Selectivity: detectors will be used to prevent students from cheating with their mobile phones
It will be prohibited to wear watches and smart glasses, electronic bracelets, headphones and any electronic device with connection
BarcelonaNotable news in the university entrance exams that will be held next month: for the first time, detectors will be used to prevent students from cheating on the PAU using electronic devices. As explained in a circular from the Interuniversity Council of Catalonia, which has been sent to the institutes, in the exams to be held on June 9, 10, and 11, "the organization may use electronic device detectors during the test."
The note insists that students must be reminded that they cannot bring mobile phones, smartwatches or electronic bracelets, headphones – whether visible or hidden –, smart glasses, or any other device with a connection or communication capability. Furthermore, teachers are asked to explain to students that "the use of artificial intelligence tools through these devices or the possession of unauthorized notes or study materials is not permitted."
Sources from the Department of Research and Universities explain that in this year's PAU edition, "random checks may be carried out using electronic device detectors" to ensure the proper conduct of the tests. They also detail that all of this is part of a pilot program "to prevent fraudulent use [of these devices] during exams." In this regard, the Government insists that all devices "must be turned off and stored inside bags or backpacks during the exam."
As advanced by El País, with this measure Catalonia joins Galicia, Murcia, and Aragon as the first territories in Spain to deploy frequency detectors during the PAU. To avoid "stressful or confusing situations," the note from the Interuniversity Council of Catalonia asks teachers to explain this new feature in the entrance exams. It is also clarified that in cases where a student, due to medical prescription, needs to have a mobile phone within reach, or uses a hearing aid, it is necessary to inform the University Access Office.
Selected readings for 2027
In the same circular, the Interuniversity Council of Catalonia also informs about which readings will be prescriptive for the 2027 literature exams. According to the Deputy Directorate General of Curricular Planning of the Department of Education and Vocational Training, the Catalan literature exams will ask about Solitud, by Víctor Catalá; El poema de la rosa als llavis, by Joan Salvat-Papasseit; La corona d'espines, by Josep Maria de Sagarra; Antígona, by Salvador Espriu; Bruixa de dol, by Maria-Mercè Marçal, and El Cafè de la Granota, by Jesús Moncada.
As for the Spanish literature exams, they will include a selection of chapters from El Quijote, by Miguel de Cervantes, and Antología poética del Siglo de Oro; as well as the works Fuenteovejuna, by Félix Lope de Vega; Los pazos de Ulloa, by Emilia Pardo Bazán; Romancero gitano, by Federico García Lorca, and Luciérnagas, by Ana María Matute. And in the case of dramatic literature, the selection for the 2027 PAU exams is Macbeth (1623), by William Shakespeare; Casa de nines (1879), by Henrik Ibsen, and La festa (2023), by Daniela Feixas.