University Rectors Agree on a Nearly Uniform Entrance Exam for 2026 Across All Regions

University Rectors' Conference (CRUE), the organization that encompasses the country's main public and private universities, has finalized the design of nearly identical entrance exams for the entire country. The aim is for this to be the reference model for university entrance exams for the next academic year, to be held in June 2026 across all Spanish territories.

The exams are the result of many months of work by 570 experts (from both universities and high schools) in all subjects included in the University Entrance Exams (PAU). They have provided all regions with an exam model featuring a common structure, very similar basic content, and correction criteria that can be applied uniformly. In other words, "from a technical and independent approach," they offer PAU exams that are almost identical nationwide, while allowing room in questions and exercises for the differential content percentage that each region sets in their high school curricula.

CRUE's mandate was not only to achieve a harmonized PAU for the next academic year across the country but also to ensure that each subject's exam follows a specific and similar format, content, and correction. Therefore, "state subject commissions" were created, with specialists in each discipline, who have agreed on a consensus exam proposal for each assessable subject.

The experts have met the goal of having the designs and documents agreed upon by May, which they have now sent to the regions and universities responsible for conducting the entrance exams in each territory. The urgency is to ensure that students know the design and characteristics of the exams they will face in June 2026 a year in advance, and that high school teachers can plan accordingly and in line with how the entrance exams will be.

The proposals include a common exam structure for each subject based on competencies, shared blocks of basic knowledge (to evaluate similar main content in each subject across all territories), and specific evaluation criteria and common guidelines on formal and linguistic aspects.

These proposals deepen the work already initiated last year by the rectors to homogenize the 2025 exams as much as possible, to be held next month. Last September, all universities agreed on the minimum criteria to be applied in the new PAU debuting this academic year.

The exams will be held on the same dates (mostly from June 3 to 5); competency-based questions or exercises will account for between 20% and 25% of the grade; although some questions can be chosen, to achieve a ten, the answers must cover at least 75% to 80% of the evaluated syllabus, and the penalty for spelling or grammatical errors will deduct a maximum of two points in Language and Literature, 1.5 points in Foreign Language, and one point in other subjects.

In addition to these criteria, two others mandated by the Ministry of Education's royal decree must be added: there will be a single exam per subject, and multiple-choice questions can only account for a maximum of three points (previously, they could reach five).

The CRUE's Access and Admission to Universities working group plans to continue the work of the past two years and announces that it "will continue to monitor and evaluate the development of this proposal, in order to keep introducing improvements in the future and advancing harmonization."