Results and Awards

The result of the competition is shown on the Table 1. The average level of achievement was 65.3 percent and similar to that of the Hague, 65.1 percent, which meant that the difficulty of the tests was similar to the two previous competitions. Fieldwork assignment was relatively easier than the other two tests in the competition. The order of teams by total scores shows smooth pattern as shown on the Figure 1.


The average level of achievement in written test was 62.7%. The relative scores in the questions of nos. 6 and 8 were high and those of nos. 7, 11 and 18 were low. In the questions of nos. 11, 15, 16 and 18, variation of scores was relatively wide.


The average level of achievement in fieldwork assignment was 70.9 percents. Students got high percentages in the questions of nos. 2, 3, and 4 of worksheet-2 in Kwanghwamun and Samsung-dong part and low scores in nos. 1 and 4 in Amsa-dong part. The questions of nos. 2 and 4 in Amsa-dong part were high in the coefficients of variation.


<img src="images/test20zuid20korea.jpg" alt="Result of the Test by Team" width="315" height="187"><em> </em><em> The average level of achievement in quiz was 63.5 percents.
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First prize was awarded to Adam Biliski from Poland, by Bruno Messerli, the IGU President, second prize to Ho Seok Lee from Korea, and the third to Magdalena Bieroza from Poland. In the area of the written test, Ho Seok Lee from Korea topped the list and the Poland team won the best award in the fieldwork assignment. The best award for the quiz went to Adam Biliski from Poland. In terms of total score, Poland team topped the list followed by the Netherlands and Korea. Small souvenirs were given with certificates.

There were two characteristics in the pattern of the result in the Seoul Competition. First, the European countries were strong in the test. The reasons for the high performance may be, interests in geography in secondary school education, nation-wide preparation for the international competition, past experience of competitions in the two previous competitions. Among newly participating countries only Korea had good results. Second, Poland was the best team in this competition as well as in the two previous competitions. Poland had the record of the best team in the three consecutive competitions although the margin to the Netherlands team was very narrow in Seoul Competition. Seamless preparations for the competition, geographical curriculum in their secondary school, strong tradition in geographic thought in nation, and obligatory feeling that they must maintain their tradition of winning in the first and second competitions, might be the factors for such an exceptional performance. The case of Poland gives us some lessons as to what we should do to promote stellar image of geography within our nation.
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