More than a thousand signatures in 24 hours to request the review of the mathematics exam of the PAU

BarcelonaA petition on the Change.org platform has collected over a thousand signatures in just 24 hours, calling for a review of the mathematics exam for the PAU (University Entrance Exams). On Tuesday, it became known that this year's test achieved an average score of 4.18; a failing average and the lowest since 2014, when it was a bare 4. In fact, in the last twelve years, the average for this subject has only been a fail on three occasions: this year (4.18), 2024 (4.87), and 2014 (4).

As of now, at least 1,250 people have requested this review. The petition, first reported by El País, is addressed to the students' families in light of the "challenge" their children faced, according to the initiators. They state that they do not wish to question the syllabus taught, but rather the design of the exam, which turned out to be "excessively demanding for the time allotted".

In fact, the president of the Federation of Entities for Mathematics Education in Catalonia (FEEMCAT), Raül Fernández, explained to ARA that this year's exam was "excessively long, with more sections than necessary and some poorly worded questions". "This year's exercise was like two exercises from the previous year," argued the also high school mathematics teacher.

The text of the petition asserts that the exam required a level of interpretation, abstraction, and concentration that was "practically impossible" to meet within the stipulated time. According to the document, based on data from past assessments and compared with exams from previous years, the difficulty index and the time required to complete the 2026 exam considerably exceed reasonable expectations.

The proponents of the platform entry affirm that this not only compromises education and equity but also "infringes on the emotional well-being of students". Furthermore, it recalls that the mathematics test has a weighting of up to 0.2 in various degrees. For all these reasons, they call on the educational authorities — in this case, the Ministry of Research and Universities — to take immediate measures to review the exam, the correction criteria, and the adoption of measures that guarantee equity for students.

On the other hand, on the day the average grades obtained by students who took the PAU this year were announced, the Minister of Research and Universities, Núria Montserrat, defended that the exam model was in line with the curriculum and that "the structure was no different from the previous year". Faced with criticism, the minister limited herself to saying that the models "are prepared by experts" and that they are made "with academic rigor", but admitted that a questionnaire process with the correctors "has been initiated to gather first-hand and objective information" about the exams, not only in the case of mathematics, but in general for all tests.