400 students demonstrate against new university entry exams format, still not made public

Around 400 students took to the streets of Barcelona on Friday to strike against the new university entry exams format that will be implemented next June. The exams follow Spain's new legislation, but no test examples have been published yet.

Meanwhile, the Catalan research and university ministry promised to publish an example test for each of the 35 different subjects by the end of October.

Students gathered at Plaça Sant Jaume in front of the government headquarters at midday. They then walked down Via Laietana avenue, stopping in front of the ministry to chant that there would be a "war" if the "PAU tests," from Proves d'Accés a la Universitat, were not published.

University entry exams coordinator Pilar Gómez also said that the exam result is based not only on the test but also on having studied and prepared batxillerat (pre-university levels). She even added that in Catalonia, students will benefit in the Catalan and Spanish language exams as grammar mistakes will only reduce up to two points (out of ten) of the mark, a limit that did not exist until now.

One of the other changes will be that there will only be one model per subject, so students cannot choose between two options. All the tests in that exam will be compulsory, as opposed to now, where people get to choose between model A or model B.

Gómez said that she is aware of students' "doubts" ahead of the exams taking place between June 11 and 13, but also said that the exams are also based on batxillerat. Entry university grades are based on 60% on the batxillerat grade and 40% on the test results.

However, despite complaints from students, the actual structure will not change, and there will still be five compulsory subjects such as Catalan, Spanish, foreign languages (English, German, French, or Italian), history or philosophy, and one from their choosing. Students still have the opportunity to choose up to three other subjects to increase their average grade.