Nerves and confidence as 42,000 students begin university entrance exams

Across Catalonia, 41,671 students started their university entrance exams on Wednesday, a record-high and 3% more than last year, with some 32,000 of those taking place in the Barcelona area.

There are 211 testing centers in some 30 municipalities across Catalonia, but the first exam is the same everywhere: Spanish language and literature, beginning at 9 am on Wednesday.

This will be followed by an exam in a foreign language at midday and one in a curriculum-based elective at 3 pm.

In the Faculty of Biology at the University of Barcelona (UB) before 8 am, there was already a bustle of students waiting to enter, with an atmosphere of nerves and confidence.

"We've been preparing all year, it should go well," said Víctor, one of the students waiting to start the exams.

"It's the first day and for the majority it's the first university exam. They arrive very nervous even though they are well prepared," UB professor Gemma Marfany told the Catalan News Agency. 

Opening exam

The Spanish language and literature exam, the first of the tests, included texts by Javier Marías and Irene Vallejo, and also asked students questions about 'Nada', by Carmen Laforet and 'La Fundación' by author Antonio Buero Vallejo.

One of the two tests was centered around the dichotomy between books and new technologies.