Universities receive 2,500 complaints about the controversial PAU mathematics exam

BarcelonaComplaints from some students and professors about the difficulty of this year's PAU mathematics exam have already been quantified. The Department of Research and Universities has received a total of 2,507 claims for the scientific mathematics test of the selective examination. The number of complaints for the exam in this subject represents 9.46% of the total applications that students have registered for all subjects in the PAU held three weeks ago.

This year, 608 more claims have been received for the mathematics exam than last year, when the test concentrated 1,449 applications. In this regard, it should be noted that this year up to 17,025 students took this test and, therefore, 14.7% of the students who took the mathematics exam have registered a claim for the test.

Although the complete data for claims from all subjects are not yet known, sources from the Department of Research and Universities detail that the test that has registered the highest increase in claims (648) compared to the 2025 PAU has been chemistry, with 1,472 claims. This test was taken by 10,736 students, therefore, 13% of those examined have claimed after knowing the results.

The worst mathematics grade of the decade

The controversy with the mathematics exam for the university entrance exam began right after the exam, when some of the students left the test crying, stating that it was longer and more difficult than they expected. The unease grew when the grades became known and it was concluded that the average grade for this year's mathematics exam at the PAU (4.18) is the lowest in the last twelve years.

Despite the complaints, on the day the grades were published, the Minister of Research and Universities, Núria Montserrat, defended that "the exam model adheres to the curriculum" and that "the structure [of the test] was no different from the previous year". Also, in response to the criticism about the exam expressed by students and teachers – but also by some PAU graders – the minister insisted that the exam models "are prepared by experts" and that the process is carried out "with academic rigor". Montserrat, however, also admitted that this year's mathematics grade "is not satisfactory", and added that this subject poses a "challenge" for students.

Regarding the complaints, in this case the unofficial ones, a few days after the publication of the PAU grades, a petition was created on the Change.org platform to demand a review of the PAU mathematics exam. The petition, which was addressed to the students' families in view of the "challenge" their children faced, according to the initiators, gathered more than a thousand signatures in just 24 hours. The petition, which garnered the support of 1,812 people, stated that they did not want to question the syllabus being taught, but rather the design of the exam, which was "excessively demanding for the time allotted".