Selectividad

Selectividad is the popular name given to the Spanish University Access Tests ("Prueba de Acceso a la Universidad", PAU), a non-compulsory exam taken by students after secondary school, necessary to go into University. Students must take six 90 minutes 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 enable for accessing the Spanish university system.

Contents

Subjects (before 2009)

Common Subjects

  1. Spanish language and literature
  2. First foreign language (mainly English,non oral, rarely French, German or Italian)
  3. History of Spain or History of Philosophy
  4. Galician, Catalan, Valencian and Basque are also common subjects in Galicia; Catalonia and Balearic Islands, Valencia; and the Basque Country, respectively.

Selectividad or Scholastic Aptitude Test is accepted by USA universities if accompanied by TOEFL English exam.

Specific Subjects

Arts:

  1. Artistic Drawing
  2. History of Art
  3. Choose between Graphic Expression Techniques or Image

Humanities:

  1. Latin
  2. History of Art
  3. Choose between: Ancient Greek, Geography or History of Music

Social Sciences:

  1. Applied Mathematics
  2. Economy and Business Administration
  3. Geography

Sciences and Engineering:

  1. Physics
  2. Mathematics
  3. Choose between: Chemistry, Technical Drawing, Industrial Technology, Electrotechnics or Mechanics

Nature Sciences:

  1. Chemistry
  2. Biology
  3. Choose between: Mathematics, Physics or Environmental Sciences

Since 2010

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

Common part

Everybody has to do this part, and it consists in 4 compulsory tests (5 in case of Galicia, Catalonia, Valencia, the Basque Country and Balearic Islands)

  1. First foreign language (English, French, Italian, German or Portuguese)
  2. History of Spain or History of Philosophy
  3. Spanish Language and Literature.
  4. Galician, Catalan, Valencian and Basque are also common subjects in Galicia; Catalonia and Balearic Islands, Valencia; and the Basque Country, respectively
  5. Whatever subject you want from your specific "Bachillerato"

Specific part

This part is not compulsory because it's just to increase your punctuation. In this part the students can choose between 2 and 4 subjects (whatever you want depending on your specific "Bachillerato").

External links