Selectividad

Spanish university entrance examinations

Selectividad is the popular name given to the Spanish University Admission Tests ("Evaluación de Acceso a la Universidad", E. v. A. U. ), a non compulsory exam taken by students after secondary school, necessary to get into University. Students must take six 90 minute written exams over three days in June or September, consisting of common and specific subjects taken in "Bachillerato" (the last two non compulsory years of secondary education). Selectividad exams are set by the Public Universities of each autonomous community and allow students access to the Spanish university system.

In 2009/2010, Selectividad exams changed. Now, these exams have two parts:

In this part the students can choose between 2 and 4 subjects (whatever you want depending on your specific "Bachillerato" and the specific weights published by each university) and can obtain a maximum of 4 extra points.

With the new Selectividad exam, the final mark is no longer the average score of the six exams taken. Now, the four marks achieved in the Common Part are taken and an average score up to 10 points is given. Then, each University establishes different parameters for the other subjects taken in the Specific Part. For example, a student who took Spanish, English, History and Math got an average score of 8.55. Then they took Physics and Chemistry exams, and got a 9 and a 7. They want to study Architecture, and the University they want to study at considers Physics more important than Chemistry at that degree, so their 9 will turn into 1.8 additional points (9*0.2) and Chemistry in 0.7 more points (7*0.1). The final score will be 8.55+1.8+0.7=11.05 out of 14 points possible. Other example: another student gets a 9 in the Common Part, and then she takes Economics and Physics. She will finally study Law, so her Physics score will likely not to have effect in her final score, but Economics will be awarded with a 0.15 or 0.20 multiplier. The mark in the Common Part lasts forever, but the one in the Specific Part needs to be renewed after two years if needed. Grade = (g. p. a in Bachillerato * 0.6) + (arithmetic mean of the grades obtained in the general part * 0.4) + (Specific part Exam I * a) + (Specific part Exam II * b)

Where a and b are the weight (0, 0.1 or 0.2) of that specific test for the course and university you are applying for. The maximum grade is therefore 14.