Article: “What is HOT?” Where is the test taker who got a full score on the 1998 exam today?
Source: Chosun Ilbo via Nate
A test taker in 1998 earned headlines for not only being the first student to get a full score on the exam but for also saying “What is HOT?” when asked if she was a fan of HOT in an interview. The article gives an update on where she is today, revealing that she had attended Seoul University where she graduated early with a degree in Physics, went abroad to get her doctorate from MIT, and then studied biophysics at Harvard Medical School. As of 2022, she is currently a researcher at the Kirschner Lab at Harvard.
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1. [+3,068, -26] The US basically collects all of the smartest people from around the world, which is how they’re always able to put out the most advanced skills and products
2. [+2,309, -37] Smarts are all genetic. I remember her father scored at the top of the civil service exam as well.
3. [+2,116, -300] So she scored max on the college entrance exam and became an American doctor ㅋㅋ
4. [+174, -8] HOT was at the peak of their popularity among teens in 1998 so for her to say “what is that?” and not even “who are they?” ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ she basically studied inside a cave ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
5. [+148, -4] “There was not one problem I couldn’t solve” ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ daebak ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
6. [+132, -14] Her answer is someone of our generation asking “what is BTS?” ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ that’s amazing, she must’ve done nothing but study all day long. Closed her ears off to the world.
7. [+93, -0] Seems all of the smartest people in our country end up leaving for foreign countries ㅋㅋ
8. [+89, -5] Asking what HOT is in 1998 is way bigger of a deal than asking what BTS is in 2022. HOT back then was beyond any idol in our country, they represented our culture in itself.
9. [+76, -14] Maybe she was a SechsKies fan all along…
10. [+50, -30] I’d prefer a life where I know what HOT is and other pop culture references even if I’m not as smart…
11. [+44, -0] Our country has a tendency to slam down anyone who sticks out with a hammer so our talents aren’t allowed to grow
12. [+38, -1] She was an elite in her teens and is still an elite in her forties. She’s lived her entire life in a completely different world from us. I wonder what that must feel like.
13. [+35, -28] She spent her entire life studying to get into Seoul University and Harvard but we live in a generation where some YouTuber from a no-name school makes more in a month eating jajangmyeon on camera than she makes in a year….
14. [+30, -1] I wonder what people like her who dedicate their lives to studying do in their free time? Hobbies? Stress relief? What brings them joy in life?
15. [+27, -1] It’s thanks to people who study and research like her that we are able to use smartphones and develop anticancer drugs. What use does knowing about HOT help the world? I’d rather people like her not care about that stuff anyway.
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