The Spanish exam of the selectivity in Catalonia includes a text by Jorge Luis Borges.

The Spanish Language and Literature exam, the first of the University Entrance Examinations (PAU) in Catalonia, has included on Wednesday a fragment of 'The Sand Book', by Jorge Luis Borges, and a newspaper article that addresses the choice of university career, the latter being the option chosen mostly by the students consulted.

Option A included the fragment of Borges's book, on which the student had to answer various questions; questions about the compulsory readings 'Los Niños Silos', by Ana María Matute, and 'Anthology of Spanish poetry of the 20th century' - in this about Pedro Salinas and Luis Cernuda - and the writing of a descriptive text about the possibilities offered Social networks to show aspects of life. Option B was made up of a journalistic article by Lola Pons, published in 'El País' under the title 'Lo que nadie quiere', in which the vocational choice of a university career was captured, on which the students had to make a summary and answer a series of questions. This option was completed with the questions referred to the two mandatory readings, in this case those of the poetic anthology has been related to Blas de Otero, and the writing of an argumentative text about the election for vocational reasons university careers.

Spanish exams feature Catalonian Jorge Luis Borges

Tendency for option B Several students consulted at the exit of the exam have assured that they have opted for option B both for the written expression and for the questions referring to the compulsory readings, and have remarked that they have not seen the exam complicated.

A professor of Castilian Language and Literature, Herminia Meoro, stressed that "at first glance it seems simple" the exam, with nothing that was off-topic, and has stressed that the text of Borges is more complicated than the newspaper article. One of the students consulted who has opted for option A, which included the text of Borges, has explained that he has chosen this for the writing, and has considered that it has seemed a test easier than other years.

The president of one of the tribunals in the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) Antoni Luna explained that the PAU have started normally, with the usual careers in the absence of copies in a court or the late arrival of a student. More than 34,500 Catalan students will be examined from the University Entrance Examinations (PAU) from this Wednesday until Friday, with the novelty that for the first time the History test can be requested in Aranese, although all the Exams can be answered in this language.

As every year, the first day will be dedicated to the common subjects of Castilian Language and Catalan Language, followed by the options of Earth Sciences and the Environment, Fundamentals of the Arts and Mathematics applied to the social sciences. In the early afternoon of this Wednesday, it will be the turn of one of the subjects to choose between Musical analysis, Castilian literature or technical drawing, as detailed schedules made public by the Inter-University Council of Catalonia (CIC) in charge of the organization of the tests commissioned by the Secretary of Universities of the Government. The exams of History, of Foreign Language and of option to choose between Artistic drawing, Latin and Mathematics will be the most early tests of the day of Thursday, in which the students will finish the General Phase, that is obligatory for all the students and that consists of five exams. The exams of the aforementioned phase -which allows students to have a grade of 1 to 10 and score 40% of the total of the Baccalaureate- are formed by the three languages, History, as well as one of common subject matter, such as Fundamentals of Arts, Latin, Mathematics and Social Mathematics.

Upload note until the 14th From the afternoon of Thursday, the exams of the Specific Phase will take place, which are not compulsory, they propose a range of 22 subjects and allow the students to get a note of admission to the university that raises the grade up to 14 points. Thus, students can choose between Art History and Chemistry on Thursday afternoon, for Friday start with Physics or Geography, continue with Business Economics, Electrotechnics or History of Philosophy, and continue with the subjects of Biology, Audiovisual Culture , Greek, Catalan Design and Literature.

Of the total number of students enrolled, 28,383 correspond to students with ordinary enrollment who have finished this year's high school course, while 3,392 are free-enrollment students - from other years of baccalaureate who did not do the PAU or who want to improve their grades-- and 2,772 come from higher education training cycles. Between 95% and 97% of students pass the PAU.