Getting the best grade on the university entrance exam: "I want to be a teacher"

BarcelonaShe didn't need it because she had been awarded a scholarship to study at university and passing the entrance exams was enough for her, but Catalina Goytisolo from Canigó School in Barcelona was the student who obtained the highest grade in this entrance exam. With a 9.9 in the general phase, she shared the podium with two other students, all girls: Berta García from Vilanova del Vallès High School and Raquel Giménez from La Vall School in Bellaterra.

"I didn't expect it at all. This morning I received an WhatsApp saying that the counselor would call me, but without telling me why. She told me herself and I was amazed," she admits in a conversation with ARA. With the highest grade in the university entrance exams, she doesn't have to worry about which degree she'll be able to enter, but Catalina is clear: "I want to study education and philology." Before taking the university entrance exams, thanks to her enrollment at Abat Oliba University, where she will study primary education, but also intends to combine it with a degree in Hispanic Philology at the University of Barcelona (UB). "humility." "She is a very well-rounded student because, beyond getting good grades, she has many cultural interests." She signs up for the theater and reading activities we do at the center during her free time," describes the director.

Despite having obtained the best grade in the 2025 PAU, she assures that she did not stay up all night to study or anything like that: "Above all, it was very good for me to go to classes. In addition, she explains that when she is not studying she really likes to read and literature and also draw"

A biomedical engineer and an audiovisual communicator

While Catalina answers the phone from her high school in Barcelona, ​​​​Berta, who also got a 9.9, does so from a completely different setting: "I'm in Menorca on vacation with some friends; they all told our parents that the grades were out," she says with a laugh. She explains that they're happy because they all did well on the university entrance exams, but that she didn't expect the counselor to call her father to tell him she had gotten the best results in Catalonia.

A "lifelong" Vilanova del Vallès native, she studied first at the town's public school and then at the secondary school, also public. "I had a math teacher in primary school who I really liked, and I had a lot of fun in class. From then on, I knew I wanted a career in science," she recalls. However, it wasn't until the last months of high school that she finally decided what university degree she wanted to pursue, and at this point, she still has to finalize which university she wants to attend. "I want to study biomedical engineering, but I don't know whether to go to Pompeu Faculty of Medicine (UPF) or the University of Buenos Aires (UB)," he admits. He adds: "I haven't decided yet, but I'll probably go to UPF because the degree is more focused on the field of biomedical devices like pacemakers, and that's the field I'm most interested in."

As for Raquel, the third girl to share the podium for the highest grades in the University of Buenos Aires (PAU), she wants to study Audiovisual Communication at the UPF. She says she knew she needed a high grade and had worked hard to achieve a high GPA and good results in the university entrance exams, but she didn't expect to get the highest grade in the country.

Average grade of 6.4

Beyond the three girls who obtained a 9.9, the results of Iván Kapustin from the Frederic Martí y Carreras Institute in Palafrugell also stood out this year, achieving a 9.8. He was followed by Ònia Amenós from the Gabriel Ferrater y Soler Institute in Reus and Marc Urgell from the Institute of l'Arboç with a 9.5.

As for the overall results, almost 95% (94.97%) of the students who took the selectividad on June 11, 12 and 13 in Catalonia passed the tests. Since this Wednesday morning, all students can consult their grades on the website of Department of Research and Universities.

Although not all the results have been released yet, in a first preview of data the average grade for the PAU in the access phase (which was previously the general phase) was 6.440 and the average grade for university access (where the baccalaureate grade is worth 60% while the PAU grade for the phase is 7.181. In addition, all the subjects in this new selectivity have obtained an average grade above 5.

However, the results of this first call for the new selectivity have been slightly lower than those obtained last year, when 97% (two points higher than 2025) of the 7 and 7 tenths more than this year passed).

Regarding the districts to which the 32,754 students who passed the university entrance exam belong, in Barcelona the average grade for the entrance exam—the common one that everyone must take—was 6.45, while the average grade for the entrance exam (the baccalaureate result) and the baccalaureate result were 6. In Girona, the average grades were 6.48 and 7.12, respectively; in Lleida, 6.28 and 7.14, and in Tarragona, 6.38 and 7.16.