The first national examinations were administered in the kingdom of Silla beginning in 788, after the Confucian scholar Choe Chiwon submitted the Ten Urgent Points of Reform to Queen Jinseong, the ruler of Silla at the time. However, due to Silla's entrenched bone rank system, which dictated that appointments be made on the basis of birth, these examinations did not have a strong effect on the government.