<Introduction
Final
Report
Conference
Issues
Conference
Rules
Report 1
Participating
countries
EURYDICE
Glossary
Admission
to HE
Austria
Issues
Q&A
Bulgaria
Description
Issues
Q&A
Czech Republic
Description
Issues
Q&A
Estonia
Issues
Q&A
France
Issues
Q&A
Germany
Issues
Q&A
Hungary
Description
Issues
Latvia
Issues
Lithuania
Issues
Q&A
Netherlands
Issues
Q&A
Poland
Description
Issues
Q&A
Portugal
Description
Issues
Q&A
Slovakia
Description
Issues
Q&A
Slovenia
Description
Issues
Spain
Description
Issues
Sweden
Description
Issues
United Kingdom
Description
Issues
ISSUE 1: THE EXAMINATION AS A SCHOOL-LEAVING "MATURITY" EXAM AND/OR AS AN "ENTRY EXAMINATION" TO HIGHER EDUCATION (UNIVERSITY):
Students who have finished COU or the second year of the Bachillerato established by LOGSE and have earned the Bachiller diploma, will be able to continue their education at University by passing a specific University entrance examination.
The entrance examination is not intended to certify the end of Upper Secondary Education. At the beginning, it was designed to objectively assess the academic maturity of those students who wanted to access to university studies but, nowadays, because of the limitation of places available, these exams are intended to give priority order to the students for University enrolment.
These examinations are just an intermediary between Upper Secondary and University education, as they are not intended to allow access to the labor market.
Individual achievement at the entrance examination is a selection criteria for admission to University education, and it also provides the order of the students for their access to university studies or establishments where there are limited places.
Issue 2: Compulsory and optional subjects in the final examination:
For students who have finished COU, the exams consists of two exercises with a total of seven compulsory subjects: the first exercise covers the common compulsory subjects of the COU programme and is divided into three tests: one involving a Text Commentary and Spanish Language; another one, a Foreign Language and a third one, on Philosophy. The second exercise covers a total of four subjects, two compulsory and two optional, in the student's chosen field. The following table shows the different subjects in the entrance exam:
Table 1
| COU students: 7 (or 8) subjects | Exercise 1: 3 (or 4) subjects | Common compulsory subjects | TextCommentary and Spanish Language Another official language of the Autonomous Community 1 Foreign Language Philosophy |
| Exercise 2: 4 subjects | Compulsory subjects of each option: 2 subjects | Option A: Mathematics Physics Option B: Chemistry Biology Option C: MathematicsII Contemporary History Option D: Literature Contemporary History | |
| Optional subjects2: 2 subjects | Option A: Chemistry, Biology, Geology, Technical Drawing. Option B: Mathematics I Physics Geology Technical Drawing Option C: Literature Latin Ancient Greek Art History Option D: Latin Ancient Greek History of Art Mathematics II |
- In those Autonomous Communities with another official language apart from Spanish, students take an exam on that subject.
- Students who have finished the new Bachillerato established by LOGSE may take one or two different options in the entrance examinations (with certain subjects associated toeach option), according to the kind of Bachillerato they have chosen. For these students, exams also consist of two exercises with a total of six compulsory subjects. The first exercise covers general compulsory subjects of the second year curriculum of the Bachillerato LOGSE. In the second exercise, students are examined on three subjects, taken either as compulsory or optional, pertaining to the kind of Bachillerato chosen in the second year. Two of these subjects must correspond to those laid down as compulsory for the corresponding exam option and one or two subjects pertaining to the kind of Bachillerato chosen. The following table shows the different subjects in the entrance examination:
Table 2
| BachilleratoLOGSE students: 6 (or 7) subjects | Exercise 1: 3 (or 4) subjects | Common compulsory subjects: 2 subjects | Spanish Language Foreign Language Another official language of the Autonomous Community 1 |
| Common optional subjects2: 1 subject | Philosophy History | ||
| Exercise 2: 3 subjects | Compulsory subjects for each option 3 : 1 or 2 subjects | Technical-Scientific option: Mathematics II Physics Health Sciences option: Biology Chemistry Humanities option: Latin II Social Sciences option: Mathematics Applied to Social Sciences Art option: Art Drawing II Art History | |
| Optional subjects for each option: 1or 2 subjects | Depending on the subjects studied on the second year of Bachillerato |
- In those Autonomous Communities with another official language apart from Spanish, students also take an exam on that subject.
