South Korean mothers knelt in prayer, the stock market opened late and the military grounded flights to help teenagers taking a college entrance exam yesterday that could shape the course of their lives.

Some 585,000 students took the state-sponsored College Scholastic Aptitude Test.

The exam determines the university they will attend, but getting into an elite college often means being at the top of the list for the best jobs after graduation and being considered one of the most eligible people to marry.