Reflections on the press and the media as a school, not only for journalists but also for their readers, by EL PAÍS columnist Lola Pons, opened this Monday the four days of the University Entrance Exams (PAU) in the Community of Madrid. A fragment of the book El español es un mundo (2022) was one of the selected texts for questions on linguistics, style, and reading comprehension. The Spanish Language and Literature II exam, the first faced by the students, also included excerpts from columns published in newspapers such as El Heraldo de Aragón and El Mundo.
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This year, students faced a single exam that had different versions, depending on the session in which they took it. With fewer optional answer choices, the questions are focused on students developing their linguistic skills. Between writing summaries of the presented texts, arguing their line of thought regarding them, or explaining the most relevant aspects of Spanish works from 1975 to the present, the options for memorizing and answering were almost nonexistent.
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In addition to content, the PAU will evaluate the way of writing: clarity of ideas, vocabulary variety, and sentence construction. Spelling — letters, accents, and punctuation — also counts. Penalties work as follows: the first mistake does not deduct points, repeated mistakes count as one, and from the second on, 0.25 points are deducted for each error. Problems with writing, coherence, or grammar can deduct up to an additional 1 point. In any case, the maximum total deduction is 2 points.
In the literary education section, authors such as Rubén Darío and Leopoldo Alas Clarín tested students’ knowledge of Spanish and Latin American literature. Segments from Azul (1888) by the Nicaraguan author and La Regenta (1885) by the Spanish writer were used to assess their knowledge of literary avant-gardes and novels. More than one student reviewed the exam over and over before starting to answer. Some held hands with their friends before turning to the paper, and others did not hesitate to cross themselves as a sign of faith.
The nervousness of the young people who took the tests this Monday was evident. The first group to take the exam this morning were students from the Science and Technology baccalaureate track. In the second session, at noon, students from the other baccalaureate tracks. Upon leaving the exam, Sonia Durán said she did not feel nervous and even described the exam as “easy,” although she admitted to having made mistakes in the grammatical sequence questions: “I am sure I was wrong about the predicate complement, but that’s it.”
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The Vice-Rector for Students at the Complutense University of Madrid, Rosa de la Fuente, stated that this year’s exams underwent slight changes to harmonize with those of the other autonomous communities. De la Fuente mentioned that the tests are increasingly focused on competency-based questions. The most substantial modifications occurred in the Language and Mathematics evaluations, respectively.
The Community of Madrid kicked off the PAU this Monday, with more than 42,000 students summoned for the tests in this region. Starting Tuesday, the rest of the autonomous communities will join the schedule, completing nearly 300,000 applicants to pursue a university degree throughout Spain.
Most autonomous communities — Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, Cantabria, Castile and León, Valencian Community, Extremadura, Galicia, Balearic Islands, La Rioja, Navarre, Murcia, Basque Country, and Ceuta and Melilla — concentrate the test between Tuesday and Thursday, June 4. The Canary Islands will hold it from June 2 to 5, and Castile-La Mancha from June 8 to 10. Catalonia is the autonomous community that will extend the exams the most, to be held from June 9 to 11.
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