- Each option of entrance examination has certain subjects associated to them. Students must necessarily be tested on those subjects, depending on the option chosen, and have to choose one or two more subjects.
- it is shown in the tables, students are examined on a relatively high number of subjects, six to eight, depending on the type of upper secondary education followed (Bachillerato LOGSE or COU) and the Autonomous Community. As a consequence of what has been explained so far, it can be said that the Spanish University entrance exam demands a wide base of knowledge from the students. This knowledge will gain in depth at University.
Regarding the Foreign Language, which is a common and compulsory subject, all the students must take an exercise consisting on a standard, non specialised, language text of 200-250 words in the entrance examination.
Owing to the fact that all the exercises of the entrance exams are compulsory, pupils and teachers are under some pressure in order to cover all the contents established by the curriculum for the last year of Upper Secondary Education. Students of LOGSE Bachillerato may not be tested on certain subjects, but, normally, there are not any subjects to be optionally tested in the entrance exams, therefore, there are not deprivileged subjects. Moreover, all the subjects do influence the final entrance mark, as the marks of both BUP, COU and LOGSE Bachillerato are also taken into account for that matter.
Finally, students are not differently prepared, since there are not various levels of examination.
ISSUE 3: ASSESSMENT AND CERTIFICATION OF ACHIEVEMENT
It can be said that national standards are defined in the curricula (this document includes the objectives to be achieved by the pupil, contents, teaching recommendations, assessment criteria, etc), because the content of the final examination is determined according to the curricula for the last year in upper secondary education.
The exams on each subject must check the students´ knowledge of the programme followed in the last year of upper secondary, but knowledge is not the only aspect to be checked, skills are also assessed (above all in certain subjects), as well as the way students elaborate their answers (expression).
Though exams´ contents vary depending on the type of secondary education followed by the student or, in the case of LOGSE Bachillerato, on the entrance exam option chosen, there is just one kind of entrance exams, without different levels of examination.
Issue 4: External and/or internal (school-based) final examinations
ISSUE 4: EXTERNAL AND/OR INTERNAL FINAL EXAMINATIONS:
Evaluation is external as secondary establishments do not organise these exams, the University is in charge of regulating, elaborating, correcting and assessing of those exams. Nonetheless, its implementation is carried out in collaboration with secondary teachers.
The main reason for the external nature of the evaluation is that the entrance exams are specific to allow access to University, they are not associated to upper secondary education.
The secondary student´ grade average is taken into account in the final grade, the mark achieved in the entrance exams weighs the 50% while the secondary grade average weighs the remaining 50%.
ISSUE 5: THE ORGANISATION OF THE FINAL EXAMINATION:
Entrance exams take place twice a year: the first call is usually in the last fortnight of June while the second, in September, is intended for those students who failed in June or who want to sit it again on order to obtain a higher mark. Each University fixes the exact dates for the examinations, which will be distributed along three or four days (on very exceptional occasions the duration might be only two days).
As for the regulations affecting these examinations, Universities establish the rules for the format and ask specialists, usually University professors, educational inspection services, secondary education teachers, experts in curriculum design, etc., to elaborate the exam itself. Given the fact that the implementation of the examination falls under the responsibility of each Autonomous Community and the corresponding University, there are no general rules concerning the actual sitting and invigilation of the examinations.
Teachers in charge of grading the exams are usually given a maximum of 200 written papers. In order to carry out this task, teachers have a period of at least five days. This task is voluntary, as it is not part of their workload, therefore, it is paid separately. There are no data available on the exact amount teachers receive for this task since it varies depending on the University and the different criteria applied, such as the number of papers, etc.
Concerning the specific regulations and provisions for students with special needs, Universities must provide them with the resources they may need as well as with exam adaptations required so that the students are able to take the entrance examinations established for all the candidates. Moreover, Universities must reserve 3% of the places for these students.
Finally, students have the right to lodge a complaint on the marks they receive. These complaints can never be resolved against them. Keeping into account that assessment criteria are made public once the exams have been taken, students must clearly state the criteria they consider that have been wrongly applied as well as the appropriate allegations (complaints which do not comply with this requisite will not be considered). In case irregularities are found a revision procedure may be started in order to assess the examination again. The complaint should be lodged within five days from that in which the results are made public. This complaint should be presented in written form before the University Vice-chancellor, who will resolve in a maximum period of fifteen days.