Good luck to all EBAU students who begin their exams today

THREE intense days of exams get under way this morning as university entrance exams begin across the Valencia region.

During Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (8, 9, 10 June) this week some 22,511 students, 60% of whom are female, will sit the EBAU ( Evaluación del Bachillerato para el Acceso a la Universidad), formerly called PAU and also known as Selectividad. It is a series of 90-minute exams for 17 and 18-year-olds who hope to get into university for the coming academic year.

Unlike the UK, for instance, where the ‘A’ Level exams are spread out over a two or three-week period, all the EBAU exams are crammed into just three days, with students sitting up to four exams each day.

In order to be eligible to take the EBAU, students must have passed Bachillerato in their school and are then allowed to enter with a maximum of one failed subject. However, those who have failed more than one subject and need to do resits later this month get another bite at the cherry in the July EBAU.

Speaking on Cadena Ser radio, the Director General of Universities, Pilar Ezpeleta, said there had been a decrease in the number of students compared to previous years, which had been affected by the pandemic, such as the 2020 and 2021 exams, when the number of students reached 24,000. The causes of the drop have not yet been identified, according to Ezpeleta, but may be down to several factors and not only linked to the drop in the birth rate: it may also be that with the return to normality and with more education on offer, students do not want to take the university entrance exam.

She also said it is important to note that there has been an increase in the number of vocational training students taking the university entrance exam, with the numbers now reaching 1,500. And according to the education department, the number of girls taking this route to university is almost double that of boys.

According to the Cadena Ser report, the two public universities in the province of Valencia will host the largest number of students, with 6,572 students taking the exams at the Universitat de València and 5,639 at the Universitat Politècnica de València.

This is followed by the two universities in the province of Alicante, which will host a total of 7,714 students, of which 4,011 will take the exams at the Miguel Hernández University of Elche and 3,703 at the University of Alicante. Finally, a total of 2,586 students will take the exams at the Universitat Jaume I in Castelló.

For all those taking the selectividad exams this year, I wish you the best of luck, and to all the families supporting students, may you find plenty of patience.