Which PAU subjects are weighted towards higher university degrees?

BarcelonaThere are just three weeks left until thousands of students face the university entrance exam, the acid test that will determine what and where they study. Beyond how they have prepared in the last two years of high school and the hours of study they still have left, one of the determining factors when it comes to obtaining the grade needed to access a degree is which specific subjects count most depending on what they want to study. Candidates taking the university entrance exam have until May 27 to register and choose up to three elective subjects for the specific phase.

A priori, if a subject is related to their studies, it will be weighted more (0.2) than if it is not (0.1). Taking these differences into account, the university portal Unportal has carried out an analysis of the weighting of each subject in each and every one of the degrees offered at Catalan universities and has concluded that the subject of mathematics in the scientific and technological baccalaureate is the one that has a weighting of 0.2 – the highest score – for higher university degrees.

This subject – in which Last year the lowest average grade of the decade was obtained– weights 0.2 in more than 250 degrees. Not only in courses clearly related to engineering, but also in degrees such as anthropology, archaeology, audiovisual communication, law, and journalism. However, although it does have the highest weighting for nursing and psychology, this is not the case for any of the medical degrees offered in Catalonia.

Physics occupies second place in the ranking of subjects that allow students to earn up to two points in more degrees: almost 200. Business Administration, architecture, biology, engineering, and medicine are part of the extensive list of degrees in which Physics is weighted 0.2, but they also include audiovisual, design, video game, and education degrees.

Physics is followed by chemistry, which is weighted at almost 150 degrees. Most of them coincide with physics, with exceptions such as nursing, which takes into account the chemistry exam grade, but not the physics exam grade.

Fourth on the podium is applied mathematics in social sciences, which scores 0.2 in the admission process for up to 148 degrees. This subject does not provide any extra points for architecture or the vast majority of engineering programs, as scientific mathematics does, but it does count toward degrees such as political science and applied languages.

Biology, languages, and art history

Among the subjects that are weighted upwards by just over a hundred degrees are biology (126), which is one of only three subjects that are weighted at 0.2 when it comes to entering medicine; Latin language and culture (120) and business and business models (109), which is not weighted in almost any engineering program. At the bottom of this ranking of subjects that are weighted for entry into more university degrees are Greek language and culture (93), geography (109) and art history (72).

Apart from all these subjects, in the specific phase of the selectivity exams you can also choose the subjects of musical analysis, performing arts, general sciences, heart and vocal technique - which is new this year -, artistic and technical drawing, design, artistic foundations, geology, history of music, Catalan, Castilian and graphic-plastic literature and technology and engineering.