The gwageo (Korean: 과거; Hanja: 科擧) or kwagŏ were the national civil service examinations under the Goryeo (918–1392) and Joseon (1392–1910) periods of Korea. These typically demanding tests measured candidates' ability of writing composition and knowledge of the Chinese classics. The form of writing varied from literature to proposals on management of the state. Technical subjects were also tested to appoint experts on medicine, interpretation, accounting, law etc. These were the primary route for most people to achieve positions in the bureaucracy.

Based on the civil service examinations of imperial China, the gwageo first arose in Unified Silla, gained importance in Goryeo, and were the centerpiece of most education in the Joseon dynasty. The tutelage provided at the hyanggyo, seowon, and Sungkyunkwan was aimed primarily at preparing students for the gwageo and their subsequent career in government service. Under Joseon law, high office was closed to those who were not children of officials of the second full rank or higher, unless the candidate had passed the gwageo. Those who passed the higher literary examination came to monopolize all of the dynasty's high positions of state.

Korea started implementing examinations for the selection of administrative posts during the Silla period (57 BCE – 935 CE) and some Sillans even took the imperial exam in the Tang dynasty, receiving degrees after passing it. In 788, under the influence of Confucian scholar Ch'oe Ch'i-wŏn, Silla implemented an exam system that allowed lower nobility to take exams without attending the Gukhak, which was a national education institution exclusive to the aristocracy.

During the Goryeo period (918–1392), a Chinese style civil service examination system was imported from China through the Hanlin scholar Shuang Ji, who visited Goryeo in 958. Shuang Ji was invited by Gwangjong of Goryeo to stay at his court permanently and set up the civil examination system. According to a Song dynasty writer named Xu Jing, the Korean examination recruitment system was largely the same as the Chinese one with some differences. Unlike in China, the examination papers were written in both the Idu script and Classical Chinese. The exam takers did not sit in separate cells like in China, but rather sat on the ground in the open under sunshades.

By the end of the Goryeo period, a military exam had been added, the triennial schedule observed, and the exam hierarchy organized into provincial, metropolitan, and palace levels, similar to the Chinese. Other practices, such as the inclusion of exams on Buddhism and the worship of Confucius, were particular to Korea and not shared with China. Outside China, the examination system was most widely implemented in Korea, with enrollment rates surpassing even that of China. In theory, any free man (not Nobi) was able to take the examinations, but in practice the yangban aristocratic class eventually monopolized the system. At the start of the Joseon period, 33 candidates were selected from every triennial examination, and the number increased to 50 later on. In comparison, China's selected candidates after each palace examination were no more than 40 to 300 from the Tang to Ming dynasties while encompassing a landmass six times larger than Korea. By the Joseon period, high offices were closed to aristocrats who had not passed the exams. Over the span of 600 years, the Joseon civil service selected more than 14,606 candidates in the highest level examinations on 744 occasions. The examination system continued until 1894 when it was abolished by the Gabo Reform.

In the 7th century, the Gukhak (National University) of Silla (57 BCE – 935 CE) taught its students the Confucian Classics and assigned its graduates into three categories based on their knowledge of Confucian literature. The graduates were all invariably members of the aristocracy and were appointed to administrative posts.

The first national examinations were administered in the kingdom of Silla beginning in 788 after the Confucian scholar Ch'oe Ch'i-wŏn submitted the Ten Urgent Points of Reform to Queen Jinseong, the ruler of Silla at the time. The exam system, known as Sambun-gwa, allowed lower nobility to take the exams without attending the Gukhak (also called Daehakgam for a time). However the exams were still only available to aristocrats.

In the 9th century, Koreans directly participated in the Chinese imperial examination system and as many as 88 Sillans received degrees after passing the Tang examinations.