A well-known physics professor publicly admitting he can't solve Korea's high school exam problems hit a nerve because it perfectly exposes the absurdity of Korea's exam-prep culture — where test-taking skill and actual knowledge have become completely disconnected. Koreans love when someone credible accidentally validates what students have been saying for years.
A video going viral in Korea features a university physics professor reacting with genuine shock after attempting problems from the Suneung — Korea's notoriously brutal college entrance exam — specifically the advanced Physics II section. The twist? He struggled. A lot.
The professor, believed to be Kim Beom-jun (known online as '범준에물리다'), a popular science communicator with a YouTube channel, sat down expecting to breeze through high school-level questions. Instead, he found himself stumped by problems that Korean 18-year-olds are expected to solve under timed exam conditions. His candid, almost bewildered reaction is what's making Koreans lose it online.
So how does this happen? The answer lies in how Korea's exam culture works. The Suneung isn't testing deep scientific understanding — it's testing the ability to solve highly engineered, trick-heavy problems at lightning speed. Students spend years drilling specific problem patterns through intense repetitive training, essentially becoming human solving machines for a very narrow set of question types. A professor who understands physics at a graduate level but never trained on these specific puzzle formats will get wrecked, while a well-coached high schooler flies through them.
Adding another layer: Physics is actually an optional subject on the Suneung these days, and most students avoid it in favor of easier sciences like Earth Science or Biology. That means many students entering university science programs never even took physics on the exam — yet they're suddenly expected to handle university-level coursework. The professor's struggle is funny, but the underlying situation it reveals is a little more sobering.
🇰🇷 KOREAN REACTIONS 10
lmaooo the professor is so brutally honest about it, respect
That's '범준에물리다' — a physics professor with a YouTube channel. I became a fan through 'Science Boda' (a Korean science content channel). Highly recommend!
Physics is an elective on the Suneung now, so most students just... don't take it. Plenty of people get into university without ever touching physics on the exam. No wonder they can't solve it once they're there.
Physics II and Chemistry II problems are written by highly trained PhD-level people who basically specialize in making these questions. Even the supervising professors can't solve them lmao.
This is what happens when you train kids to solve problems without any real understanding. It was bound to catch up eventually.
To be fair, comparing difficulty is tricky. University physics problems often sneak in concepts you haven't learned yet with a 'you'll figure it out' energy. High school problems are narrow but insanely optimized for tricks.
High school math scope got so narrow over the years. Back in the day we covered vectors, matrices, trig, stats — now it's basically just polynomial functions cranked up to nightmare difficulty because there's nothing else to work with.
The second the Suneung ends, students forget everything at the speed of light lol
He was on Yu Quiz too! (popular Korean variety show where celebrities and interesting people get interviewed)
Easy or hard, I wouldn't know either way lol