The 2026 university entrance exam known as PAU has sparked complaints over difficulty and errors in tests for Basque, mathematics, biology and technical drawing in the Basque Country, Catalonia, Cantabria, La Rioja and Galicia.
In the Basque Country more than one thousand seven hundred Basque language exams received very low scores or zeros. Students protested in Bilbao last Monday and regional leader Imanol Pradales described the results as quite strange. The public university EHU will review the tests and final grades will be published on Monday.
In Catalonia the mathematics exam for the scientific track proved too long for the ninety minutes allowed. The Comuns group filed a parliamentary question on whether the exercise met regulatory criteria. Grades will also be released on Monday.
Cantabria acknowledged an error in the biology exam that was corrected during the test. The average score rose four tenths from last year. In La Rioja forty five percent of students failed mathematics and the average dropped more than one point. Galicia admitted two mistakes in the technical drawing exam and the regional government proposed changes to future test design.
