Excessive soil water at vegetative growth stages during the rainy season induces yield losses in soybeans. Our objectives were to obtain basic information about the cultivar differences and to understand the stress-tolerance process for due to excessive soil water. Previous experiments revealed soybean genotypic differences in tolerance to excessive soil water. A field experiment was conducted at the Research Farm of Korea University near Seoul on 21 May 1998. Soybean[Glycine max (L.) Merrill] cultivars, 'Hannamkong' (sensitive) and 'Taekwan-gkong'(tolerant) were planted in vinyl-lined plots(1.2 x 4.2 x 0.3 m deep) and control plots. Drip irrigation began at VI growth stage to submerge the soil surface. Three weeks of excessive soil water treatment reduced all growth parameters measured to soybean plants. Excessive soil water stress resulted in decreases of N, P, K, Ca, Mg and Cu, and increases of Fe and Mn contents in soybean leaves. The stress index of tolerant cultivars under excessive soil water showed no large difference in soybean growth characteristics measured at three growth stages. However, K, Ca, Mg, Fe and Mn contents in soybean leaves appeared to differ between sensitive and tolerant cultivars. From the above results, stress and tolerance indices are proposed for a method to test cultivar differences in plant responses within a species under adverse growth environments.