take a break after studying deeply.
Our brain is like a muscle; it gets tired after a certain period of time.
Taking breaks improves your concentration and keeps you interested in your studies.
However, self-motivated people return to studying right after their break.
Above all, parents should not do this for their children when they are unable to plan their own lives.
It is good to be there to advise and check so that the child can do it on his own.
If you do something for your child because he or she cannot do it, the child will end up just being a bystander.
--- p.151, from “Self-initiative is competitiveness in college entrance exams”

Third, since there is no problem in getting into college without taking difficult subjects due to the university's non-major selection system, you should ignore the argument that you should take subjects that will result in good grades instead of taking difficult subjects.
When universities evaluate documents, they usually reflect which subjects were chosen from the general curriculum.
Students who choose difficult subjects and do well will be given priority in filling the seats.
Because this student has a wide range of career paths.
Even if you pass without completing difficult subjects, you may have difficulty being assigned to the department you want, and even if you are assigned to a department, you may have to complete prerequisite subjects when taking the required subjects.

--- p.315, from “Choosing a career path and subjects is the beginning of the entrance exam”