The president of the Federation of Entities for the Teaching of Mathematics in Catalonia, Raül Fernández, told ARA that the exam for this subject, in the PAU, for scientific students, was "excessively long, with more sections than it should have and some poorly worded questions". Students achieved the lowest average in a decade, and, in fact, many left the test crying. "An exercise this year was like two exercises from the previous year," he says.
It is regrettable that scientific baccalaureate students are beginning to be told that they are better off taking the easier social studies test. It is regrettable that students who would not get into the career they wanted lose a year to re-apply next year. But what is not acceptable is that there are poorly worded questions in a mathematics exam.
A selectivity mathematics exam must be designed by mathematics experts. And students who take the selectivity exam must have been instructed and accompanied by mathematics teachers. Often, in high schools, the teachers who teach this subject are scientists from another branch, not mathematicians. It is not the same. And the same happens with reading comprehension. There are students who leave primary school struggling, and there comes a point in life when that can no longer be fixed. Therefore, what cannot happen, absolutely cannot happen, is that there are poorly worded questions in a mathematics exam. It cannot be, just as it could not be that there were questions in the mathematics exam or any other subject with spelling mistakes. A PAU exam undergoes checks and commissions. If there are poorly worded questions, we are compromising the prestige of the teachers. It should be repeated.
